UNIT 2.

COMMUNICATION IN THE EFL CLASSROOM: VERBAL AND NON-VERBAL

COMMUNICATION. EXTRALINGUISTIC STRATEGIES: NON-VERBAL REACTIONS TO
MESSAGES IN DIFFERENT CONTEXTS.

1. INTRODUCTION: THE PROCESS OF COMMUNICATION

A definition of the concept of communication must take into account the different elements that are part
of the process: e.g. subjects, code, message…
Communication is understood as the exchange and negotiation of information between at least two
individuals through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, oral and written/visual modes and
production and comprehension processes.
(Canale 1983)
From the perspective of a theory of information, communication is part of broad and general areas that
enclose the notion of language:
Communication means> Communication systems> Languages> Human lang.> Particular lang.

1.1. Communication elements (R. Jakobson 1963)

a. Code: it is a sign system.
b. Message: it is coded information, formed by:
- propositional content.
- informative efficiency.
- redundancy.
c. Channel: this is the physical mean used to transmit the message.
d. Productive subject: this is responsible for the production of the message, which basically
consists of:
- deciding communicative purposes.
- performing the codification process.
- using communication strategies.

e. Receptive subject: this is responsible for the reception of the message, which basically
consists of:
- decoding the message.
- interpreting meaning.

f. Context: it determines the extent and meaning of the message.

2.2. Communication means
In a broad sense, communication means are the physical tools used to establish communication.
Strictly speaking, communication means are identified with “mass media”.
Their main features are:
- There is a communicative purpose.
- Signs are used to establish communication.
Signs can be defined as any material object representing another object and can be classified
according to the relationship between the two objects into:
- icons: resemblance to the representing object.
- indications: some relation but not equal.
- symbols: no relation at all.

1.3. Communication systems:

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 They can be classified:
a. According to the type of signs:
- Extrinsic systems, which use icons or indications.
- Intrinsic systems, which use symbols.
- Linear/Non-linear sequencing.
- Discreet/ Non-discreet, which represent reality in smaller units.
- Direct/ Substitutive, which code reality.
- Articulated/ Non-articulated, whose combinations form new signs.
b. According to channel:
- Smelling: Sexual connotations.
- Touching: Braille alphabet.
- Hearing: bells, whistles.
- Visual: mime, flags.
1.4. Communication strategies
Learners use communication strategies (Bygate and Ellis) in order to compensate for their imperfect mastery
of the language when faced with a communicative need. Faerch & Kasper present them as being “potentially
conscious” in the sense that learners may not always be conscious of the strategies they employ. Ellis adds
that they can be “motivated” when learners become aware of the shortcomings of the linguistic means at their
disposal. Ellis regards communication strategies to be the short-term solution to a problem, learning strategies
being the long-term answer.
Communication strategies can be sub-categorised into achievement and reduction strategies. The first aim at
communicating the whole message as perceived by the speaker. Examples of achievement strategies are: the
use of L1 items, translation, paraphrasing, miming or pointing, eliciting/asking for help from interlocutor.
The second aim at either communicating an imperfect message or communicating a message other than the
one intended initially (a message that the speaker can manage to communicate).

2. COMMUNICATION IN THE EFL CLASS: VERBAL AND NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION

2.1. WHAT DO SPEAKING SKILLS INVOLVE?

Speaking a language involves using the components correctly – making the right sounds, choosing the right
words and getting syntactically correct constructions. Pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary tasks will focus
on the need for practice in language accuracy. At the same time, we also need to get a clear message across
and this involves choosing appropriate content or ideas to suit a situation, e.g. deciding what is polite or what
might appear inappropriate, how to interrupt or how to participate in a conversation. All this involves practice
in language fluency. Both types of practice are equally important, although some traditional approaches can
concentrate rather too much on accuracy tasks which result in students being hindered by that
overzealousness.

2.1.1. How to prepare students for real communication in English

• Personal response. Give students tasks which ask them to contribute information about themselves.
• Variety of responses. Provide them with dialogues which require more than one set response so they have to
decide and create their own dialogues.
• Work in pairs or groups. Assign students tasks in which they have to communicate with others to exchange
information, as this gives a greater number of students a chance to talk.
• Varied language. Use tasks which require the use of more than one type of sentence structure so students get
practice in combining different language forms, e.g. tenses.

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• Balance accuracy tasks with fluency work. Make it clear that you are interested in what students are saying,
not just how grammatically correct they are being. Encourage them to show verbal signs of interest: ‘Really?
That’s interesting, I didn’t know that!
• Less teacher talking time. Be careful not to do all the talking, and aim for student participation from the
very start of lessons. When preparing pair work, bring in student responses, use students to rehearse roles, get
all the class to repeat key items and try to avoid lengthy explanations.
Demonstrate. Keep your own talking to a minimum during the activities.
2.1.2. Controlled speaking activities
To understand the degree of control in a speaking task we can contrast these two diary activities:
Diary activity task A Fig. 1

Telephone your partner to come to your place to play Nintendo. Find a time which suits both of you. Ask and
answer like this:
‘What are you doing on Monday evening/afternoon?’
‘Are you doing anything on Tuesday/Wednesday afternoon?’
‘I’m not free. I’m going to my painting class.’
‘Yes, I am. I’m going to school/to the dentist.’

Complete this diary with six

appointments or activities over
the whole week. Phone your
friend to organise an afternoon
together. Try and fix one fun
activity together.

2.1.3. Card games

Task A is far more controlled:
• the language structures to use are indicated
• the diary pages contain all the necessary vocabulary for making appointments

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 • the content is determined by the teacher.
Task B is far less controlled and linguistically more demanding:
• students choose the language to use
• students put in the content and make decisions about their intentions.
It would be possible to modify each task depending on the levels of your classes and their need for fluency or
accuracy work. The amount of linguistic support and ideas you give will determine the level of difficulty of
the task.
2.1.4. Information gap
Traditional approaches often require students to reproduce a written dialogue verbally. This does not prepare
them for the unpredictable nature of real communication where the person you are speaking to has
information you do not know. Information gap is less artificial, providing a purpose to speak since the other
person possesses some information that you need to know. For example, one student has an incomplete set of
instructions on how to get to a friend’s party and is not sure what time it starts. The other student has been to
the house before and has a map of how to get there. He also has an invitation which states the time. They
phone each other to get details.
In the above example, if both students had the same handout the conversation would be artificial and
pointless. Why tell each other details that they both know anyway? However, the information gap forces them
to arrive at a complete set of facts after exchanging the missing parts. Through tables of facts that are
incomplete, maps which have places missing, drawings with missing parts, timetables, brochures and many
more visual props, you can simulate real communication gaps for controlled practice work.

2.1.5. Activities for controlled practice at all levels

• Find someone who ... (activities which focus on specific structures and involve the whole class) Example:
‘Find someone in this class who can: play a musical instrument; speak another language; dance; cook an
Italian meal; play chess; say the alphabet backwards in English; drive a car.’
• Questionnaires (like those in teen magazines)
Example: ‘Are you scared easily?’
What would you do if: a) ...? b) ...? c) ...?’
You can focus on a structure and vocabulary area. Students have a plan to follow. They complete the
questionnaire for their partner then do the scoring. This is a very controlled way of giving speaking practice
and it appeals to older children and teenagers.

2.1.6. Types of fluency practice

If students are more used to teacher-controlled activities and tasks which focus on accuracy, they will need
time to get used to fluency activities. Fluency activities are essential at all levels but the balance between
fluency and accuracy tasks will differ. You will be able to do far more free activities with intermediate
students and upwards, whereas there will be more need for supported and controlled work with absolute
beginners and false beginners.

Examples of fluency tasks:

• Talking about yourself. E.g. ‘I hate maths, do you?’
Look at this list of subjects we study at school: English; maths; plastic expression; geography; science;
literature; physical education; music.
Choose one subject you like and think of three reasons why you like it.
Choose one subject you don’t like and think of three reasons why you dislike it.
Ask your partner/group/class about their subjects. Does anyone like the same one as you? Have they got
similar reasons?

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• Retelling a story or piecing together a dialogue (all levels). Take a simple narrative, cut into equal sentences
or parts and give each member of a group one part. Students must read their part for a few minutes, without
showing the others, and then return the slip of paper to the teacher. Now students use their memory and own
language and collaborate with the aim of fitting together the story. They then either retell it orally or write it
up as a group.
2.1.7 Role play: fluency tasks
Role play requires students to:
• take on a role (imagine they are someone else)
• imagine a situation (pretend they are in another time and place)
• improvise in their choice of language.
Some people find their new character liberating, others find pretending to be embarrassing. It is a good way
for learners to try out their knowledge and improve fluency in a classroom situation. This type of activity
maximises students’ talking time and also appeals to shy students who do not like performing in front of a
whole class, but can express themselves in the relative privacy of a small group. However, reading a set
dialogue is not role play. Many role plays are based on cards or situations described by the teacher.
The best types of role play
• Draw on students’ own experience of the world.
• Draw on situations when meeting English speakers.
• Draw on familiar characters from school, home, their textbook or maybe television.

2.1.8. Free role plays

These can be more challenging without the support of an example dialogue or text. The language is decided
by the students but needs careful preparation.

2.2. VERBAL AND NON- VERBAL COMMUNICATION

Verbal communication comprises any kind of oral or written message by means of which we want to express
a thought, whereas non-verbal communication refers to all extralinguistic signs, such as gestures, mimicry and
movements, which are typically associated with the cultural context.
Having a good command of those means of communication and expressive resources is essential for the
overall development of children, since it is possible through them the exchange of information needed for
their cognitive, affective and social growth. As they have access to these means of communication, young
learners become more familiar with their environment.

- Body language: It is the most primary way of communication. The child’s biorhythms and the reactions to
physical contact with the outside world, and especially with other people become expression codes. All
languages evolve from body language. Symbolic games of this nature will enable boys and girls to
explore and accept different social roles.
- Plastic expression: It will approach them to the representation of what they know through their
experience with the surrounding world and of what goes on in their inner self. Both aspects are
intertwined in plastic expression.
- Musical expression: Audioperceptive awareness, as well as the coordination of different movements allow
boys and girls to have their first experiences with musical instruments. Commanding motor functions is
the foundation for instrumental practice.

2.2.1. Transfer from the verbal to non-verbal codes

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The first step in this direction is taken by following out orders. The teacher will need this especially for
applying classroom language, which greatly simplifies the process of using L2 only in the classroom.
Secondly, it will be used to practice imperatives. In this respect we recommend the game Simon Says,
extremely motivating for children, since they can take on the role of teachers.
Another type of transfer is mimicry. With these activities we will highly motivate students and their attention
span will increase. In general, we can use this technique both in the presentation stage, and in reviews.
Let us see two practical examples.
The teacher wishes to introduce routine-related verbs. He/ She stands in front of his students and says:
I get up at 7, have a shower, prepare a cup of tea and get into my car.
In a second stage, the teacher will repeat the sentences, but now one or several students will perform
the action.
If we want to revise verbs related to free time, the teacher or a student will read the actions while the
rest of the students must act.

Another motivating practice is the dictation of drawings. Student A says “Draw a table near the window”, and
the roles change after a first round.

2.2.2. Transfer from the non-verbal to verbal codes

We will present only a selection of activities here.

- The teacher or students will prepare drawings indicating actions which must be expressed by
others orally.
- Professions can be practiced dressing up several children.
- Students will draw classroom objects by using dotted lines, and the rest will guess what they
are.
- Each member of a pair will draw a picture related with the same topic (their room). Once the
drawing has been completed, it will be compared verbally.
- All types of descriptions or questions in order to introduce new subjects are included in this
type of transfer.
- To introduce grammar structures, especially prepositions, we can place the same students in
different places and practice verbal communication.
- Slides, OHP’s and muted video passages can be transferred into verbal communication as
well.
Now we will move on to consider drama and games separately, since we believe they are the
ideal ways to transfer or link verbal and non-verbal codes.
2.2.3. Drama in ELT

Techniques of drama facilitate learning by making contexts or situations seem much more realistic. They also
engage many aspects of students' awareness and intelligence. Basically, students learn by doing things, living
them, not just by reading, repeating, writing or listening to them. Drama brings life into the classroom and
with it come feelings, emotions, personal values and other parts of students' personalities. Jonathan Neelands,
a well-known drama specialist from United Kingdom, has invented a fitting phrase: "learning by imagined
reality".

There are some factors that must be borne in mind by teachers when working on drama in their classes:
- They should accompany it with intensive L2 practice.
- L2 can be practised in a different stage.

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 - Dialogues should be short at first, to become more complex in scope and length further on
the course.
Communicative games for code transfer
Many games take advantage of the code transfer. All those including commands, such as Simon Says,
Colours, Numbers, Bingos) transfer the verbal code to the non-verbal one, whereas games such as
Who’s who? do it the other way round.
Other games, like the communicative ones, use the information gap principle, whereby one of the
students has information needed by the other student. We have two types of games, those of oral
guided practice and free oral practice. Both are typically carried out in pairs.

3. EXTRALINGUISTIC STRATEGIES: NON-VERBAL REACTIONS TO MESSAGES IN

DIFFERENT CONTEXTS

In order to obtain communicative competence, students must acquire not only linguistic competence,
but also the rules, skills and association strategies, and, consequently, adapt their own extralinguistic
reaction to the different contexts. The communicative exchange can only bear fruit if we abide by the
runes of paralinguistic and non-verbal elements.
We will proceed now to consider several non-verbal reactions in different contexts.
1. Sociocultural rules: It is the teacher’s duty to teach how to behave in everyday situations,
such as greetings, meeting people, etc.
Methodology for extralinguistic strategies.
- Movement commands, to teach by means of play.
- Writing commands, such as drawing and colouring.
- Silent roleplaying, extremely important to foster the use of imagination in children, as
they must perform actions, without resorting to verbal language.

2. Gestures: Each language has a list of them which are common to others, and a list of
different gestures. E.g. closing your eyes or counting with fingers

4. CURRICULAR IMPLICATIONS

Both the National Act on Education published in 2006 (LOE in Spanish) and the National Act for the
Improvement of Quality in Education, published in 2013 (LOMCE in Spanish) indicate that, among
the general objectives of Secondary Education is the acquisition of a basic communicative competence in
a foreign language, this entailing that students will thus have to be able to understand and convey
messages in a variety of daily-life communicative situations (both written and spoken).
This said, one of the innovative aspects of the National Act for the Improvement of Quality in
Education is that it defines the curriculum as the regulation of the elements determining the teaching and
learning process for each educational stage, being integrated by:
(a) Aims: References relating to outcomes that students should achieve at the end of the educational
process, as a result of planned teaching/learning experiences to this end.
(b) Key Competences: Capacities to apply, in an integrated manner, the contents of each teaching process
and educational stage, in order to implement activities properly and resolve complex problems efficiently.
(c) Contents: All knowledge, abilities, skills, and attitudes that contribute to the achievement of the aims
of the teaching process, educational stage and the development of competences.

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 (d) Teaching methodology: comprising the description of teaching practices strategies and the
organization of teachers' work .
(e) Measurable learning standards and outcomes: Specifications of evaluation criteria that allow
defining learning outcomes and establishing what students should know, understand, and know how in
each subject; they must be observable, measurable and assessable and allow grading performance or
achievement reached. Course plans should contribute and facilitate the design of standardized and
comparable evidence.
(f) Evaluation criteria: They are the specific reference to assess the learning of students and describe
what students must achieve, both in knowledge and skills.

In addition, National Decree 126/ 2014 establishes the following blocks of contents for the area of foreign
language in Secondary Education:
- block 1: comprehension of oral texts
- block 2: production of oral texts: expression and interaction
- block 3: comprehension of written texts
- block 4: production of written texts: expression and interaction

Therefore, all the previous sections of this theory unit point in the direction that we should pursue a
holistic approach to the teaching and learning of foreign languages, since all curricular elements and
blocks of contents will be directly affected by the approach implemented.

5. CONCLUSION

In conclusion, teachers often complain about discipline, about lack of attention, about the use of L2 in the
classroom and many other problems, many of which amount to a breakdown in communication between
teacher and students or between students themselves. It is well known that speech is only one part of
communication, yet teachers often forget about or underestimate the importance of non-verbal communication
in their own and their students' performance.

The main focus of ESL/EFL instruction and methodology, both for teachers and for learners, has been on the
acquisition of basic verbal skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing) in the target language. The vital
importance of non-verbal communication in second/foreign language teaching has been largely neglected,
except for a few general passages in recent handbooks for teachers. This paper discusses the indispensable
role of non-verbal communication channels in the system of human communication, and as an essential
ingredient in mastering the intricacies of a second language and culture.

6. BIBLIOGRAPHY- ATTACHED CLASSIFIED BY THEMATIC BLOCKS