Teacher's Nonverbal Immediacy Behavior in the Classroom and Its Effect on Teacher-Student Relationship

0 Introduction

This study tries to explore the relationship between students'perceived teacher's nonverbal immediacy behaviors and teacher-student relationship. The research firstly to offer a brief literature review of teacher nonverbal immediacy and its effects on classroom teaching. Then,the Study also wants to call for Chinese college teachers' conscious awareness of the importance of teacher nonverbal immediacy behaviors and to examine how teacher nonverbal immediacy influences studentteacher relationship at college level to better the understanding of the nonverbal immediacy strategies in which teachers employ in the classroom to reduce Physical and Psychological distance between teachers and students for the aim of effectively stimulating students.

1 The Relationship between Verbal and Nonverbal Communication

To date, there has been much discussion on the relationship between verbal and nonverbal communication. However, researchers have not yet arrived at a conclusion. verbal and nonverbal communication function differently in different aspects of communication, with verbal communication as the main code of communicating cognitive information, and nonverbal communication as the primary channel of dealing with the process of human relationships and conveying feelings and emotions.

2 Functions of Nonverbal Communication in the Classroom

In the classroom context, nonverbal communication plays a significant role in several areas. I will explore the four categories about their special functions that teachers' nonverbal communication performs communication influences.

2.1 Gestures

（1）Emblems are nonverbal behaviors that convey direct verbal translations. For example, “I don't know,” may be communicated emblematically by a shrug of the shoulders and raised eyebrows.

（2） Illustrations are nonverbal behaviors that accompany and literally illustrate the verbal messages.

（3）Affect displays are facial expressions that show emotional states.They can be either intentional or unintentional. A teacher's frown,whether intended or not, may show displeasure with a student's answer.

（4）Regulators are nonverbal behaviors can be used to control and maintain verbal interactions. While listening to a student who is answering a question, the teacher may nod rapidly, which conveys the message of “Yes, I understand. Carry on.”

2.2 Facial Expressions

Birdwhistell states that the human face, which is the major body area that communicates our emotions, is capable of making 250, 000 different expressions. Facial messages may convey the following ten emotions: happiness; surprise, fear, anger, sadness, disgust, contempt,interest, confusion, and determination.' Thus, teachers should pay close attention to their faces.

2.3 Eye Contact

Normally, we use eye behavior to accomplish three general goals.2.3.1 To express feelings or convey information about relationships

2.3.2 To monitor feedback

2.3.3 To signal a conversation turn

3 A research on modification of teacher's nonverbal behavior

The purpose of this investigation is to provide evidence indicating that improvement of teacher's nonverbal behavior will gradually affect teacher-student relationship.

Methods

Subjects: Two teachers served as subjects for this investigation. They both attained the degree of MA from teachers' training universities, now teaching English at one college.

Students: Two freshman classes of students aged from seventeen to eighteen were chosen. They were learning the same textbooks as their peers under the subject teachers. The purpose of the plan was also explained to them before the investigation began.

Five categories of teacher behavior were studied:

（1）Teacher Movement

（2）Teacher Gestures

（3）Teacher Eye Contact

（4）Teacher Facial Expressions

（5）Teacher Paralanguage

Teacher preparation. One month prior to the investigation, the two teachers were provided with relevant books and materials dealing with nonverbal communication and teaching. Several technical discussions were also held with them, through which they were expected to gain confidence in their abilities to do the work well.

Teacher evaluation. All students in each class were required to complete teacher evaluation questionnaires on their respective instructors.

4 Conclusion

Although the subject of human communication in the process of relationship development has received a considerable amount of scholarly attention in recent years, this essay has focused on a clearly limited part of this process: teacher's nonverbal behavior in developing teacherstudent relationships as noticed by students. we have found that：（1）teacher's nonverbal behavior has been mainly ignored compared with verbal communication;（2）it is difficult to change a teacher's nonverbal behavior even though he would like to change;（3）teacher-student relationship turns out to be the decisive factor in the teaching-learning process.

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