Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication in Foreign Language Classrooms

Posted on Jan 25, 2025 in Other civil servant exams

Communication in the Foreign Language Classroom

This essay aims to study verbal and non-verbal communication. For this purpose, I will divide the topic into three main sections. In the first part, I will deal with the concept of communication. Then, I will address the types of communication. In the second part, I will deal with communication in the classroom by developing the concepts of communicative language teaching and non-verbal communication. For illustrative purposes, I will firstly center on the theory of language learning. Second, I will develop the concept of non-verbal communication. Third, I will explain the Total Physical Response Method. Finally, I will compile the main conclusions and the bibliography used to develop this topic.

As far as foreign language learning is concerned, the legal framework is the Organic Law 2/2006 of Education, 3rd May, modified by the Organic Law for the Improvement in Educational Quality, 8/2013, 9th December. Section XII of its preamble establishes that “the command of a second or third language has become a priority in the Education field, as a consequence of the globalization process we live in”. One of the most relevant aspects of the Organic Law for the Improvement in Educational Quality is related to the Order ECD/65/2015, 21st of January, which establishes the relation among the key competences, contents, and evaluation criteria in Primary Education. On the other hand, the Royal Decree 126/2014, 28th of February, establishes the Minimum Teaching Requirement for Primary Education and it states in article 7, Objective F “to acquire basic communicative competence, in at least, one foreign language to enable expression and comprehension of simple messages and survive in everyday situations”. In addition, the Order EDU/519/2014, 17th of June, modified by the Order EDU 278/2016, 8th of April, which establishes the minimum contents for Primary Education in the Autonomous Community of Castilla y León.

1. Communication

Bearing in mind all these legal references, I will start mentioning communication as the understanding which occurs between humans through linguistics and non-linguistic means like gestures, mimicry, and voice. Whenever communication takes place, there is a speaker or writer and a listener or reader, and both have a communicative purpose using a medium or channel. When organizing communicative activities, the students should have a desire to communicate, a communicative purpose, and they should deal with a variety of language.

1.2. The Communicative Approach in English Teaching

Communication is the main objective in the learning of a foreign language. So, communicating in a foreign language means using that language in an appropriate way, with acceptable correction and fluency. Communicative competence is made up of five sub-competences:

Grammatical competence: which is the ability to use grammar, syntax, and vocabulary.
Discourse competence: which is the ability to interpret the larger context and to construct longer sentences of language so the parts make a coherent whole.
Sociolinguistic competence: which is the ability to use and respond to language appropriately, given the setting, the topic, and the relationship among the people communicating.
Strategic competence: which is the ability to recognize and repair communication breakdowns and how to learn more about the language in the context.
Sociocultural competence: which is the awareness of the cultural reality of the countries where the language is spoken.

1.3. Important Factors in the Communicative Lesson

There are some important factors to bear in mind in the communicative lesson, like the input, the student groupings, the materials, the communicative activities, and the teacher and learner’s roles.

The Input is the language to which the student is exposed. The input should be comprehensible to the children, related to the students’ interests, with a level of complexity more advanced than the knowledge that students possess, and it should have enough contextual support.
It is important to facilitate flexible and diverse groupings:
- Whole class, typically used when introducing or explaining a structure or vocabulary.
- Pair work, which is more practice, it is similar to real life and it increases self-confidence.
- Group work: it is ideal for activities of freer production where fluency is developed and it encourages cooperative learning.
There are also different types of Materials to work with in English lessons such as:
- Text-based materials: for example, textbooks.
- Task-based material like games, role-plays, pair-work activities.
- Realia: is the authentic material which contributes to reducing the distance between the classroom and the real world. They could be magazines, videos, visual resources as maps, symbols, etc.
Communicative activities refer to tasks that the student carries out for real communication. The practice of communicative activities will produce an unconscious learning of the structures of the language. They must be interactive, unpredictable, within a context, authentic, and developed within a relaxed atmosphere.
Referring to the teacher’s role, I will say that he has a less dominant role than in traditional teaching. Their roles are: organizer, participant, encourager, language consultant, and monitor.
But as to the Learner’s role, he has a higher involvement in his own learning process. Learner’s opinion, feelings, and motivation are taken into account. So they have higher autonomy from the teacher.

2. Verbal Communication

Now, I will continue by developing verbal communication, which is as important as non-verbal communication.

2.1. Oral Communication

Oral communication is a two-way process between the speaker and the listener. The teacher, therefore, will have to integrate listening and speaking skills through authentic and communicative situations, giving the students two complementary levels of training in verbal communication:

In the Presentation stage: students are presented with new language and vocabulary.
In the Practice stage: students practice grammar, vocabulary, and sounds with accuracy. They will complete activities like guided dialogues, questions, language games, reciting, and singing.
But, in the Production stage: students have opportunities for expressing personal meaning with fluency in activities such as information-gap, role-play, problem-solving, personal experiences, communicative games.

2.2. Learning to Write

Learning to write a language is important for three reasons: in order to master a language, in real life we need it to write and it reinforces the learning of oral communication. The teacher should provide the students with activities that provoke written communication: for example, writing instructions, short messages, letters to pen friends, questionnaires, quizzes, puzzles, diaries, project work, games such as the hangman or finding mistakes.

2.3. How to Use the English Language in the Classroom?

The use of a foreign language is suggested in these situations:

At the beginning of the class as a warm-up. For example, The date allows the review of the days of the week, months, and ordinal numbers.
The teacher also can use it in the Instructions for beginning an activity using imperative verbs such as look!
She also must say Encouraging sentences such as well done!!
Or for Correcting like try again! Or can you repeat that?
And of course, for Finishing the class with sentences such as See you next day!

3. Non-Verbal Communication

Let’s move into non-verbal communication. It helps to express and to understand messages and it favors sociolinguistic competence. In the English class, we can use the following non-verbal language:

Gestures and body language as facial expressions, posture, eye, and hand movements to transmit attitudes and emotions. Communication with hands in an English classroom is very frequent: for example when the teacher points to objects, or uses fingers to count or to express temporary concepts.
Physical movements are also non-verbal communication. Children learn a language by listening and executing commands using the Total Physical Response. With activities like following classroom instructions, listen-and-do exercises, or TPR songs as Head, shoulders, knees, and toes.
Moreover, every teacher should use Visual aids in their English lessons, as they have two functions: to shorten the gap between the real world and the classroom, and foster the transmission of the contents of language. Traffic signals are an example of visual aid. The teacher can use them in vocabulary presentations, stories, and communicative activities. Children feel attracted to them and images help to retain what is being learned.
Last but not least, Auditory aids must also be used in class. Sounds, noises, musical melodies, and rhythms, have great communicative and pedagogical power. The Morse code is an example of auditory aid. Melodies and rhythms also foster the pronunciation of words, the learning of structures and vocabulary, they transmit cultural elements and create a pleasant atmosphere in class.

What is more, some of the most important tools to use in an English lesson are the new technologies to reinforce visual and auditory aids.

4. Strategic Competence

One of the aspects of communicative competence is strategic competence, the student’s capacity to use verbal and non-verbal strategies in order to communicate.

4.1. Pedagogical Reasons to Use Extralinguistic Strategies

Now I will present some pedagogical reasons to use extralinguistic strategies: First, oral understanding precedes oral production. Moreover, non-verbal answers reduce anxiety. It is important to design activities that help develop the gestural capacity of students and allow them to transfer information from the verbal to the non-verbal code and vice versa. Teachers can provide the students with activities from the verbal to the non-verbal code such as performing actions following the Total Physical Response methodology, and picture dictation. And some activities from the non-verbal to the verbal code could be games as the Pictionary or who is who doing mimics. It is also very important the drama in foreign language teaching because verbal and non-verbal aspects of communication are put together as it occurs in real-life situations.

5. Conclusion

As a conclusion, I would like to say that the main objective of the English class is to communicate. When communicating, we do not only use words, we also use expressions, drawings, intonation, sounds. In short, we use verbal as well as non-verbal communication. Non-verbal communication has great communicative potential, which should not be ignored when teaching English. It is useful in the English class because it helps the student develop communicative strategies and to improve communicative competence, which is the aim of our current educational law.

The bibliography used to develop this unit includes:

COUNCIL OF EUROPE. (2003). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
EMMER, E.T. & GERWELS, M.C. (2002). Cooperative Learning in elementary classrooms: Teaching practices and lesson characteristics. The Elementary School Journal.
GARDNER, H. (2001): Reformulated Intelligence. Multiple Intelligences in XXI Century. Buenos Aires: Paidós.
HARMER, J. The Practice of English Language Teaching. London: Longman, 2008 (4th ed.)
NUNAN, D. (2010): Language Teaching Methodology. University Press.

Referring the webpages: