An Observational Study of Teacher’s Gestures in EFL Classroom
Abstract
Verbal utterances and nonverbal utterances are acknowledged to be semantically and pragmatically coexpressive. Previous theories reveal that gestures are useful for teacher’s conceptual planning of messages and student’s comprehension and learning motivation. This study is carried out using an observational study and aimed to give insight into the use of gestures by EFL teacher during the teaching in the language classroom. An Islamic senior high school EFL teacher with a bilingual classroom become the participant of this study. A video recording is put on the back of the classroom aimed to capture the teacher’s gestures and the teacher and the students’ interaction, an audio recording is placed on the teacher’s front table, and the researcher is on the corner of the classroom to observe the teaching process synchronously. The data collected were transcribed then analysed using AS-Unit for recognizing the English utterances and the categorization of gestures was adopted from Wang and Loewen (2016). The finding elaboratively describes the use of gestures (i.e., iconics, metaphorics, deictics, beats, head movements, affect displays, kinetographs, and emblems) produced by the teacher in her classroom utterances. The finding shows that the gestures take a big part in supporting the teacher as speaker in teacher’s complex lexical retrieval. Also, the visual of the use gestures is provided. Therefore, the result of this study serves as a teaching reflection and can be employed as a model to provide language learning comprehensible input in the language classroom.
Full text article
References
AlGhamdi, H. H., & Alghamdi, F. M. A. (2017). Spontaneous gesturing in the EFL classroom and its impact on interaction and learning: A case study. International Journal of English Language Education, 5(2), 34-45. https://doi.org/10.5296/ijele.v5i2.11616
Allen, L. (2000). Nonverbal accommodations in foreign language teacher talk. Applied Language Learning, 11, 155-176.
Alibali, M. W., Kita, S., Young, A., J. (2000). Gesture and the process of speech production: We think, therefore we produce. Language and Cognitive Process, 15(6), 593-613. https://doi.org/10.1080/016909600750040571
Ananda, J., Solihat, D., & Suryana, Y. Nonverbal communication performed by foreign English teacher. Indonesian EFL Journal, 6(2), 175-188. https://doi.org/10.25134/ieflj.v6i2.3424
Antika, R., & Ikhsan, M. K. (2018). Teachers’ nonverbal communication in english teaching and learning process. TELL-US Journal, 4(1), 65-79. https://doi.org/10.22202/tus.2018.v4i1.2799
Burgoon, J. K., Birk, T., & Pfau, M. (1990). Nonverbal behaviors, persuasion, and credibility. Human Communication Research, 17, 140-169. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.1990.tb00229.x
Dahl, T. I., & Ludvigsen, S. (2014). How i see what you’re saying: The role of gestures in native and foreign language listening comprehension. The Modern Language Journal, 98(3), 813–833. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2014.12124.x
Foster, P., Tonkyn, A., & Wigglesworth, G. (2000). Measuring spoken discourse: A unit for all reasons. Applied Linguistics, 21(3), 354–375. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/21.3.354
Gregersen, T., Olivares-Cuhat, G., & Storm, J. (2009). An examination of L1 and L2 gesture use: What role does proficiency play?. The Modern Language Journal, 93(2), 195-208. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2009.00856.x
Gullberg, M. (2006). Some reasons for studying gesture and second language acquisition. International Review of Applied Linguistics, 44, 103-124. https://doi.org/10.1515/IRAL.2006.004
Hsu, L. (2006). The impact of perceived teachers’ nonverbal immediacy on students’ motivation for learning english. Asian EFL Journal, 12(4),1-17.
Indrawan, I. P., Nitiasih, P. K., & Piscayanti, K. S. (2017). An analysis of teachers’ non-verbal communication in efl classroom at smp negeri 3 banjar. Prasi, 12(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.23887/prasi.v12i01.13912
Isnani, N. (2021) The influence of English teacher’s nonverbal interaction on EFL students’ perception of learning. English Language Education Reviews, 1(1), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.22515/ele-reviews.v1i1
Kamiya, N. (2012). Proactive and reactive focus on form and gestures in EFL classrooms in Japan. System, 40(3), 386–397. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2012.09.005
Karim, A. H., & Sotoudehnama, E. (2017). A qualitative study on teacher’s nonverbal communication and iranian efl learners’ perception of language learning. Journal of Language Horizons, 1(1), 109–133. https://doi.org/10.22051/lghor.2017.13392.1044
Krauss, R. M. (1998). Why do we gesture when we speak?. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 7, 54–59. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8721.ep13175642
Lazaraton, A. (2004). Gesture and speech in the vocabulary explanations of one teacher: A microanalytic inquiry. Language Learning, 54(1), 79–117. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2004.00249.x
Manchon, R. M., Murphy, L., & Roca de Larios, J. (2009). Lexical retrieval processes and strategies in second language writing: A synthesis of empirical research. International Journal of English Studies, 7(2), 149–174.
Malnab, I., & Humaerah, I. (2021). The analysis of kinesics used by English teacher in ELT classroom. Al Lughawiyaat, 1(2), 76-83. http://dx.doi.org/10.31332/alg.v1i2.2313
McCafferty, S. (1998). Nonverbal expression and L2 private speech. Applied Linguistics, 19(1), 73–96. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/19.1.73
McCafferty, S. G. (2002). Gesture and creating zones of proximal development for second language learning. The Modern Language Journal, 86(2), 192–203. https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-4781.00144
McCafferty, S. G. (2004). Space for cognition: Gesture and second language learning. International Journal of Applied Linguistics (United Kingdom), 14(1), 148–165. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1473-4192.2004.0057m.x
Meeten, F., Ivak, P., Dash, S., R., Knowles, S., Duka, T., Scott, R., Kaiser, J., & Davey, G., C., L. (2015). The effect of facial expressions on the evaluation of ambiguous statements. Journal of Experimental Psychopathology, 6(3), 253-263. https://doi.org/10.5127/jep.039613
Nakatsukasa, K., & Loewen, S. (2015). A teacher’s first language use in form-focused episodes in Spanish as a foreign language classroom. Language Teaching Research, 19(2), 133–149. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168814541737
Perlman, M. (2000). Ethical issues in observational research. 5(2), 89–90. https://doi.org/10.1093/pch/5.2.89
Rahmat, A. (2018). Teachers’ gesture in teaching EFL classroom of Makassar state university. Metathesis: Journal of English Language, Literature, and Teaching, 2(2), 236-252. https://doi.org/10.31002/metathesis.v2i2.893
Ranta, R., & Harmawati, D. (2017). Analyzing teacher’s instructional and nonverbal communication in EFL classroom. Lingual: Journal of Language and Culture, 4(2), 26. https://doi.org/10.24843/ljlc.2017.v04.i02.p05
Sato, R. (2018). Examining EFL Teachers’ Non -verbal Behaviors in English-medium lessons. The Journal of Asia TEFL, 15(1), 82–98. http://dx.doi.org/10.18823/asiatefl.2018.15.1.6.82
Sato, R. (2020). Gestures in EFL classroom: Their relations with complexity, accuracy, and fluency in EFL teachers’ L2 utterances. System, 89, 102-215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2020.102215
Sime, D. (2006). What do learners make of teachers' gestures in the language classroom?. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 44(2), 211-230. https://doi.org/10.1515/IRAL.2006.009
Sueyoshi, A., & Hardison, D. M. (2005). The role of gestures and facial cues in second-language listening comprehension. Language Learning, 55(4), 661–699. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0023-8333.2005.00320.x
Thompson, A. A., & Renandya, W. A. (2020). Use of gesture for correcting pronunciation errors. TEFLIN Journal, 31(2), 342–359. https://doi.org/10.15639/teflinjournal.v31i2/342-359
van Compernolle, R. A., & Smotrova, T. (2017). Gesture, meaning, and thinking-for-teaching in unplanned vocabulary explanations. Classroom Discourse, 8(3), 194–213. https://doi.org/10.1080/19463014.2016.1275028
Wang, W., & Loewen, S. (2016). Nonverbal behavior and corrective feedback in nine ESL university-level classrooms. Language Teaching Research, 20(4), 459–478. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168815577239
Zeki, C. P. (2009). The importance of non-verbal communication in classroom management. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 1(1), 1443–1449. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2009.01.254
Authors
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work