| Abstract | dc.description.abstract | During the last few decades, research has investigated the role of body
language in human communication. However, when it comes to the teacherstudent
interaction, little attention has been paid to the real function that teaching
gestures have. For this reason, the present study assesses the beliefs that
teachers have regarding their own body language in the classroom, and the effects
that these gestures actually have. In this research study, five English teachers from
a private school in Peñalolén in Santiago, Chile, were observed, video recorded
and interviewed. Each participant was observed and later interviewed to find out
their beliefs on the role and importance that teaching gestures play in the
classroom. Each videotaped lesson was later contrasted with their beliefs to see if
there existed a consistency between their beliefs and their practices. The study
revealed that the essential orientation of teachers is to use gestures as explanatory
devices for the most part; however, closer examination suggests that during
performance, teachers use gestures for classroom control more frequently than for
other purposes such as explanation, or evaluation. Four out of the five teachers
that were interviewed inclined towards using teaching gesture to explain new
vocabulary or grammar mainly, but they did not consider how important and
frequent gestures were for classroom control or even evaluation. This case study,
therefore, draws attention to the fact that even though English teachers hold strong
beliefs about the importance of body language in the classroom, this is inconsistent
with their performances. Assessment of the effects of these discrepancies is
suggested for further studies to address. | en_US |
