An Ethnographic Study of Nonverbal Communication in an EFL Classroom

Abstract

The present study was a preliminary attempt to investigate the role and importance of nonverbal communication in a third year oral classroom at the department of English in Mohammed Seddik Ben Yahia University. The aim of the study was twofold: first, to evaluate ethnographically the effectiveness of one oral expression teacher’s use of nonverbal communication and second, to gauge this teacher’s perceptions of the importance and evaluation of her use of this important aspect. In order to achieve the above stated aims, the literature about the teaching and learning of nonverbal communication in English language teaching was reviewed so as to develop the observation scheme used to evaluate the teacher’s practice of nonverbal communication as well as to design the questions of the teacher’s interview. The analysis of the data generated by the observation scheme showed that, while the teacher was, noticeably, very adept use of oculesics (eye contact), in general, her use of the other nonverbal features varied considerably. Moreover, her use of hand gestures, proximics, haptics, and paralanguage was satisfactory, in general. As far as the data generated by the teacher’s interview is concerned, the analysis showed that the teacher was fully aware of the importance and the necessity of integrating the teaching/learning of nonverbal communication in the English university Jijel curriculum so as to foster a cross-cultural competence in the use and teaching of this important aspect among students. As far as her evaluation of her own practice in the use of nonverbal communication is concerned, the teacher’s answers revealed that, although her use and perception of her students’ use of some nonverbal features was highly effective, it was most often than not largely spontaneous and unconscious, and, thus, the result of intuition and unconscious acquisition rather than explicit instruction