Non-verbal communication as a teacher’s strategy: a case study

“Learning a Second Language can be a difficult task for some students, especially when you are being educated to become an English teacher and English is a foreign language. English teachers have the responsibility to be aware of this situation. As Ashworth (2000) claims “the rational for partnership teaching is that all teachers share responsibility for meeting the needs of English Second Language (ESL) students” (p.85). Also Ashworth (2000.p.85) adds that English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers usually work in the mainstream classroom to support the second-language development of individual pupils by collaborating with the classroom teacher to develop a suitable curriculum approach. Taking into account the role of the teacher, it is evident teacher´ influence in students learning. It is important to mention a tool that can help teachers to be closer to students, and this tool is the use of non-verbal communication. The author argues that non-verbal communication is an integral part of classroom communication, and functions to express, conveying interpersonal attitudes, present personality, and amplifying verbal communication. Having mentioned these, non verbal communication expresses more than just words, especially inside of a basic level of foreign language classroom.