A Qualitative Study On Teacher S Nonverb

Journal of Language Horizons, Alzahra University — 109
Volume 1, Issue 1, Spring-Summer 2017 — 109
A Qualitative Study on
Teacher’s Nonverbal
Communication and Iranian
EFL Learners’ Perception of
Language Learning1
Azadeh Haji Karim2
Elaheh Sotoudehnama*3
Received: 2017/01/01 | Revised: 2017/04/17 | Accepted: 2017/05/03
Abstract
One of the significant aspects of the communication is its nonverbal
aspect. In this study there was an attempt to explore this aspect of
language teaching qualitatively from the learners’ point of view through
observation and interview in Iranian context. It was revealed that four
main categories of nonverbal communication(NVC) including: hand
gesture, eye-contact, facial expression and tone of voice are used from the
most frequently used to the least used respectively. Moreover, it was
found that a teacher’s use of nonverbal communication can help learners
to get more benefit from the learning context. Also, the findings indicate
how utilizing NVC may contribute to different aspects (vocabulary,
grammar, and pronuciation) of language learning. According to the stu-
dents’ comments, six main themes as different roles of the teacher were
found including: Teacher as a composer, Teacher as a constructor, Teach-
1 DOI: 10.22051/lghor.2017.13392.1044
2 MA Graduate, Universitiy of Alzahra; [email protected]
3 Assosiate Professor, Department of English Language and Literature, Alzahra University
(Corresponding author); [email protected]

110 — A Qualitative Study on Teacher’s Nonverbal Communication and Iranian EFL Learners’ Perception ...
er as a mirror, Teacher as a conductor, Teacher as a mentor, and Teacher

as a vocalist.
Keywords: non-verbal, communication, lanugage learning, qualitative
study, perception.
1. Introduction
Nonverbal communication forms an important part of everyday speech and
therefore may occupy a more central place in second / foreign language teach-
ing than it does now (Andersen, 2004). NVC can be helpful in assisting L2 lan-
guage learners in both the production and reception skills. The current study is
a look at the NVC from a pedagogical perspective and in an EFL context, i.e., in
Iran.
Language is an exclusive tool of communication for human; nevertheless,
most of our messages have a root in a communication system called body lan-
guage or, to say in another word, nonverbal communication which is beyond
the language system. The nonverbal aspects of communication play an ex-
tremely important role in human social interaction (Andersen, 2004).
The majority of communication is conveyed through nonverbal behaviors.It
has been claimed that 65% of meaning is conveyed through nonverbal commu-
nication (Birdwhistell, 1970). Lakin (2006) believes that people are not aware
of what their nonverbal behaviors convey and communicate or the extent to
which their feelings, thoughts and behaviors will be influenced by the
nonverbal communication of others. Saitz (1966) has a more strict view and
believes that “we all use gesture quite unconsciously” (p.37). For an
investigator such as Mc Neill (1992), gesture and language are one system. He
also adds that nonverbal and verbal aspects of communication are two
simultaneous views of the same process.He states “gestures are an integral part
of language as much as are words, phrases, and sentences – gesture and
language are one system” (p.2). This phenomenon happens in the classroom
context all the time, and communicators (the teacher and students) use the
power of gestures and other nonverbal behaviors consciously and
unconsciously.
Some researchers such as Kellogg and Lawson (1993) mention an estimate
of more than 82% for the communication techniques employed by teachers in
the classroom are nonverbal , while other researchers such as Neulip (2003)
have estimated that up to 90% of all communication happens via nonverbal
communication (both cited in Kruger, 2009).
Ritts and Stein (2001) believe that “it is not what you say in the classroom
that is important, but it’s how you say it that can make the difference to
students” (p.3). They observe nonverbal messages as an essential element of
communication in the teaching process. Young and Shaw (1999 cited in Zhang
2006) have emphasized the role of nonverbal behavior in effective teaching in

the classroom and have recognized it as another teaching strategy besides suit-
able learning atmosphere, student motivation, organization of the course and
etc.
NVC may lead to more efficient interaction in the classroom thus creating a
more conductive context to learning. Neill (1991) also claims that teachers’
nonverbal ability helps them to enhance the monitoring of students’ under-
standing by controlling classroom interaction and discipline.
When teachers are aware of nonverbal communication, they are better
receivers of students’ messages and they can send positive signals to
strengthen students’ learning and elude negative signals that hinder students’
learning (Miller, 2005 cited in Koshland-Crane, 2008). He adds that a teacher
who is aware of nonverbal cues such as nodding heads, smiles and frowns,
becomes skilled at receiving students’ messages. As teachers teach and work
with students in the class, their use of body movements enhances effective
delivery of the lesson.
Mehrabian (1981) reports, based on his research, that “ teachers who
habitually gesture get better emotional and academic results with their
students”(p.103). Teachers’ use of affirmative and positive gestures help
students to gain self-esteem and increase cooperation and learning between
individuals.
Soudek and Soudek (1985) discussed the indispensable role of nonverbal
communication channels in the human communication system and as an
essential component in the expertising the intricacies of a second language and
culture. Hague (2000) supports this idea by stating that language teachers’
nonverbal accommodation is their attempt to make language much more
understandable to students. He considers teacher talk and teacher gestures as
twin strategies.
Moskowitz (1976) asserts that outstanding teachers and instructors exhibit
more nonverbal behaviors than ordinary teachers do. Wylie (1985) highlighted
the interrelationship between the verbal and the nonverbal elements in
learning to interact and communicate in a foreign language. He added that we
communicate with all of the means in our property, so we should train not only
our speech organs but also our whole body for communication in a foreign
language.
Saitz (1966) claims that use of NVC and dramatization inject enthusiasm
and interest into the learning of the linguistic patterns of the target language.
Thus, the use of gestures not only provide the students with valuable
information by itself but also it functions as a stimulus which the language
teacher can take advantage of .
People vary in their abilities to transmit nonverbal messages to others accu-
rately and appropriately, read and realize others’ nonverbal communications
and control and monitor their nonverbal outputs (Riggio, 2006). He also be-
lieves that nonverbal skills can be learned and improved. According to this
claim, we can assume that teachers as human beings differ in their nonverbal
behaviors’ abilities and can try to improve this aspect of their communication
in order to teach more effectively.
Gullberg (1998) investigated the use of gestural and oral communication
strategies by FL speakers of English and Swedish. Also, foreign language
learners appeared to favor a combination of the two types of strategies - oral
and gestural - more than L1 speakers did. Her empirical study revealed that L2
learners used more gestures in L2 than in L1, and the gestures were mostly
complimentary to speech rather than substitutive.
Barnett (1983) reported that “teacher’s nonverbal signals increased student
talk and practice in the target language, drew students’ attention to the
teaching point, eliminated the need for excessive verbal explanation and
directed student participation” (p.174). In other words, NVC may lead to more
efficient interaction in the classroom thus creating a context more conductive
to learning .
Another research conducted by Taleghani- Nikazm (2008) emphasizes the
important role of L2 teachers’ gestures in order to compensate for difficulties
with the verbal message and that it seems “to modify and make teacher’s verbal
input more comprehensible to L2 learners” (p.237). Taleghani- Nikzam’s
investigation of video-taped L2 teacher verbal and nonverbal behavior in ele-
mentary and intermediate levels suggested that L2 teachers frequently perform
specific gestures during meaning-focused and form-focused practices which
may make input more comprehensible for the L2 learners. This research had
been conducted in four foreign language classrooms of an American university.
Two of the classes were Persian language classes for foreign language learners
whose native language was English and two other ones were German courses
for native speakers of English.
In another study Koshland-Crane (2008) investigated the role of nonverbal
behavior in teaching foreign language from a more qualitative perspective. She
believed that “nonverbal communication behaviors play a substantial role in
the interaction between teachers and students” (p.116). This study investigated
the effect of training in nonverbal communication behaviors on participants’
self-assessment of this quality. As the procedure, first of all, the instructors
trained participants on nonverbal communication behaviors for about six hours
during the semester. The particpats were administered pre and post-tests of
the nonverbal communication behaviors. After training, the participants were
provided by a qualitative survey which consisted of five open-ended questions
pertaining to the training. They were asked to respond to the questions in the
written form and then participate in discussion-groups. The results from the
survey indicated that the participants’ knowledge of nonverbal communication
behaviors increased and most of them believed that the training enhanced their
understanding of nonverbal communication behaviors.
Despite different research conducted in this field, no qualitative analysis of

teacher’s NVC from teacher’s and students’ point of view has been conducted in
Iran. Moreover, the most and the least attended NVC from the Iranian points of
view have not been explored so far. In fact, in different countries and cultures
the kind of gestures used and amount of attention allocated to each of them are
different and culture specific. Due to the importance of the NVC and culture
specificity, the present study was conducted to answer the following questions:
1. How do Iranian EFL learners perceive teachers’ NVCs in the process
of language learning?
2. What are the gestures used and what is their hierachy?
2. Method
2.1. Participants
The participants included a teacher and the learners of this teacher. For this
study, a teacher with the following characteristic was selected. She was
teaching English in a Language Institute in Tehran and was a young lady with
about five years of teaching experience. The very first reason to choose this
specific teacher was her reputation as a lively and energetic teacher amongst
her colleagues and students. During talks with the students and instructors in
this institute, it was clarified that she is very popular amongst the students and
even teachers in the institute. Her popularity referred to her special way of
teaching to learners. In talks with her the researchers were also convinced that
she was a respectable teacher who had dedicated her educational life to teach-
ing and encouraging learners to learn better. Before the first observation ses-
sion, her students were talked to in order to ensure that she was an appropriate
candidate for the research.
The second group of the participants included the learners of this teacher.
They were twenty Iranian intermediate female EFL learners who studied Eng-
lish in one of the Language Institutes in Tehran. All the participants were young
female learners of English. Several studies on adult EFL learners suggest that
women are more accurate nonverbal senders and receivers than men in certain
situations (Buck, 1975; Noller, 1986; Rosenthal & Depaulo, 1979 cited in Devi-
to, 2002), hence female participants were selected.
According to the friendly talks during the breaks, the participants were
found to be motivated learners who wanted to learn as efficient as possible.The
researchers talked to them before observation and found out thatthey were
open to learning and experiencing new ways of education. These participants
were intermediate learners according to the institute criteria which was
passing the previous courses, i.e., elementary and pre-intermediate courses of
the institutewhich were based on books compiled by the institute’s teachers.
The students studied The ILI intermediate English Series, a series of books
devised by the institute, and story books such as Little Women, as criteria for
old students and placement test and interview for the new ones.
2.2. Setting
This institute was selected because of its quality of teaching. The institute was
located in the center of Tehran. In fact, the participants admitted that their
learning quality had been improved as they started studying there. Most of
them had the experience of studying in other institutes but they admitted that
this one had been much better because of the lively and friendly atmosphere of
that place. They believed that the building, the materials, the people, the
personnel, the equipment and the facilities in the institute had made it a
pleasant place for learning. This institute was chosen amongst many others in
Tehran for the mentioned reasons and the cooperation of the personnel.
2.3. Instrumentation
The instruments include:
(1) Classroom Observation: In this phase of the study which lasted a full
semester of six months I, as one of the researchers, participated in the
class as an observer in order to record all the teacher's and students'
verbal and nonverbal interactions carefully for later analysis. As the
classroom events were recorded, I took notes of the important points
related to the teacher’s way of teaching, specifically her use of the
nonverbal communication in her teaching process and even the students’
reactions. The observation was conducted very carefully because every
aspect of the teacher’s teaching, specifically the nonverbal aspect of it,
had to be considered in later analyses. Even the smallest movement of
the teacher’s hand, her tiniest eye contact, or even small changes in tone
of her voice could be of significance in the process of the research.
(2) Video recording of the class on the teacher's use of the gestures and
nonverbal communication: In this step of the research, all the sessions
were video recorded which amounted to fifty hours with the focus on
teacher and teacher’s teaching process.
(3) A Semi-structured interview with the students on the use of
nonverbal communication and gestures in the class: The interview was
held at the end of the semester. The interview was started by asking
some basic questions (e.g. Have you ever paid any attention to your
teacher’s nonverbal communication in the classroom? What is your
interpretation of your teacher’s gestures and NVC in the process of the
teaching?) and it continued based on the learners’ responses. According
to Gillham (2005), this kind of interview which is called semi-structured
interview is the most important way of conducting a research interview
for its flexibility and the quality of the obtained data. In this sort of
interview all the participants are asked the same questions. A friendly
atmosphere was provided to make the interviewees relaxed and
motivated to talk.
(4) A semi-strctured interview with the teacher about the use of
nonverbal communication and gestures in the class: After interviewing

the students, the teacher was shown the extracts of the recorded
sessions, i.e., simiulated recall, and asked to explain her use of NVC in
those selected parts.
2.4. Prcedure
The procedure consisted of: 1) observation and note-taking, 2) video-
recording, 3) interview with the learners and 4) interview with the teacher to
ensure triangulation of the data.The present study was conducted through a
six- month observation and an interview with the participants which lasted for
fourteen weeks. For thestudy, the focus was on an EFL class of ninety minutes
which was video-taped in its entirety for about one semester. It was an
intensive course and the semester lasted about six months. Two sessions of
ninety minutes were held each week. Then based on the teacher’s amount of
NVC in each session, at least six sessions with approximately the most use of
NVC were selected from among the sessions during the whole semester. From
each of these six sessions about six extracts of five minutes including the most
use of NVC were selected. Then the selected parts were shown to the learners
and were interviwed about their perceptions and interpretations of the
teacher’s gestures and NVCs. The interviews were conducted individually to
make them feel relaxed and concentrated on their responses. The purpose
wasto know how the students analyzed their the teachers’ NVC and how it led
totheir learning process.
One video extract of at least five minutes from each of the six sessions which
lasted for about thirty minutes was prepared. The guiding principles in the
selection were that each extract was to offer a coherent and comprehensible
stimulus, without creating any confusions and including the maximum use of
NVC. The amount of NVC used was the basis for selection of the video extracts.
It was explained that they could watch video-records as many times as they
liked and it could be stopped at any point to let them take note or have time for
more concentration. The goal of the study and the way to conduct it was
described for them. It was declared that the aim was to know about their
interests, abilities and tendencies in taking benefit of teacher’s NVC in language
learning. The extracts were shown to the participants individually and were
asked to comment on the teacher's body actions that were important for them.
It took about thirty minutes to show the recorded extracts to the participants
and between thirty to thirty-five minutes for talking with the participants.
Hence,each interview lasted about one hour. They focused on what the teacher
did as much as what she said. Their comments were recorded with a short
description of the teacher's gestures. They were asked to tell whatever they
thought about their teacher’s nonverbal communication and not to be worried
about their probable inability in using words and grammar in order to express
their thoughts or their feelings. As some of the participants did not talk as much
as it was expected, asking more questions related to the nonverbal
communication and the learning process was used as the motivating factor. The
process of interview took about fourteen weeks time.
The recorded interviews were listened several times and transcribed
accurately. The interview transcripts were used as a basis for developing data-
driven codes. Each transcript was first divided into units of analysis to include
the instance of NVC identified by the learner and the comment made in relation
to that specific instance. The learners' comments were grouped into 'categories'
that were labeled to reflect learners' perceived functions of the instances of
NVC identified (Sime, 2008).
The analysis involved a process of constantly testing and refining
descriptive codes to take account of all data. Included in the analysis were the
participants' comments on all aspects of the teacher’s NVC, even if they were
not directly linked to a specified gesture or action.
In the next phase of the procedure, the teacher was interviewed about
different aspects of her nonverbal behavior. Theteacher watched the recorded
tape and explained her intention in using those gestures and nonverbal
behaviors in the process of her teaching.
3. Results
The participants referred to the teacher’s use of different NVC for different
functions. In general six general themes emerged by the use of our main catego-
ries, i.e., facial expression, hand and head gestures, eye-contact and tone of
voice. The emerged themes indicated the way students looked at their teacher’s
use of nonverbal communication in the teaching. The following graph can indi-
cate this procedure in brief.
Most of the times, in the emerged themes more than one of the four main
categories were used.
3.1. Teacher as a composer:

Giving life to the language of words
A teacher, like a composer, can put the elements of sentences together in a way
to make the meaning as clearly and memorably as possible. Various facial ex-
pressions of the teacher can act as notes in music. Each note has different
sounds the same as each facial expression conveys different meanings in dia-
logues.
Facial expression as one of the aspects of NVC can be used in explaining the
meaning of words or giving life to the language of words. There are cases that
facial expressions help to understand and learn words and concepts. The teach-
er’s various facial expressions in different situations made the flow of the class
as natural as possible. When the teacher used NVC to show the conditions of the
characters in a dialogue, it became more natural and acceptable for the stu-
dents. For example, as the observation showed, the teacher demonstrated a

serious facial expression to show a command: my mother said to me: don’t make
a mess. The use of facial expression for teaching dialogues is confirmed by the
students, too.
Figure 1.
How language learners perceive teacher’s NVC
Behnaz: I think facial expression can be helpful in the class specifically in

teaching dialogues. Use of facial expression makes our statements more influen-
tial. This aspect of NVC convinces the students on how to deal with the presented
contents.
The video recording of the class (week one) indicated the teacher’s opinion
vividly. In this video recording, the teacher wanted to teach a dialogue which
was about a dispute between an employee and his boss; she tried to show the
reproachful look of the boss in her facial expression and on the other hand the
sense of regret in the face of employee as she spoke instead of them. In another
example, when she wanted to explain words such as sad, happy, shocked, sur-
prised, sick, worried, bored, tired and words like these, she usually, used her fa-
cial expression to show them nonverbally.
The interviews with the students and observing their behaviors and reac-
tions towards the teacher, as she tried to show the meaning of words, indicated
that they were aware of her facial expression beside her verbal communication
in teaching and explaining the vocabularies.
Another aspect of NVC which contributed the teacher to deliver the lan-
guage of words to the learners was hand gestures and head movements. Her
hand gestures in explaining the meaning of words made the class atmosphere
exciting for the students. In the interview sessions with students, there were
many cases that learners mentioned the brilliant role of hand gestures in the
process of learning vocabulary. Almost all of them mentioned this role of hand
gesture as the first and most important one. There are many examples provided
by students as well as class observations in this area. For instance, the teacher
(week twenty-one) raised her hand above her eyes to show the meaning of a
phrase → to shade his eye from the sun.
Sharzad: We sometimes forget a word or a vocabulary; teacher’s hand move-
ment helps us toremember the meaning of that word.
Mojgan: When we memorize words we may forget it after a while but if we
learn it by our visual memory, it may never be forgotten. For this reason, we learn
the words that teacher explains by her hand movement better and we remember
them for a longer time.
As the observer I saw, for instance, the teacher brought her two fingers near
each other to emphasize the exact meaning of the word exactly. The teacher in
her interview said that not all but most of the NVC used in her teaching process
had been consciously used. She added that even in our everyday communica-
tions, some parts of our interactions with others are unintentionally nonverbal
and other parts are consciously used. She mentioned that the feedback she re-
ceived from the students encouraged her to be stable in her use of NVC.
Eye contact was used and mentioned as another instrument and its role in
vocabulary learning was observed more in teaching words which conveyed
emotions and feelings such as: happy, sad, and angry than other words.
Bita: In addition to gestures, teacher’s eye-contact contributes to better learn-
ing of words. For instance, when teacher was teaching the word terrifying, her
eyes were wide-open and this was very helpful.
Fatemeh insisted on the use of tone of voice in learning and commented:
Fatemeh: Teacher’s tone of voice could convey the meaning of the word such
as surprised.
3.2. Teacher as a constructor:

Giving life to the language of structure
Constructors are those who can construct a variety of things by placing them in
some way or another. The constructors can make a construction admirable by
putting things properly or make it something deformed by placing them im-
properly. The same may happen in grammar. If structure elements are ar-
ranged properly, they will make sense to the learners.
The theme of “teacher as constructor” emerged as the teacher attempted to
put different parts of the grammatical points together by means of her nonver-
bals to give liveliness to them. For instance, as the teacher wanted to teach dif-
ferent parts of speech she showed her hand and named each of her fingers as a
definite part of a sentence; then she asked the students to replace each of these
parts whenever she commanded. This method of teaching grammar reminded
the students of the correct structure of sentences at that time and perhaps for-
ever.
Some students such as Shahrzad supported the role of hand gestures in
teaching grammar:
Shahrazad:There was a lesson about comparative adjectives for which she
gave an example for more or less and she explained these words by her hands.
Tahereh: As teacher talked about comparative adjectives, she used her hands.
When two things were equal, she used her hands like this (Tahereh keeps her
hands next to the each other at the same distance) and for comparative adjectives
she used her hands like this (she keeps one of her hands lower than the other one).
The observation (week four) supports Tahereh’s statements. As the teacher
taught comparative adjectives such as taller (than), shorter (than) or other ex-
amples, her hand gestures aided her to show the concept in shapes. Another
example was related to teaching a grammatical point (i.e., another and the oth-
er) in which the teacher’s hand gestures functioned as a medium of teaching.
One good example of using hand gesture was observed in week thirteen when
the teacher taught possessive pronouns such as mine, yours, etc.
Some students observed eye-contact as a tool to understand things that
may not be comprehensible for them if uttered only verbally. Mozhgan referred
to eye-contact as the most important element of NVC. She believed that when
the teacher looked at her, she could learn the grammar better. Ava agreed with
Mozhgan that eye-contact made them learn better.
Ava: When teacher looks in my eyes and teaches, I get the lesson better but if I
don’t see her NVC, I don’t get interested in the lesson
Of course these statements can be classified under the theme of “teacher as
mentor” which contributes to emotional aspect of NVC, too.
Another category of NVC which can be studied under this theme is tone of
voice which was less observed in this area. Also, the learners mentioned briefly
this aspect of NVC in teaching structures. Mozhgan was one of those rare stu-
dents who mentioned tone of voice as an element used by her teacher.
Mozhgan:I have realized the use of tone of voice in teaching comparatives. For
example, our teacher said morelouder than other words in the sentence and this
made me get the sense of the word more.
3.3. Teacher as a mirror:

Reflecting learners’ actions
Mirror does not say anything in words to anybody but at the same time it has
lots of things to mention indirectly. Mirror does not say about our positive or
negative points directly but at the same time it informs us about our good
deeds and those that should be corrected or improved. Teachers using their
facial expressions can be like a mirror.
Ghazal commented that teacher’s facial expressions let her know that she
had been good or not in class. She stated that:
Gahazal: My teacher’s facial expression is like a mirror whose reflection makes
me aware of my deeds in the class. Her admiring or criticizing facial expression
indicates her feelings about me and this frames my attitude towards the class.
Ghazal’s comment shows the importance of facial expression as a feedback
for students. Facial expression can function as an indirect medium to reinforce
her good points and to eliminate the improper ones. Facial expression is like a
scale for students like her who search in their teacher’s face for a reaction to
assess themselves. It means that they take advantage of the teacher’s facial ex-
pression to find out about their functions in the classroom. Even the teacher’s
small smile or a weak frown may influence students’ tendencies towards the
teacher and the class. The effect of the teacher’s facial expression on these kind
of students, depends on the sensitivity of them. It was inferred from her com-
ments that she saw the reflection of her performance in the teacher’s face. To
her, the teacher’s face, which functioned as a mirror, reflected her deeds in the
class and whenever a problem was reflected in the mirror, she attempted to
improve and correct it.
Roghayeh stated that teacher’s facial expressions were very important espe-
cially as she answered a question; her teacher’s facial expressions indicated
that she was right or wrong. Later, Yasaman’s comment showed her common
point of view with Roghayeh. Yasaman was a seventeen-year old student who
needed English for her future education abroad. She observed English not only
as a need but also as a must for her life. In interview with her I considered that
how attentive she was towards her addressee’s facial expressions (field notes
of week ten).
Yasaman: Fortunately or unfortunately I am so dependent on my addressee’s
facial expressions. Their positive reactions make me more motivated to talk and
their negative or neutral ones make me despondent and silent.
Neda’s opinion showed that she could be classified in the same group with
her friends.
Neda: As I answer a question right and my teacher shows it by her eyes and
eyebrow movement, I continue to speak. Also, teacher’s head movement shows me
that I am wrong and I correct myself.
She mentioned that she took advantage of facial expression to correct her
errors. Also, she referred to the teacher’s head movement in making her aware
of her errors. She said that as she made a mistake, the teacher’s shaking head
let her know about her error. In one of the classsessions once the students an-
swered the question incorrectly together, the teacher showed her face in a sur-
prised way to make them correct themselves. As students faced this reaction,
they understood their errors and modified it (class observation of week seven-
teen).
Not only did the teacher use facial expression as a device for teaching
something more effectively but she used it for making the students do self-
correction.
Teacher: Sometimes I use my facial expression to let them know that their an-
swer is not correct and they should correct it.
The class observation (week three) confirms the teacher’s claim.When she
taught a part related to the conditional clauses and when one of the students
answered incorrectly to her question, the teacher showed a surprised facial
expression to make her correct her response. In this example, the teacher’s art
of acting made the student aware of her error and led her to self- correction.
This kind of behavior prevents error from fossilization and at the same time
does not hurt the learner’s self-confidence.
Mahshid was a seventeen year-old student referred to the role of teacher’s
hand movement in self-correction.
Mahshid: When a student answers a question incorrectly, teacher doesn’t tell
her directly that her answer has been wrong but she mentions it by her hand
movement and shaking her head.
Mahshid’s comment can be related to the video recording (week nine)
which showed the teacher’s simultaneous use of hand gestures and head
movement to inform the learners of their errors. In one of the cases, the teacher
repeated a student’s correct part of the sentence and then stopped at the prob-
lematic part and by pointing to her, invited her to continue the sentence in a
correct form (class observation of week two).
Sanaz is another student who mentioned the role of hand gestures in self-
correction. Her example is amongst other instances which support the role of
hand gestures in encouraging the learners for self-correction.
Sanaz: When my teacher asked me a question and I answered incorrectly, she
made me correct myself with moving her hand from side to side to alarm me of
my mistake.
For Shahrzad eye contact was meaningful in making her decide to self-
correct.
Shahrzad: Teacher’s eye contact helps us to self-correct. Her eye contact
makes me knowthat I’m good or not, especially in reading and dialogue.
Then it can be inferred that students are cautious about the teacher’s ges-
tures towards their performance in the class. Here eye-contact acted as a mir-
ror for students to know about their problems in the class.Tahereh named eye-
contact as another important aspect of NVC which reflected their actions in the
class and added that without it, she would be lost.
Tahereh: If teacher doesn’t have eye-contact, I can’t understand that my an-
swer is right or wrong.
For some others, tone of voice was the signal of continuing or stopping. Rei-
haneh emphasized it in self- correction.
Reihaneh: Teacher’s change in tone of voice helps me to know that I’m wrong
and I should correct myself.
An example from the class observation can make Reihaneh’s idea more tan-
gible. It was observed (class observation, week eleven) that as one of the stu-
dents said: “they are the same country”. The teacher pointed to the student and
repeated her answer in a questionable tone of voice in order to make the stu-
dent aware of her error and made her correct herself. As a result, the student
said: “they are from the same country”. At the first sight, this way of using tone
of voice may not seem noticeable and important in error correction but this
way of showing problematic parts contributes to both educational and emo-
tional aspect of class.
3.4. Teacher as a conductor:

Orchestrating the flow of the class
A conductor in an orchestra tries to coordinate each member of an orchestra
with the rest in order to maintain the harmony of the music. If each of those
musicians plays regardless of others, the result will be something harsh and
discordant. The teacher as a conductor can maintain the harmony in the activi-
ties of the class and control the students’ behaviors.
Sometimes the teacher used facial expression to control the students and
maintain the class discipline. It was based on what the students said, the obser-
vation, and all the teacher’s statements.
Minoo: Sometimes we, students, forget that we are in the class and make a
noise and in this condition teacher frowns to warn us of her superiority in the
class and it makes us obey her and respect the class.
Minoo’s expression can be well-observed in video recording (week twenty)
when the teacher frowned at one of the students who distracted her classmate
from listening to the lesson.
Elnaz: Teacher’s facial expression shows us who should answer the question,
read the text or come to the board. Sometimes her facial expression shows that we
should participate more in the class.
Elnaz’s statement reminds me of one of the moments that the teacher was
talking about the journey which was the topic of discussion. Whenever she felt
the students were distracted from the discussion, she used her facial expression
in a way to motivate them to participate more actively in the class discussion.
For example, when Nastaran was indifferent to the other students’ comments
and discussions, the teacher looked at her enthusiastically and asked with a
smile to let the class know about her idea. This solution from the teacher made
Nastaran’s eyes glitter and she started talking because she felt that she and her
opinion was important for the class.
By means of facial expression, the teacher reminds the students of their
misbehavior in the classroom. For example, as the class became noisy, the
teacher showed her dissatisfaction with her annoyed facial expression to make
the students aware of their indiscipline.
Teacher: There are moments in the class that I should remind students that
they are in the class and they should obey its rules.
Teacher’s comment put forth the idea that a class is like a small community
and students as members of this small society should respect its rules in order
to prevent chaos. Somewhere else, in her interview the teacher expressed that
she utilized her facial expression to encourage the students to be as active as
possible in the class. The class observation (week twenty-two) indicated her
attempt to share the right of speaking and participating in the classroom
amongst the students. Her facial expression showed the learners who had to
take turn to speak or answer the question.The teacher also used her hand ges-
tures in the class management.
Teacher: I utilize my hand gesture to coordinate the class and the students.
Such as an orchestra conductor who applies his hands to conduct the performers,
a teacher applies his/her hands to conduct the students appropriately. I prefer to
manage my class indirectly so it makes the class disciplined and at the same time
fresh and active.
The teacher used her hand gestures to invite the students to talk or stop
talking to their classmates (class observation of week twenty-one). Hand ges-
tures also functioned as a way to conduct students’ turn-taking in the class and
to make them participate in the class equally (video-recording of week seven).
For example, the teacher pointed to Mina to ask her to answer the listening
comprehension questions.
Kiara confirmed the use of hands in grabbing the attention of students.
Kiara: We know by experience that we should attend to all of our teacher’s
gestures because sometimes her gesture rather than talk asks us to do or not to
do things.
Kiara’s expression can be observed in class observation (week eleven) in
which the teacher pointed to the students and then turned her hands circularly
to show the students they had to change their roles in dialogue.
It was inferred from the teacher’s interview that if teachers remind students
to be quiet verbally all the time, the learners will get used to it and it works no
more but when they ask the learners nonverbally, they would not feel insulted
and at the same time would be warned of the teachers’ dissatisfaction with
their behavior in the class. In the video recordings (week three and eleven), the
teacher put her finger on her lips and said shhhh to invite the students to be
silent in the class. By means of this action, she maintained her authority in the
class without making too much tension in the classroom.
Sometimes the teacher utilized her hand gestures to handle the students’
participation in the classroom. She tried to command using her hands to make
them less imperious. For example, the teacher pointed to two of the students
and invited them to work in pairs and to do an exercise.
Teacher: I try to use my hand gesture to ask the students to answer a question,
do an exercise or participate in the discussion. I think students are so intelligent
and can guess your wants even from your hand gestures or your head movements.
The teacher’s sayings show that she used her hand gestures to control the
class. Most of the time the teacher utilized her hands, head and even fingers to
guide the students in their activities. For example, when the teacher looked at
Zohreh and nodded her head, Zohreh understood that she should read the text
or answer a question (class observation of week fifteen). As another example,
when the teacher showed her palm to the students they realized that they
should not answer and should wait for their classmate to answer the question
(class observation and video recording of week seven).
Some of the students mentioned the role of eye-contact in the management
of the class besides gestures.
Zohreh: Sometimes our teacher uses her eye-contact to make students quiet.
There were moments in the class when the teacher took advantage of her
eye-contact to conduct the class properly. As the students started talking to
each other and did not listen to the class, the teacher looked at them in a way
that showed her dissatisfaction with them (field notes of week five). In another
case, the teacher by looking at one of the students invited her to read the next
exercise (class observation of week three).
Ava referred to the role of tone of voice in management of the class. She said
that once her friend and she were talking in the classroom and they did not pay
attention to the class. As a sudden, the teacher changed and in fact raised her
tone of voice and made them stop talking.
Teacher: Sometimes I as a teacher need to use my tone of voice as a tool to
control the classroom. I don’t like to interrupt my classroom with direct and ver-
bal hint to the students unless in rare cases in which verbal hint is unavoidable or
simultaneous use of nonverbal and verbal one can be more effective.
As the students talked to each other in the class and did not pay attention to
the teacher, she raised her tone of voice in the process of her teaching to make
them aware of the situation (class observation of week twelve). Here, her tone
of voice asked them to respect the class and their classmates and listen to the
teacher. As observed, this strategy was very efficacious in the management of
the class. Teacher’s use of this strategy was familiar for them and was a sign
that announced: “the class is too noisy! Please, be quiet!”
3.5. Teacher as a mentor:

Bridging towards the learners’ emotions
A close relationship between teacher and learners may help to both of them for
better teaching on the side of teacher and better learning on the side of learn-
ers. I mean some sort of relationship like mentors and their disciples. If learn-
ers believe in their teachers, they follow their direction more willingly. The re-
lation between a mentor and disciples are more of a parent and children rather
than a master and subordinates.
In the interview with the students, some believed that facial expression of
the teacher could stimulate their feelings or give hints about their functions in
the classroom. One of those participants who evaluated facial expression was
Ava.
Ava: I prefer my teacher to look at me and smile as she teaches because this
promotes my self-confidence
As it was stated by Ava, teacher’s happy face can increase students’ self-
confidence and enthusiasm and in contrast, her frowning face may discourage
them from learning.The teacher put forth a topic and asked the students to
comment on it. The teacher smiled in order to make the students talk about the
topic (class observation of week eighteen).
Mina warned teachers of the double role of facial expression in teaching.
Mina worked as a chemist in a laboratory. She believes that if a teacher does not
provide his/her students with an assuring feedback on their performances in
the classroom, they will become disappointed and stop to do their best in the
class. On the other hand, even a trivial reaction in the teacher’s face can pave
the way for students to attempt more than before. As observed in this class-
room, as students talked about their experiences related to a definite topic
which was the subject of the lesson, the teacher smiled to encourage them to
continue (class observation of week four and filed notes of week five). Students,
who faced with this reaction from the teacher, became encouraged and brave to
take a part in the discussion. Then in this case the teacher’s facial expression
reinforced their attitudes to participate more and more in the class.
Teacher: My experience has proved me that students can be so flexible in the
emotional aspect of teaching. They can be motivated to show themselves as a tal-
ent with an ensuring expression in the teacher’s face or they may become discour-
aged to answer a simple question with a disappointing look from the teacher. I try
to manage my facial expression to make students to move in their proper routes.
The teacher said that she was well-informed of her facial expression in the
classroom and tried to manage this aspect of her communication to help the
students in their education. She added that she was aware of the positive or
negative effect of her facial expression on students’ production of knowledge,
and level of learning. The teacher admitted that she knew that her facial ex-
pression could act as a facilitative or debilitative factor which influenced stu-
dents’ output. The existence of disinterest in her facial expression could sup-
press their creativities in expressing themselves.Even in cases that she did not
agree with their comments, she attempted not tointerrupt them by means of
her annoying facial expression. She tried to listen to them carefully and then
she explained her opinion about their sayings. She stated that students should
learn to have courage to express themselves in the class.
It was assumed from the teacher’s use of eye-contact in the class that teach-
ers can talk a lot with their eyes than their mouths and words. Neda approved
the very ideas by stating how the eye-contact controls her actions.
Neda: When I answer a question correctly and teacher shows it by eye and
eyebrow movement, I continue speaking
There were some students for whom eye-contact was not enjoyable. Bita
was one of those students who criticized eye-contact in her own way. She said
that she did not like too much eye-contact because she became anxious and she
could not answer the questions. However, when the teacher looked at her with
smiles, it gave her self-confidence.
Mona was an Electronic student at Azad University. She was twenty-two
years old and related her disagreement with eye-contact to the lack of concen-
tration.
Mona: When teacher looks at me and focuses on me, I lose my concentration,
the only thing that I need at that time.
In comparison to Bita and Mona, Mahya’s disagreement was at a lower level.
As she commented that short eye-contact was good but long ones made her
anxious.
In the observations it was clear that the teacher tried to share her eye-
contacts and looks with all of the students. Of course, later she said that she
tried to share her look and eye-contact with all of the students in the same way
but she thought that it would not be unfair to look at under-active students
more than the over-active ones.
Teacher: Working with different sorts of students for years, has taught me
how my eye-contact can affect my students’ behaviors in the class. I have realized
that my eye-contact can have different effects on my students and they react vari-
ously in response. Students’ eyes are means for communication. As I look at their
eyes, I read their minds. Eye contact is a very important element not only in teach-
ing but also in every day communication
Reihaneh: When teacher looks at my eyes, I understand better and pay more
attention to the lesson especially the grammar points. I feel I have to learn be-
cause she looks at me and she expectsme to answer. My teacher’s kind look makes
me brave to talk. Teacher’s eye-contact gives me self-confidence to talk and par-
ticipate in the class. I think teacher’s eye-contact act as feedback.As teacher looks
at us very carefully, she can translate our minds.
Some of the students such as Reihaneh referred to the emotional aspect of
eye-contact.
Reihaneh: Teacher’s eye-contact is very important as she looks at me; I feel I’m
in the class and I’m important for her”.
In observation (week three) when a student answered a question correctly,
teacher kept her index finger towards her and said: exactly. Or somewhere else
as all the students provided the teacher with a good response, she clapped
them as a feedback and this clap made some quiet ones participate more in the
classroom (video recording of week ten). Here, teacher’s hand gesture acted as
a tool to convey her positive energy to the students.
Teacher: I have learned that I can reinforce students’ good functions in the
class by means of working on their emotions. One way to develop this aspect of
their learning is use of hand or head gestures to encourage them to be as active as
possible.
The above statement makes clear the teacher’s attitude towards the learn-
ers’ performances and emotions in the process of learning. She obviously
searched for the situations to encourage the students for more participation in
the class and her hand gestures functioned as a tool for her (field notes of week
seven). There were moments in the class (class observation of week nineteen)
when the teacher was excited with students’ responses; she nodded her head
enthusiastically to confirm their responses. This reaction from the teacher mo-
tivated them to participate more confidently in the class activities.
Tone of voice is as a tool to convey feeling to the interlocutor. This aspect of
NVC makes the audience aware of the nature of an utterance as a question or
statement. As an example, Marjan looked at tone of voice as a tool to make vari-
ety in the class.
Mojgan: I think that dull or flat tone of voice makes the class boring and ex-
hausted. A student who seats in the class for about ninety minutes or more needs
to variety which can be made by means of teacher’s change in tone of voice.
The teacher did not change her tone of voice only for making the teaching
point more understandable, but also for changing the class mood. She wanted
to make the class atmosphere as pleasant as possible for the students. She
thought that this made the students more receptive for learning new materials.
Teacher: There are moments that I feel a need to motivate students to partici-
pate more and more in the class; then I change my tone of voice to a fresher one to
make them joyful. I believe that the energy in my voice can be delivered to the
students then it’s better to be a positive one. If my voice is tired and bored, it will
be transferred to my students and will influence their learning’s attitudes.
3.6. Teacher as vocalist:

Producing the language of rhythm
One of the characteristics of voice is its quality as a natural song. This quality
can be utilized in classroom, too. As it was observed in the class and the inter-
views demonstrated, the happy and energetic tone of voice of the teacher made
the class environment lively and friendly. Teacher as a vocalist can save the
class atmosphere from boredom. The monotonic atmosphere of the class may
discourage learners from complete attention to teacher and learning material.
The teacher’s comment below shows that she used her tone of voice for a
more effective teaching. It is inferred from her opinion that she believed in us-
ing tone of voice to make conversations in the class natural and native or near
native like.
Teacher: In teaching dialogues, I try to match my voice to the characters of the
dialogue to convey the natural sense of it to the students as much as possible.Tone
of voice gives rhythm to the flow of the class. Tone of voice can inject liveliness to
the class to make it a live place for the students to enjoy it. I believe that if teach-
ers speak beautifully and with a mild and pleasant tone in the class, their words
would be more influential on the students and they enjoy listening to them and
the opposite is true, too.
The teacher believes that most students do not learn how to read or per-
form a dialogue. They read or retell dialogues the same as reading an article
from a newspaper. They lose the sense and naturalness of the conversation be-
cause they have not learned that language and speaking a language need to be
accompanied by all its characteristics. She insisted that language learners
should learn that saying a negative statement in a neutral tone cannot convey
the negative sense of it to the audience.
Roghayeh claimed that the tone of voice makes learning enjoyable.
Roghayeh: Use of tone of voice makes teaching more enjoyable especially in
teaching reading and dialogues.
The class observation (week fourteen) indicated that whenever the class
was getting exhausting for the students, the teacher used a strategy to make
them free from tediousness. In one of these cases when she was teaching a
reading text about a mystery, she read the text in a mysterious tone of voice to
make it interesting for the students.
The collected data indicated that most of the participants in this study
(about %70) evaluated hand gestures as the most useful NVC which contribut-
ed to their understanding and learning. The learners highlighted the role of
hand gestures in explaining the vocabularies which led to fast learning and easy
remembering of words. Most of the examples uttered by the learners indicated
their positive looks towards hand gestures in teaching vocabularies and gram-
mar points. The cases related to the use of hand gestures mentioned by the stu-
dents included:
 Teaching grammar: as teacher teaches comparative adjectives, she
uses her hands in order to compare two things or materials. This
kind of teaching conveys the meaning in a clearer mode.
 Showing the meaning of words and phrases: fasten the seat belt,
pay, getting the money, exchanging the money, roll up the car win-
dow, to take money from the bank (withdraw), to borrow money from
the bank, put money in the bank (deposit)
 Make the students self-correct: as students answer a question in-
correctly, teacher applies her hand gestures to make them aware of
their errors and consequently self-correction.
The second NVC element which received more attention by the learners was
eye-contact. The learners accounted eye-contact as a medium to develop their
interaction with the teacher. This group of learners who comprised%40 of the
participants supported their attitudes towards eye-contact and that appropri-
ate eye-contact can provide sense of trust and friendship between two sides of
interaction in the class. Learners in this group stated that the first step to gain
trust is through eye-contact. In their point of view, eyes were a double tool to
help them make a two-way relationship with teacher and students e.g. to show
their problem in understanding some parts or receive feedback from teacher on
their performance.
Facial expression was perceived as the third favorite category. For them, fa-
cial expressions revealed the sense of the words and dialogues. These students
who cared for their teacher’s facial expression and included%35 of the partici-
pants stated that teacher’s changes in her facial expression indicated the mood
of characters in the dialogue more vividly. Also, facial expression was used as a
reaction to the students’ performances in the class. The learners took ad-
vantage of teacher’s facial expression to realize her satisfaction or dissatisfac-
tion with their performance in the classroom.
Tone of voice received the least attention from the Iranian learners of this
study and only%20 of them mentioned the role of tone of voice amongst the
other nonverbal moods. Most students observed it as a medium to change the
atmosphere of the class and save it from being boring. Also, they regarded tone
of voice as a device to make learners aware of their errors, to make them quiet
and make them take turns in the class activities.
4. Discussion
The resarch commenced considering the statement that “the language teacher’s
role stands out prominently in the nonverbal situations” (Soudek & Soudek,
1985, p.112). The results of the present study indicated how teacher’s art of
acting and demonstration along with the verbal input can help learners in their
learning and dealing with the materials and information taught by the teacher.
This study showed how teacher’s use of different four categories of NVC
provided Iranian language learners with self-correction. The learners
mentioned some examples of NVC which they took advantage of to become
aware of their errors and try for self-correction. Also there were cases when
teacher mentioned language learners’ errors and invited the learners to self-
correct by means of her NVC. These results are in line with Muramoto’s (1999
cited in Taleghani- Nikzam, 2008) study which showed how teacher’s use of
specific gestures provided the students with an opportunity for self-correction.
Or Heslin and Patterson (1982) reported that the most significant function of
NVC is its partial communication and indirect mentioning of the matters that
might be offensive if verbalized. The findings of this study support this view,
too.
Allen (1999) suggests that nonverbal elements contribute to comprehension
by producing more contextual information. The findings of the present study
support Allen’s view in the sense that teacher’s nonverbal cues provided the
learners with as much information as she could in order to help their under-
standing.
Barnett’s (1983) study indicated that teacher’s nonverbals motivated
students to talk and practice more in the target language and removed the
necessity for excessive verbal explanations. The results of the present study
support Barnett’s claim by the evidences inferred from the observed classroom.
The teacher’s use of positive facial expression or eye-contact encouraged
learners to participate more in the class activities and specifically class
discussions. And also, her use of hand gestures and facial expressions helped
learners to comprehend the meaning of those words which could be conveyed
using NVC rather than using first language equivalences.
The findings of the present study indicated that teacher’s eye-contact and
smiling face contributed to an increase in their self-confidence to participate
and learn more effectively. This view is in line with the results in the study con-
ducted by McCroskey, Fayer, Richmond, Sallinen, and Barraclough (1996) that eye-
contact, vocal variety and smiling were the nonverbal behaviors which were
highly related to the effective learning. Also, Mehrabian (1981) asserted that
those teachers who use affirmative NVC help students to gain self-esteem for
more cooperation in the class.
Wood (2007) believes that as we look at people directly, we encourage them
to talk. We rarely use verbal communication to invite people to talk or to be
silent in our daily conversations. He also believes that holding eye-contact
indicates interest and helps to keep the flow of the conversation. Similarly, the
results of the present study reveal that eye-contact between the teacher and the
learners gives confidence to the students and motivates them to speak in the
class although there were cases amongst the learners who assumed eye-contact
as a debilitative element. Therefore, all the findings in nonverbal
communication researches cannot be applied to all the situations and for all the
learners.
In general, the learners’ comments showed that as long as the teacher had a
kind look and made eye-contact with the students patiently, they felt relaxed
and were not afraid of their mistakes. Another point worth mentioning is that
the younger learners in the current study with the average age of sixteen stated
that they observed hand gestures as the most useful aspect of NVC specifically
in vocabulary learning while older ones with the average age of twenty-nine
mentioned facial expression as the most helpful NVC especially in speaking ar-
ea.
In the interview with the students it was revealed that each student had her
own ideas about the role of NVC. Of course, there were cases that they uttered
ideas which were similar about a specific situation e.g. almost all of them ob-
served hand gesture as a good tool for elaborating the meaning of the words.
Some of them evaluated eye-contact highly and some others preferred to use
hand gestures as a helpful aspect of NVC.
The findings of this research indicated that almost all the Iranian EFL learn-
ers pay attention to four main categories of NVC. It was notified that Iranian
EFL learners paid the most amount of attention to hand gestures and the least
to tone of voice, which indicated their attitudes towards NVC categories in the
context of Iran which might differ from other contexts. The implication of these
NVCs can be viewed from two perspectives: the cognitive and the affective one.
Teachers can use NVC to aid their students cognitively and consider their emo-
tions and feelings as well. In this study the teacher applied NVC and specifically
hand gestures as a psychological instrument to control the class and students
indirectly and make them understand the content taught in the most appropri-
ate way. She also used facial expression specifically to help shy students to feel
relaxed in the class and participate in the activities and express themselves
more openly.
It should be mentioned that the present study explored the teacher’s non-
verbal communication amongst adult intermediate level students all of whom
were female. Different results may be revealed if males and learners with dif-
ferent levels of language proficiency are considered.
5. Conclusion
The class observations, interviews with the participants and field notes un-
veiled the learners’ perceptions of the teacher’s use of NVC in the classroom. Six
main themes were derived from all these sources of data collection: Teacher as
composer, Teacher as constructor, Teacher as conductor, Teacher as mentor,
Teacher as mirror and Teacher as vocalist. These themes emerged as the result
of interaction between verbal language and its accompanied NVC. The findings
indicated that almost all the learners in the observed class paid attention to the
teacher’s NVC in the process of language learning but their attitudes towards
one or more specific aspects of NVCs studied in his research varied from one
student to another. Perhaps the best description which supports teacher’s NVC
is the opinion uttered by one of the students who believed that “doing is better
than saying” (Zohreh’s interview). The learners’ comments revealed that the
same as they believed the actors should apply all of their capabilities and physi-
cal abilities to convey the text of the play or movie, the teachers should resort
to their NVC in addition to their knowledge to teach the materials of the course
in the best way.
The findings indicated that most of the students of the current study bene-
fited from NVC significantly and the rest of them took advantage of it in some
areas and in a smaller scale. According to the gained evidences, the role of NVC
cannot be denied in the process of language teaching. The students’ interviews
showed that the learners preferred their teachers to do much more NVC in their
teaching and in the classroom; and that sophisticated technology cannot re-
place the human side of the teacher. Although new technology can be a valuable
source of information for both learners and teachers, the role of teacher as the
center of the class cannot be denied. It was inferred that while English was a
new language and considered as foreign, the gesture language became a friend-
ly familiar language that even replaced Persian in translation. In other words,
learners utilized the nonverbal language to learn English as a new language and
most of the time NVC was used to convey meaning of the words rather than the
L1 translation.
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A Qualitative Study On Teacher S Nonverb

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Journal of Language Horizons, Alzahra University — 109

Volume 1, Issue 1, Spring-Summer 2017 — 109

Received: 2017/01/01 | Revised: 2017/04/17 | Accepted: 2017/05/03

(Corresponding author); [email protected]

er as a mirror, Teacher as a conductor, Teacher as a mentor, and Teacher

2006) have emphasized the role of nonverbal behavior in effective teaching in

Despite different research conducted in this field, no qualitative analysis of

nonverbal communication and gestures in the class: After interviewing

3.1. Teacher as a composer:

dents. For example, as the observation showed, the teacher demonstrated a

Behnaz: I think facial expression can be helpful in the class specifically in

3.2. Teacher as a constructor:

3.3. Teacher as a mirror:

3.4. Teacher as a conductor:

3.5. Teacher as a mentor:

3.6. Teacher as vocalist:

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