Ứng dụng cử chỉ thân thiện của giáo viên vớI sinh viên năm nhất ở felte ulis vnu và tác động của nó

Ứng dụng cử chỉ thân thiện của giáo viên vớI sinh viên năm nhất ở felte ulis vnu và tác động của nó Ứng dụng cử chỉ thân thiện của giáo viên vớI sinh viên năm nhất ở felte ulis vnu và tác động của nó Ứng dụng cử chỉ thân thiện của giáo viên vớI sinh viên năm nhất ở felte ulis vnu và tác động của nó luận văn tốt nghiệp,luận văn thạc sĩ, luận văn cao học, luận văn đại học, luận án tiến sĩ, đồ án tốt nghiệp luận văn tốt nghiệp,luận văn thạc sĩ, luận văn cao học, luận văn đại học, luận án tiến sĩ, đồ án tốt nghiệp

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

 GRADUATION PAPER

THE USE OF NONVERBAL IMMEDIACY BEHAVIORS IN THE FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH CLASSROOMS AT FELTE, ULIS, VNU AND ITS

INFLUENCE

Supervisor: Trần Hoài Phương (PhD)

Trần Thị Thanh Phúc (MA) Student: Bùi Lệ Hương

Course: QH2012.F1.E1

HÀ NỘI - 2016

ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH

 KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP

ỨNG DỤNG CỬ CHỈ THÂN THIỆN CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VỚI SINH VIÊN NĂM NHẤT Ở FELTE, ULIS,

VNU VÀ TÁC ĐỘNG CỦA NÓ

Supervisor: Trần Hoài Phương (PhD)

Trần Thị Thanh Phúc (MA) Student: Bùi Lệ Hương

Course: QH2012.F1.E1

HÀ NỘI - 2016

ACCEPTANCE

I hereby state that I: Bùi Lệ Hương, class: E1K46 , being a candidate for

the degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited

in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper

Signature

Bùi Lệ Hương Hanoi, June 9th, 2016

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I wish to express my gratitude towards my supervisors, Ms Phuong Hoai Tran and Ms Phuc Thi Thanh Tran, for their great support, invaluable feedback, and variable sources of useful materials

I would like to give my special thanks to the teachers in my multiple-case study for their willingness to take part in the research as well as their sincere cooperation during the data collection process

My gratefulness is delivered to all beloved students in the two classes that I observed, who spent their precious time completing my questionnaires in details without any resistance

I also express my appreciation to the six students accepting to attend my interview They not only answered my questions whole-heartedly but also shared with me interesting opinions related to the study

Finally, my thanks also go to Ms Thuy Hong Hoang and Ms Minh Nguyet Nguyen for their continual encouragement and professional instructions

ABSTRACT

Teacher nonverbal immediacy is a valuable pedagogical instrument which helps building a positive teacher-student relationship However, while the topic has long been thoroughly studied in the West, it has not received adequate attention to in Asian contexts, particularly in EFL classes in Vietnam For this reason, the research was carried out with the hope to fill the gap The main objectives of the study are to figure out the frequently used nonverbal immediacy behaviors of teachers at first-year classrooms, as well as teachers‟ and first-year students‟ perceptions of its influences

A multiple-case study was utilized with the participation of two first-year English teachers and their students to investigate the problem The data was collected through the three sources: questionnaires, interviews, and observations Descriptive and content methods were used to analyze the data collected Comparisons between the two cases were also made

The research discovered the nonverbal immediacy behaviors which were often used by the teachers belong to kinesics, paralanguage, and proxemics types In terms of the tool‟s impact, both teachers and students believed that nonverbal immediacy helps create a pleasant learning environment and increase students‟ affection towards their teachers As a result, students become more interested in the subject and willingly participate in in-class activities and comply with their teachers‟ demand Moreover, immediate teachers are also evaluated highly by their students

vi

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study

2 Aims and objectives of the study

3 Methods of the study

4 Significance of the study

5 Scope of the study

6 Organization of the study

3 The influence of nonverbal immediacy in teaching

3.1.1 Psychological impact

3.1.2 Affective impact

4 5-6

6 6-7

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY

3.1.1 Questionnaire for teachers

3.1.2 Questionnaire for students

3.3.1 Teachers

3.3.2 Students

4 Data collection procedures

5 Data analysis procedures

14 14-15

21

CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS

1 Case 1

nonverbal immediacy

22-27 27-30

30-34

nonverbal immediacy

2 Case 2

nonverbal immediacy

nonverbal immediacy

34-39 39-42

55

LIST OF FIGURES, TABLES, AND ABBREVIATIONS

Dung and her first-year students

and her first-year students

nonverbal immediacy influence

50

of nonverbal immediacy impact

52

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

FELTE: Faculty of English Language Teacher Education

ULIS: University of Languages and International Studies

VNU: Vietnam National University

EFL: English as a foreign language

NIB: Nonverbal immediacy behaviors

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study

Among contributors to a successful teaching and learning process, a close relationship between teachers and students is of vital importance, as it not only motivates learners‟ willingness to participate in class activities (Hughes & Chen, 2011), but also facilitate affective and cognitive learning in the classroom (Richmond, McCroskey, & Hickson, 2007) One strategy to develop a positive teacher-student relationship is the application of immediacy (Richmond, McCroskey, & Hickson, 2007) Immediacy, composed of verbal and nonverbal behaviors, is one of the behaviors which reduce “psychological distance between communicators” (Mehrabian, 1971, as cited in Zhang & Sapp, 2008) This study focuses on the utilization of nonverbal immediacy behaviors (NIB) in the classroom NIB are classified into six categories, namely kinesics, proxemics, haptics, chronemics, physical appearance and paralanguage (Quinlisk, 2008) Numerous empirical researches have supported that teacher‟s NIB have positive influence on students‟ motivation, affective and cognitive learning (Christophel, 1990; Rodriguez, Plax, & Kearney, 1996) Furthermore, immediate teachers are believed to have more “referent, respect or liking power” to reduce “student resistance to instructors‟ attempts to influence or modify behavior” (Richmond, McCroskey, & Hickson, 2007, p 283) Thus students have the tendency to

“comply with or conform to the wishes of the more immediate teachers” (Richmond, McCroskey, & Hickson, 2007, p 284), making the task of classroom management less difficult Finally, nonverbal immediacy is proved to positively affect students‟ evaluation of their teachers (McCroskey, Richmond, Sallinen, Fayer, & Barraclough, 1995) Overall, nonverbal immediacy is a beneficial tool in the classroom for both teachers and students

Nevertheless, the application of NIB in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom has received inadequate attention, considering the small number of related researches conducted (e.g., Myers, Zhong, & Guan, 1998; Park, Lee, Yun,

& Kim, 2009; Özmen 2011), particularly in cases of Asian countries such as Vietnam This motivates the researcher to conduct this study at the Faculty of English Language Teacher Education, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University (FELTE, ULIS, VNU) with the teachers and students there as participants

2 Aims and objectives of the study

The research aimed to investigate NIB utilized by two teachers in their EFL classroom at FELTE, ULIS, VNU The objectives of the study were: (1) to identify common NIB of these two teachers, and (2) to report how these teachers and their students perceived the effectiveness of these behaviors

Specifically, the study seeks to answer three questions:

1 What are the nonverbal immediacy behaviors that are frequently utilized by teachers at FELTE, ULIS, VNU?

2 What are teachers’ perceptions of the influence of their nonverbal immediacy in the EFL classroom?

3 What are FELTE students’ perceptions of the influence of the nonverbal immediacy used by the teacher in the EFL classroom?

3 Methods of the study

This is a multiple-case study conducted in two classrooms at ULIS, VNU The participants were two teachers and their students The methods of collecting data included questionnaires, interviews and classroom observations Content analysis and statistical analysis were implemented to find the answers to the research questions

4 Significance of the study

This study will contribute to the very limited research corpus on NIB in the EFL classroom in Vietnam Additionally, it is expected to assist EFL teachers in Vietnam realize the efficiency of nonverbal immediacy and apply it more appropriately for behavioral, instrumental, psychological and affective purposes

5 Scope of the study

In this study, the researcher only focuses on four types of NIB based on her own experience with her previous teachers and her belief that those are most perceived behaviors by students and teachers Participants of the study were two first year teachers, together with a class of first year students respectively being taught by them

6 Organization of the study

The research consists of five chapters as follows:

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION provides the readers with necessary background knowledge to understand the aspect of the research and the rationale for the research Additionally, the aims, objectives, scope, and significance of the research are briefly presented

CHAPER II: LITERATURE REVIEW synthesizes the theories related to the topic, including definitions of key terms as well as the review of related studies worldwide

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY elaborates on the methods and procedures adopted to conduct the study

CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS presents the data collected from the two cases

CONCLUSION analyzes and compares the findings of the two cases, answers the three research questions, summarizes the main points, discussing the implications, reveals the limitations, and offers suggestions for further studies

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW

1 Immediacy

1.1.Conceptual definition

While the use of immediacy in the class has been the focus of a great deal of instructional communication studies (Andersen, 1979; Gorham, 1988; Plax, Kearney, Richmond, & McCroskey, 1986; Richmond, Gorham, & McCroskey, 1987), the term itself has not received adequate attention „Immediacy‟, proposed

by Mehrabian (1969), referred to behaviors or behavioral cues which “enhance closeness to and nonverbal interaction with another” (p 302) Immediacy thus can

be characterized as actions that reduce psychological and physical distance between communicators This helps explain the main function of immediacy as a tool for communicators to convey a positive feeling towards those they are interacting (Mehrabian, 1967; Mehrabian & Ferris, 1967; Mehrabian & Ksionzky, 1970) Mehrabian (1971) concluded that “people are drawn towards persons and things they like, evaluate highly, and prefer; they avoid or move away from things they dislike, evaluate negatively, or do not prefer” (p 1) In other words, an individual‟s evaluation of another is what determines his willingness to initiate immediate behaviors The idea was agreed upon by Richmond (2002), who referred to immediacy as “perception of physical or psychological closeness between people” (p 68) Accordingly, people tend to feel closer to interactants with a good sense of humor or who share frequent eye contact (Richmond, 2002) Andersen (1978, 1979) investigated and developed the application of immediacy within classroom based on the hypothesis that this type of behaviors may be positively related to effective teaching Later on, Richmond (2002) extended the concept and considered immediacy “as a means of classroom control, as a means

of building affect in the classroom, and as a means of increasing student learning that is available to educators” (p 66)

The second form is nonverbal immediacy, which is the main focus of this research A research by Richmond and McCrockey (2000) has connected teacher‟s nonverbal immediacy with students‟ positive evaluation of their teacher, improved affective as well as cognitive learning The study further put forward the

“principle of immediate communication”, which suggests that, “The more communicators employ immediate behaviors, the more others will like, evaluate highly, and prefer such communicators” (p 86), and vice versa This was supported by an empirical research named “Half a minute: Predicting teacher evaluations from thin slices of nonverbal behavior and physical attractiveness” (Ambady & Rosenthal, 1993) In this study, a number of end-of-semester students were chosen to evaluate college teachers in terms of nonverbal behaviors, physical attractiveness, and effectiveness based on under-30-second mute video clips The results revealed that teachers‟ nonverbal behaviors constitute students‟ very first impression of their instructors and may positively or negatively influence their evaluation (Ambady & Rosenthal, 1993) Thus, teachers with nonverbal immediacy are more likely to be evaluated highly by their students (Richmond, 2002)

Though both verbal and nonverbal behaviors can be combined to develop students‟ positive attitudes towards their teachers, only nonverbal behavioral cues

can exist independently (Edwards and Edwards, 2001) This is also the focus of the study

2 Types of nonverbal immediacy

There are many ways to group nonverbal immediacy Richmond (2002) classifies the instrument into instructor appearance, gestures and movement, facial behavior, eye behavior, vocal behavior, space, touch, environment, scent and time Meanwhile, Özmen (2011) divides nonverbal immediacy into five types including kinesics, proxemics, vocalics, haptics, and oculesics Quinlisk (2008) categorizes the tool into six kinds: kinesics, proxemics, haptics, chronemics, physical appearance, and paralanguage on the grounds of “their physical manner of expression” (p 27) Though the three authors agree on almost the same behaviors, the researcher selected Quinlisk‟s categories to analyse the data of this study, because it allows a broad view of the nonverbal behaviors generating immediacy

in the classroom

2.1.Kinesics

Kinesics, known as “body movements”, comprises “facial expression, smiling, eye gaze, gestures, head nods, posture, body orientation, gait, mirroring movements, shoulder shrugs and random movements” (Quinlisk, 2008, p 27) Meanwhile, Richmond groups this term into three categories, namely gesture and movement, eye behavior, and facial behavior (2002) Because most of those movements occur around the area of head and face, they are highly visible, thus responsible for a significant number of nonverbal messages (Birdwhistell, 1970) Particularly, teachers using a variety of movements and gestures are assumed to make the lesson delivery animated and interesting Therefore, it is suggested that instructors should train their NIB to make the learning environment motivating and improve teacher-student relationship (Richmond, 2002)

2.2.Proxemics

This type of nonverbal immediacy refers to “the amount of personal space in conversation, seating arrangements in both public and private contexts, and

physical or symbolic marking of personal territory” (Quinlisk, 2008, p.28) From Richmond‟s perspective, the teacher‟s application of personal space transits the message of closeness or distance (2002) An instructor who stands behind the desk while lecturing and scarcely approaches the students might be perceived as

“unfriendly, unreceptive, unapproachable, and nonimmediate” (p 74) By contrast, teachers who frequently approach students, especially when listening to students‟ questions or comments is perceived as likeable and approachable

2.3.Haptics

Closely related to proxemics, however, haptics – touch - differs from proxemics in the level of closeness While proxemics implies a certain gap between communicators, haptics refers to actual physical contact It can be in forms of “hand-shaking, hugging, kissing, hand-holding, bumping and shoving, or

a light touch on the shoulder” (Quinlisk, 2008, p 28) However, teachers should

be aware that some students might be “touch-avoidant”, thus this type of nonverbal immediacy should be used in accordance to “the touch norms in schools and communities” (Richmond, 2002, p 75)

2.4.Paralanguage

This feature can be referred to as paralinguistics or vocalics (Quinlisk, 2008) Paralanguage is comprised of “tone, speech rate, volume, intonation, dialect, accent, pauses, and pitch variety” (p 28) In other words, vocalics emphasizes the way people speak rather than the content they deliver (Qinlisk, 2008) The result

of Richmond‟s survey on the kinds of teachers students dislike proves that instructor with a monotone or dull voice is the least preferred The students describe this voice as “the most objectionable” and “projected the image of boredom, noncaring, and nonimmediacy” (Richmond, 2002, p 73) On the contrary, teacher with a “lively, animated voice” is more preferable for they are believed to deliver a much more interesting lesson (p 73)

Chronemics is related to teacher‟s conveyance of the sense of time while interacting with students, which potentially further “signals respect, attention, eagerness, and importance” (Quinlisk, 2008, p 28) Instructors frequently arrive late for the class might lead to the feeling of unimportance within the learners If this continues, the students might sense the message that their teachers do not care about the class, and will also arrive late (Richmond, 2002) In addition, the amount

of wait time instructor allows for students to respond possibly increases or reduces immediacy Teacher permitting little time might signal the reinforcement of

“authority and expertise” as well as “little confidence in students” (p 28)

2.6.Physical appearance

Teacher appearance is regarded as a “very powerful mode” among the six kinds of NIB This aspect can be detected in the “clothing, make-up, cosmetics, jewelry and adornments, hairstyle, body type, height, weight, and skin tones and textures” (Quinlisk, 2008, p 28) Teachers in casual or informal but not untidy clothes are regarded as outgoing, receptive and likeable (Richmond, 2002) However, a study by Ambady & Rosenthal (1993) discovered that the students rarely paid any attention to the appearance of the instructors It may be that when actually interacting with other communicators, the influence of physical attractiveness becomes overshadowed by other factors, for example their behaviors or voice (Barnes & Rosenthal, 1985)

This paper only investigated the first four types of NIB, as listed in the table below This is due to the researcher‟s experience with her teachers and her beliefs that those NIB were the most outstanding perceived by students in general The items were adapted from Richmond and McCroskey (2004)

Types of NIB NIB

1 Kinesics Leans forward

Eye contact with individuals

Face is animated

Smiles or laughs

Nods head

Uses hands and arms to gesture

Calmly moves body around

Body posture is relaxed

2 Proxemics Sits or stands closer when talking to another

Moves closer when talking to another

3 Haptics Touches on the hand, forearm, and shoulder

Pats the shoulder of another

4 Paralanguage A variety of vocal expressions

Relaxed tones

Short pauses

Table 1: Nonverbal immediacy behaviors

(Adapted from Richmond & McCroskey, as cited in Özmen, 2011)

All of the items above, except for short pauses and animated face, are in accordance with those mentioned in Andersen‟s studies (1979)

3 The influence of nonverbal immediacy in teaching

3.1.Influence of nonverbal immediacy on students

3.1.1 Psychological impact

Nonverbal immediacy is among powerful tools which establish a supportive and comfortable learning environment A wide range of studies have suggested that the use of NIB in the classroom decreases anxiety and stress of students, as well as improve their confidence and their willingness to respond to teachers (Frymier, 1993; Richmond, 2002; Allen, Witt, & Wheeless, 2006; Pogue & AhYun, 2006; Witt et al., 2004; Quinlisk, 2008; Sidelinger, 2010) According to

Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986), anxious learners find it extremely difficult to engage in speaking activities, acquire knowledge or attentively listen to foreign language input Unsurprisingly, language anxiety has been one of the main factors preventing learners from mastering a foreign language (Young, 1999, as cited in Dornyei, 2001) Studies by Chesebro and McCroskey (1998), Messman and Jones-Corley (2001) have associated increased teacher immediacy with a comfortable classroom atmosphere without almost any tension By utilizing NIB, teachers can “alleviate student anxiety about the classroom situation” (Richmond,

2002, p 79) Because students often perceive highly immediate teachers as being more caring and friendlier; they tend to be “less apprehensive” about the learning environment (p 79) As students experience a low-tension instructional atmosphere, they are more willing to attend class activities Consequently, they confidently make mistakes, receive and progress from feedback without any negative reaction (Richmond, 2002) These factors will contribute to students‟ process of foreign language acquisition

In general, NIB creates a supportive instructional environment and encourages students to participate in class activities without any obligation As the foreign language‟s burden decreases and confidence improves, students can learn more effectively (Richmond, 2002; Quinlisk, 2008; Allen et al., 2006; Frymier, 1993; Pogue & AhYun, 2006; Witt et al., 2004; Sidelinger, 2010)

to the level of the teacher‟s nonverbal immediacy (Pogue & AhYun, 2006; Jonathan & Jamie, 2008; Richmond, 2002) Therefore, teacher immediacy results

in “increased liking, affiliation, and positive effect on the part of the student” (Richmond, 2002, p 79) Similarly, instructors with high level of immediacy are often considered credible by their students (Teven & Hanson, 2004) At the same time, student affection for the subject is enhanced, which motivates them to learn harder (Richmond, 2002; Ballester, 2013) Their increased affection towards the course might further lead to students‟ autonomy and commitment to study the subject even after completing the course, which serves to benefit the learners in the long term (Richmond, 2002)

3.1.3 Instructional impact

NIB creates a positive teacher-student relationship Teachers with little use of NIB are often seen as distant and unapproachable, which consequently forms a barrier between instructors and students Because of this barrier, students do not have the courage to raise their voice in class, thus preventing them from acquiring what is taught (Richmond, 2002) By contrast, when applying immediacy cues in class by such actions as head nodding at the students‟ answers, immediate teachers motivate the students to actively engage themselves in the class activities Moreover, these behaviors also increase within students the sense of trust, warmth and approachability that promote teacher-student dynamic (Andersen, 1979; Mehrabian, 1981) As a matter of fact, teachers‟ imposition and authority from the students‟ perspective seems to lessen, encouraging students to “ask clarifying questions about the content with no fear of the teacher” (Richmond, 2002, p 79)

In general, nonverbal immediacy fosters a positive relationship between teacher and students, which motivates the learners to engage actively in class activities, thus improving their own language acquisition

3.1.4 Behavioral impact

When teachers are required to deal with disciplinary problems, nonverbal technique assists to manage the classroom while maintaining teacher-student closeness It can be used as a substitute for “verbal reprimand or control” without the risk of having learners feeling humiliated when being corrected in front of the class (Richmond, 2002, p 79) For instance, when dealing with misbehaving student, the teacher can touch his shoulder to catch the students‟ attention In this way, the teacher does not have to use commanding words which might affect negatively the students‟ attitude towards the teacher while is still guaranteed to achieve the desired result Moreover, teacher nonverbal immediacy also results in reducing the “students‟ resistance to teachers‟ influence attempts or teachers‟ behavior modification attempts” (Richmond, 2002, p 79) Since most immediate teachers are preferred and respected by students, it is easier for them to have the students willingly comply with their wishes (Andersen, 1979; Sanders & Wiseman, 1990) Mottet, Parker-Raley, Cunningham, Beebe, and Raffeld (2006) shared the same viewpoint when stating that students were more willing to satisfy the requests of highly immediate instructors On the other hand, non-immediate teachers face with more difficulty asking students to behave appropriately in class (Richmond, 2002)

3.2.Influence of nonverbal immediacy on teachers

Among the significant influences of NIB on teachers is student‟s positive evaluation The study by Ambady and Rosenthal (1993) has proved the students‟ ability to assess teachers as immediate or not just by observing their immediacy cues Another significant research conducted by McCroskey et al (1995) has demonstrated how students‟ perceptions of teachers are connected to teacher immediacy cues In this research, students were asked to complete the questionnaires on their most recent teachers and classes The results have revealed that teacher nonverbal immediacy has either positive or negative effect on the students‟ willingness to enroll in another course with the same teacher To be more

specific, teachers with high levels of immediacy cues encouraged more students to attend the next classes of those same teachers On the contrary, students were less likely to register for the teacher‟s other courses if they find them non-immediate or not approachable enough (McCroskey et al., 1995) In other words, immediate teachers are evaluated as more trustworthy and preferred by students In addition, nonverbal immediacy positively affects evaluation from immediate supervisors Administrators tend to prefer classes carried out smoothly Most immediate teachers have students listen to and follow them well, which initiates a successful class with almost no challenges from the students Subsequently, immediate teachers tend to have fewer problems than non-immediate ones As a result, teachers with high degree of nonverbal immediacy are seen as more effective (Richmond, 2002)

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY

1 Introduction

Case study is regarded as the “most widely used approach to qualitative research in education” (Gall, Gall, & Borg, 2003, p 433) This research type provides the researcher with the chance to study the profound “instances of a phenomenon in its natural context and from the perspective of the participants involved in the phenomenon” (Gall et al., 2003, p 436) As a matter of fact, a multiple-case study is applied in this study with the participation of two teachers along with their respectively assigned classes These teachers‟ immediacy was investigated beforehand through informal interview with their first-year students

to make sure that the teachers were at high level of nonverbal immediacy The reason for this stage is that the researcher wants to investigate the perspectives and behaviors of two immediate teachers in the first-year division of FELTE, ULIS, VNU in terms of the frequent immediate cues in class as well as their influence At the same time, the students responding to the questionnaires had the chance to express their views on the impact of the teachers‟ nonverbal immediacy By conducting a multiple-case study, the researcher wants to achieve and provide readers with the overall picture of the nonverbal immediacy‟s application at the first-year English language proficiency courses at FELTE, ULIS, VNU Students from first year are chosen because they have just transferred from high school to university context, where the learning and teaching styles are quite different from their previous learning context Thus, the use of nonverbal immediacy might help students familiarize with the learning environment

2 Sampling and participants

Dung and Ly from first-year division at FELTE, ULIS, VNU, two teachers famous for having close relationship with their students and applying various NIB

in the classroom, were invited to participate in the study Their respective class, Class A (25 students) and Class B (18 students), were also the participants of the

research Because these students directly experienced the two teachers‟ nonverbal immediacy, the researcher believed that they can report sincerely their teachers‟ behaviors and evaluate its impact

In order to ensure the objectiveness and reliability of the study as well as avoid any problems that might occur due to the publicity of the case, the names of the teachers and students participating were all changed The participants were also informed beforehand that their real names would be kept confidential so that they could take part in the research sincerely and honestly

2.1 Case 1

2.1.1 The teacher

Dung used to be a fast-track student at the Universiy of Languages and International Studies Her major is English teaching education She has pursued her master degree of teaching English as a second language As far as the researcher knows, Dung has been teaching first-year students at FELTE, ULIS, VNU for ten years since she graduated from the university She is widely known among the ULIS students for her bright personality as well as friendliness Most of the students refer to her as a teacher who is like a same-age friend because she is easy to approach

2.1.2 The students

Class A, taught by Dung, has 25 students, including 20 girls and 5 boys About half of the class come from the big cities None of the students has regional accent caused by their hometowns Half of the class are quite competent in terms of English skills, evidenced by their scores provided by Dung At the same time, there are at least 5 students in the class appear to be quite weak at English and reserved in terms of personality

2.2 Case 2

2.2.1 The teacher

Ly is four years younger than Dung and also has achieved her master degree of teaching English as a second language She has been teaching first-year students at FELTE, ULIS, VNU for six years She is admired and respected by most of her students because of her politeness and critical thinking Many of her students consider her as their big sister who is reliable and takes good care of her students

2.2.2 The students

Class B, taught by Ly, includes 18 students with 15 female and 3 male students About two third of them come from big cities Most of the students do not have regional accent affected by their hometowns About one third of the class are at high level of English competence, evidenced by their first-term score There are about three students at lower level of English competence compared to their classmates

3 Data collection instruments

Three main tools were used for this study including questionnaires, interviews, and observation schemes

3.1 Questionnaire

3.1.1 Questionnaire for teacher

The questionnaire consists of two parts: Part I: “Nonverbal Immediacy Report”, and Part II: “Teachers‟ perceptions of the influence of nonverbal immediacy in the classroom” (see APPENDIX I)

Self-Regarding to the first part, Nonverbal Immediacy Self-Report includes 15 items equivalent to 15 NIB applied in the classroom The question used Likert Scale, a method “in which degrees of response, intensity of response, and the move away from dichotomous questions has been managed can be seen in the notion of rating scales” (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2005, p 253) It also offers the researcher invaluable personal perceptions of the participants (Nunan, 1998) Each respondent was required to score the items from 1 (Never) to 5 (Very often) to

indicate the degree to which the statements applied to him or her Part I was designed with the view to discovering which behaviors are most frequently utilized by the first-year teachers at FELTE, ULIS, VNU

Part II seeks to explore teachers‟ opinions on the influence brought about by their use of nonverbal immediacy in the classroom The question also used Likert Scale to collect data There are 8 items refering to 8 possible impacts caused by nonverbal immediacy The teachers were asked to select number from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) for each statement to imply the degree to which they agreed with the items

3.1.2 Questionnaire for students

The questionnaire was self-designed by the researcher to investigate students‟ observation of their teacher‟s frequency of nonverbal immediacy as well as their perceptions of its influence The questionnaire includes two parts The first part is

“Students‟ reflection of their teacher‟s nonverbal immediacy”; the second part is

“Students‟ perceptions of the influence of nonverbal immediacy in the classroom” (see APPENDIX II)

Part I consists of 15 items, equivalent to 15 NIB possibly used by teacher in the classroom Likert Scale was also used in this part Each of the participants was asked to score the statements from 1 (Never) to 5 (Very often) to indicate the frequency of their teacher‟s NIB

For Part II, there are two questions The first one uses Likert Scale to examine students‟ perceptions of nonverbal immediacy‟s impact In this question, the respondents had to score the items from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree)

to imply the degree to which the items applied to themselves The second is an open-ended question which asks for students‟ evaluation of their language teachers The second question seeks to further investigate the students‟ attitude towards their teacher

3.2 Observation

Since the researcher aims to identify the frequently utilized NIB in the class and their influence on the students as well as teachers, real experiences from observation are believed to help find out the answer to the target questions of the study As Macket and Grass wrote, the instrument provides the researcher with the chance to “collect large amounts of rich data on the participants‟ behavior and action within a particular context” (2005, p.176) Additionally, the observation was carried out in order to confirm the reliability of the data collected from questionnaires done by students and their teachers

The researcher observed two lessons in each class, each lesson lasted for about

200 minutes To guarantee the authenticity of the data, the researcher made sure not to interfere in the activities during the the class but she took note of the teachers‟ and students‟ behaviors The researcher used “Nonverbal Immediacy Observer Checklist” (see APPENDIX III) including 15 NIB, designed by herself,

to collect the data The researcher also asked for the teachers‟ permission to videotape the lessons which would be used in later analysis

The interview, carried out in English, aims to identify the teachers‟ perceptions

of the importance and influences of nonverbal immediacy in the classroom and the reasons for applying certain types of nonverbal immediacy in the classroom

While the researcher prepared a list of questions (see APPENDIX IV) for the interviewees, the interview would not strictly follow these preplanned questions but follow-up questions were asked based on the teachers‟ responses At the same time, the researcher asked for further explanation in case of any unclear answers from the teachers

3.3.2 Students

Depending on the result of the questionnaires distributed, the researcher invited three students from each class to take part in individual interviews Specifically, the ones showing positive, neutral, and negative reaction towards their teacher‟s nonverbal immediacy, which can be detected in their questionnaire and open-ended questions, are the main subjects

The interviews with students were conducted to find out their realization and perceptions of their teacher‟s application of nonverbal immediacy in the classroom; and their perceptions of the influences of nonverbal immediacy that their teachers used in the classroom

Similar to the teachers, the researcher interviewed the students in an informal atmosphere with flexible questions depending on the students‟ responses The interviews were carried out in Vietnamese so that students were able to express their opinion freely, as there were some students with quite weak English proficiency A list of leading questions was prepared to ensure that the targeted

information was identified (see APPENDIX V)

4 Data collection procedures

Two phases were carried out in this research:

Phase 1: Data collecting preparation

It took the researcher two weeks to prepare the data collection instruments including one set of questionnaire for students, another one for teachers, a set of interview questions for students as well as one for teachers, and an observation checklist After that, the researcher moved to the step of piloting the items in the questionnaires with five first-year students The wording and content were then

carefully checked and revised by the researcher based on the first-year students‟ feedback

Phase 2: Data collection

Questionnaires were delivered to the teachers and students involved in the study either by email or directly at the class In case of completing the questionnaire at their class, the subjects were required to answer the questionnaire under the witness of the researcher Those receiving the questionnaires through email had to submit their answer in two days ever since their questionnaires are sent The researcher received back the questionnaires by both of the teachers participating in the research With respect to Class A, the researcher got back 24 out of 25 questionnaires For Class B, 18 out of 18 questionnaires were returned with one unqualified because the open-ended question had not been answered Totally, the data for Class B was analyzed from 17 questionnaires

After having collected all of the questionnaires, the researcher arranged with the teachers the dates to observe two classes they are in charge During the observation, the researcher used “Nonverbal Immediacy Observer Checklist” (APPENDIX III) to identify the NIB usually utilized by the teacher At the same time, the reaction and attitude of students and their teachers were videotaped and noted down

From the data the researcher collected through the questionnaires and observations, individual interviews with the teachers and some students involved were carried out for the researcher to understand more about the interviewees‟ answer as well as their attitude towards nonverbal immediacy Specifically, Nam, Ngoc, and Lan from Class A were invited to take part in individual interviews with the researcher Nam is a competent student who remained a neutral reaction

in response to Dung‟s nonverbal immediacy Meanwhile, Ngoc – also a student with high level of English – reacted positively towards the teacher‟s nonverbal immediacy and Lan – who was of lower level and often slept in her class – showed negative reaction From class B, Anh, Linh, and Nga were asked to have an

interview for further understanding of their choices for the items in the questionnaires While Anh – a competent student – expressed a very positive response towards his teacher nonverbal immediacy, Linh with intermediate English level chose either neutral or disagree in the second part of the questionnaire Nga, mostly selecting neutral, was a student of low English level The interviews were recorded with the consent given by the participants to make it convenient for the analysis procedure The interview with Anh was transcribed as

a sample (see APPENDIX VI) to give the readers an overview of how the interviews were carried out

5 Data analysis procedures

After the two sets of completed questionnaires, one for teachers and one for students, were collected; the questionnaires were analyzed using descriptive method At the same time, the data from the observation was synthesized using content analysis to compare and contrast with the result from the questionnaires Then, both teachers were interviewed for the researcher to gain a profound understanding of the reasons for their items‟ choice in the questionnaires At the same time, three students representing different reactions towards their teachers‟ behaviors were given the chance to clarify their point

CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS This chapter presents the findings of the study Data collected from

questionnaires, observations and interviews was triangulated to provide an insight into how nonverbal immediacy was regulated in each of the three classes The questionnaires provided information regarding the participants‟ general perception

of the teachers‟ use of nonverbal immediacy Classroom observations assisted in determining the compatibility of such general perceptions with particular classes

In addition, the interviews demonstrated how the participants perceived the effectiveness of the teachers‟ nonverbal immediacy

1 Case 1

1.1 Frequency of teacher nonverbal immediacy

The table below presents the mean score indicating the frequency of the first teacher‟s NIB as perceived by her students and as self-reported by herself

NIB Dung Class A

Touching student hands, forearm, or shoulder 3 2.26

Sitting or standing close to students 4 3.33

Nodding head in response to students‟ comments 5 3.92

Maintaining eye contact with students 5 4.51

Smiling/laughing while talking to students 5 4.63

Table 2: Comparison of nonverbal immediacy scores between Dung and her year students

Obviously, both Dung and her students agreed that smiling or laughing while talking to students, is most frequently used (mean score at 4.63) According to Ngoc, one of the three students interviewed, “I have the impression that Ms Dung smiles throughout the whole lesson; whenever I look at her, she always has that friendly smile on her face” The other two students, Nam and Lan, also shared the

same opinion, with Lan adding that Dung often smiled encouragingly when Lan presented her opinion during class discussions regardless of the appropriateness of her responses Dung herself selected number 5 for „smiling/laughing‟, which

means that she smiles very often in her class This was compatible with what was

observed by the researcher Dung also laughed along with the students whenever a funny situation took place Specifically, in one lesson, Dung taught the students how to describe a picture in a presentation, using a photo of a genetically modified

hen, whose legs were spreading One student said out loud that “Why are its legs

spreading like that? So ungraceful!” At that moment, the whole class and their

teacher broke out in laughter In general, Dung rarely frowned or had a bland facial expression when communicating with her students, but keeping a smiling face for most of the time

With the second highest mean score (4.51), maintaining eye contact with students is commonly utilised Dung also reflected that she looked at students and maintained eye contact with them very often, further proving the credibility of the

item As observed by the researcher, Dung always looked in general direction when delivering new knowledge to the whole class Additionally, she also maintained eye contact with individuals whenever a student responded to her question When certain activities requiring group works took place, she would look at the whole group when communicating to them

The third commonly used nonverbal immediacy behavior, as perceived by

Dung‟s students, is using hands and arms to gesture, with a relatively high mean

score of 4.33 In other words, almost all of the 24 students agree that their teacher gestures with her hands and arms often during lesson One time when guiding the students to do a listening and summerising task, Dung used her hand to imitate the act of writing while suggesting students to note down what they could hear Ngoc shared that “Ms Dung often uses her hands and arms to request us to stand up, work in groups, or explain new vocabulary” Dung‟s choice (5) for the item also indicated the high frequency of utilizing hands and arms for signal in class

The forth rank at 4.21, equivalent to often, is having a relaxed body posture While Dung found herself maintain a relaxed posture very often, the three students

shared the impression that their teacher could be too active Specifically, when

telling stories, “Ms Dung often moves her hands and arms really fast, which makes her look way too energetic, almost like a kid” When observing the lesson,

the researcher also felt the same Despite that, Dung was mostly relaxed with her arms hang loosely when communicating with her students

The next item, using a relaxed tone, holds a mean score of 4.17 The three

students agreed that their teacher‟s voice might be too excited during her telling

story session Dung‟s reason for choosing often is quite different though, as she explained that “I do not maintain my tone relaxed very often as sometimes, you have to be strict to enforce discipline in the classroom” In fact, even though Dung

kept her voice calm most of the time, her tone might sound stern when asking students to pay attention to their friends‟ speech

Using a variety of vocal expression gets a mean score of 4.13, indicating that

the students often perceived the changes in their teacher‟s vocal While Dung reflected that she utilised various tones and voices very often when teaching, Ngoc said that she could observe their teacher being exhausted after a certain period and changing to a dull voice near the ending of the lesson

The next two items, namely moving closer to students and nodding head in response to students’ comments, share the same rank with a mean score of 3.92 With reference to the former, Dung agreed with her students that she often moved

closer to her students while communicating with them Specifically, when a

student raised his voice to answer a question, Dung often moved closer to show that she is “paying attention to what the student is saying” Meanwhile, for the latter behavior, Dung found herself nodding very often when reacting to a student‟s answer As provided by Ngoc, “she often just nods her head when she agrees with the answer or when the idea sounds interesting” Lan also said that,

“Ms Dung does not nod her head very often, especially when my answer is not good enough” Thus, the reason for the slight difference might come from the

different perceptions of „very often‟

Dung can be seen often calmly moving her body around when communicating

to her students, from the mean score of 3.85 The number is equivalent to that of their teacher‟s choice Nam said that his teacher always moved around comfortably during the in-class activities involving pair and group work Lan agreed, adding that the teacher remained still only when giving instruction and

answer to their homework “Still, on the day she was tired, she mostly stayed behind the desk”, said Ngoc

Using short pauses while speaking to students gets a mean score of 3.83, indicating that Dung often pauses shortly while teaching her students As observed

by the researcher, she usually paused after a sequence of explanation, before concluding her point Dung also reflected that she had a lot of pauses throughout her speech so as to emphasize the main point, or give students time to absorb before moving on to the next point

Dung is also perceived to be animated quite often, considering the mean score

for the item at 3.79 On the day the observer was in the class, the teacher told a lot

of stories, one of them was about her baby boy‟s bad habit to stutter While demonstrating the boy‟s behavior, she used a stuttering voice of a child to imitate his action, which made her appear very animated and active

Sitting close or standing close to students and leaning toward students, whose mean scores are 3.33 and 3.44 respectively, are the two items occasionally used Dung chose 4, equivalent to often During the observation session, the researcher

could see she often stand around the first two rows Still, there was time she just sat or stood behind the desk, especially when she was giving out the answers to reading or listening tasks Dung did not lean forward students when talking to them very often Sometimes, she would stand still while listening to students This might result in the difference between teacher‟s and students‟ answer

Touching students’ hands, forearms or shoulders, and patting student shoulder,

with the mean scores of just slightly higher than two or rarely, are perceives as

being hardly used As far as Nam could remember, Dung had never touched him

or patted him on the shoulder By contrast, Ngoc said that the teacher occasionally patted her shoulder when she gave an excellent answer Dung also reflected that she sometimes initiated these behaviors when communicating to female students

while avoided doing so to male students, as it might give them “wrong inference”,

or inappropriate signal This may explain the difference between the students‟ reflection and that of their teacher on these haptic behaviors

Conclusion

In general, it can be seen that both of the Haptics behaviors including touching students’ hand, forearm, and shoulder and patting students’ shoulders are the least applied by Dung Sitting or standing close to students, belonging to Proxemics, is

occasionally applied The rest of the behaviors are often utilized in Dung‟s class

Among them, smiling and maintaining eye contact with students while communicating to them are the most common with the mean score above 4.50

They both belong to Kinesics

1.2 Perception of the teacher about the influence of nonverbal immediacy

The following table shows Dung‟s choices for the items in the second question

of the questionnaire:

Effectiveness of nonverbal immediacy Dung

2 Creating a pleasant learning environment 5

3 Encouraging students to participate in class activities willingly 5

4 Increasing students‟ interest in the subject 4

5 Making me approachable to the students 4

6 Increasing students‟ faith in my ability 4

7 Making students comply with my demand without obligation 4

8 Students look forward to another course with me as their teacher 4

Table 3: Influence of teacher’s nonverbal immediacy perceived by Dung

As shown in table 3, the teacher chose either “agree” or “strongly agree”

for all the items Further information regarding her choice was retrieved from a later interview with her

For the first item, Dung chose “agree” She explained that the low-level

students seemed extremely nervous and worried to do listening tasks despite her

immediacy She added, “some of them might look relaxed for a while before I moved on to the speaking session” During the speaking session of a class, the

researcher could notice one student with weaker language ability, evidenced by her tendency to make grammar and pronunciation mistakes when standing up to answer questions, look worried during discussion session

Dung “strongly agreed” that her NIB help create a non-anxiety learning

environment She admitted that she was gifted with the ability to express friendliness through her body language As she tended to smile and be really animated, the learning atmosphere of the class was always exciting and pleasant From the observation with the class, the researcher could confirm this The instructional atmosphere was completely pleasant, to the point that many students freely raised their voice and laughed with their classmates as well as the teacher This means they could feel little tension from the learning environment

The third question shows the same result as the previous one According to Dung, she used a lot of NIB while delivering her lessons, such as smiling, maintaining eye contact with students and being vocally expressive As a result, she was confident that she appeared quite friendly, making the students feel less nervous and actually respond to her questions voluntarily As Dung shared,

“Whenever I gave a question to the whole class, many of them immediately raised their hand to answer enthusiastically.”

Dung agrees that her nonverbal immediacy can help increase the students‟

interest in the subject She believed that applying nonverbal immediacy can make the lesson more interesting, thus gradually improving the students‟ liking for

herself As their affection towards the teacher was improved, “they would also take a liking to the subject I am teaching” Additionally, she could see that “most

of the students really look forwards to taking part in my lesson” through the

conversation during break time with the students

Dung also chose “agree” for the fifth statement She said that as she applied

nonverbal immediacy, students were likely to be less cautious of her, proved by their occasional initiation of a conversation with her However, Dung also noticed that a small number of students, about two or three in the class, remained distant

She explained that the reason might be due to different viewpoints of what a

teacher should be like, “I could feel that when I was trying to be funny or animated while telling my stories, they shook their heads.” Maybe those students

expect Dung to be more serious as a teacher Still, she was confident that she makes herself approachable to the majority of the students

Dung “agree” that her students believe in her professional ability As she

usually told stories with expressive voice and interesting gestures, which most of the students could not do, they might believe that they could learn valuable skills

from her She also said that “the students always listened attentively and asked clarifying questions when I advised them how to improve their language skills, for example, intonation” From their attentive behavior, she could infer that her

students had faith in her profession

In terms of the seventh question, as perceived by Dung, almost all of the students in her class followed her request when asked to She said that some of the students had the habit to do personal tasks in her lesson However, instead of scolding or verbally requesting them to stop, she just tapped them on the shoulder

in a friendly way so that they would not lose face Consequently, the students immediately stopped being distracted and paid attention to the class

Dung chose “agree” for the final item From her informal conversation with the

students during break time, she could tell that the students really liked her and paid

attention to her lesson “Some students tell me that they wish to have another course with me as their instructor.”

In a nutshell, Dung believes that the use of nonverbal immediacy could contribute to increasing students‟ affection towards the subject and the teacher

herself In the personal interview, she said that, “as the students feel interested in the subject, their anxiety in the language class would be lessened and they will participate in the lesson actively” She further added that the instrument also

helped teacher manage the students‟ behaviors at ease, and made her students‟ evaluation of herself more positive

1.3 Perception of the students about the influence of nonverbal immediacy

It cannot be denied that Dung‟s nonverbal immediacy had positive impact on her students First of all, it was shown through the open-ended question in the questionnaires distributed to the students When asked to evaluate Dung, the students wrote down these affectionate comments:

“She is the greatest teacher ever”

“I love Ms Dung the most”

“Her method of lecturing is just inspiring”

When interviewed, Ngoc said that Dung was the best teacher she had ever met

Her nonverbal immediacy is “one of the characteristics” that made her really

attractive She added that the day when Dung‟s lesson took place was usually her busiest day of the week because Ngoc had to attend three classes with Dung‟s

lesson as the last subject However, meeting her teacher “is so fun that I forget all

of my tiredness.” Even Nam, a student unaffected by Dung‟s nonverbal immediacy, which would be discussed later in this part, agreed that “Ms Dung is

a passionate teacher.”

In the second part of the questionnaire, students were asked about the effectiveness degree of Dung‟s nonverbal immediacy The following table presents the frequency distribution of the options:

Table 4: Influence of Dung’s nonverbal immediacy perceived by class A

1 Nonverbal immediacy makes me feel relaxed in my language lesson

2 Nonverbal immediacy creates a pleasant learning environment

3 Nonverbal immediacy encourages me to participate in class activities willingly

4 Nonverbal immediacy helps increase my interest in the subject

5 Nonverbal immediacy makes the teacher seem approachable

6 Nonverbal immediacy increases my faith in the teacher ability

7 Nonverbal immediacy makes me comply with the teacher‟s demand without obligation

8 I look forward to another course with the same teacher

9 I look forward to attending a class in which the teacher applies nonverbal immediacy

As shown in the table, only one student selected “strongly disagree” for two items, and the majority of the students selected from “neutral‟ to “strongly agree” This student is Lan, whose reason for choosing the item would be revealed in the

later part Only a minority of the students chose “disagree”, mostly due to internal

reasons Overall, it can be seen that most of the students react positively towards Dung‟s application of nonverbal immediacy

20 out of 24 students chose option “agree” and “strongly agree” for the first

item, meaning that they feel relaxed in Dung‟s lesson According to Ngoc, seeing

Dung‟s smile and her body language when telling story was really fun, thus she felt almost no anxiety in the class Nam, one of the three students who chose

“neutral” commented that while the teacher was friendly, he was not affected by

that The only student who strongly disagrees with the statement is Lan She confessed that even though she really liked Dung, she could hardly relax due to