TOPIC 2

COMMUNICATION IN THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSROOM. VERBAL AND

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

According to the Royal Decree 157/2022, 1 st of march, one of the aims of foreign
language teaching at Primary level is to acquire basic communicative competence in
the language. The Evaluation criteria also establishes the importance of using only
verbal procedures but also non-verbal ones. It seems obvious that communication is
not only an audiovisual experience but a total one which must include gestures,
behaviour, mime and other aspects that occur in first language communication.
Needless to say, I consider this topic essential.

In this essay I am going to bring to light some ideas about communication in the
foreign language classroom. First of all, I will define what communication implies.
Then I will move to some considerations about communication in the foreign language
classroom. After that I will suggest some extralinguistic strategies to respond to
messages. Finally, I will compile the main conclusions as well as the bibliography I
used to develop the topic.

I. DEFINITION OF COMMUNICATION
First of all, we need to give a definition of communication. Communication can
be defined as the connection and interaction of an individual with the outer world.
This happens by producing, perceiving and interpreting one or more sets or systems of
signs shared by a community. We use the language as the most common tool for
communication either spoken or written. Harmer (1983) establishes that when a person
speaks:

 S/He wants to speak; it is her/his decision to address someone.

 S/He has a communicative purpose.
 S/He selects from her/his language stores using the language s/he feels
appropriate for her/his purpose.

On the other hand, the person listening:

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 S/He wants to listen to something.

 S/He is interested in the communicative purpose of what is being said.
 S/He processes a variety of language.

However, when a person speaks there is a lot more going on than just what
s/he says. There is another level of communication which is more general and affects
the emission and the reception of the message: non verbal communication. Body
movement, gestures and facial expressions, tactile and smelling sensations... are some
ways of conveying emotions and information. We can indicate with a movement that
we are going to bed or that we are hungry. Some meanings depend on the culture, for
instance greetings are universal in every culture but specific in each one of them
(different number of kisses, shaking hands...). Flora Davis and Edward Hall are two
authors who investigated non verbal communication.

II. COMMUNICATION IN THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSROOM

Now that I have established the different types of communication my concern
turns to dealing with communication in the foreign language classroom. Throughout
history, many different approaches have been established for foreign language
teaching. The Direct Method, the Audio-Lingual Method, the Silent Way...were
methods which attempted to get the students to speak in the language. By 1970, despite
all the efforts they have made, the common feeling among language teaching experts
was general dissatisfaction. They had been using techniques and principles following
Chomsky, who claimed that language was a set of patterns acquired through rule
formation, but following this idea students were unable to use the language outside the
classroom. A famous linguist, Dell Hymes noticed that communication required that
student performed certain functions as well such as promising or inviting within a
social context. He argued that being able to communicate required more than linguistic
competence; it required communicative competence: “knowing when and how to say
what to whom”. He distinguished the following four aspects:

1. Systematic potential: a native speaker possesses a system that has a

potential for creating language.
2. Appropriacy: a native speaker knows what language is appropriate in a
given situation.

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3. Occurrence: a native speaker knows how often something is said in the

language and acts accordingly.
4. Feasibility: a native speaker knows whether something is possible in the
language.

Following Hymes, Richards and Rodgers developed an approach called

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). They stated several theoretical premises:

 The communication principle: activities that involve real communication

promote learning.
 The task principle: activities that involve the completion of real-world tasks
promote learning.
 The meaningfulness principle: learners must be engaged in meaningful and
authentic language use for learning to take place.

Some other characteristics of CLT are:

 Meaning is of primary importance and contextualisation is a basic principle.

 Attempts by learners to communicate in the language are encouraged from
the beginning of instruction.
 Judicious use of the native language is acceptable when feasible.
 Activities and strategies for learning are varied according to learners’
preferences and needs.
 The emphasis on fluency is the goal of instruction.

CLT is an important forerunner of the notional-functional syllabus developed

by the Council of Europe and later developed by Wilkins. Notional-functional
syllabuses try to organise the foreign language around two systems of meanings:

 Notional categories, which are abstract concepts that the learner needs in
order to communicate (ex. travel, shopping, time...).
 Functional categories/categories of communicative function; speech acts
such as offering or inviting.

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Following this, students need to acquire knowledge of the linguistic forms,

meanings and functions in order to achieve communicative competence.
According to Harmer, the activities we do in the classroom need to have the
following characteristics:
 A desire to communicate, a communicative purpose.
 Based on content rather than on form.
 Use a variety of language.
 No teacher intervention.
 No materials control.

Bearing in mind these characteristics Littlewood distinguishes two main types

of communicative activities:
1. Functional communicative activities: they include comparing sets of
pictures, noting similarities and differences, working out a likely sequence
of events, following directions...
2. Social interactive activities: role-plays, discussions, sessions and debates.

In general terms, communicative activities always present a gap which needs to

be found out by the students. Communicative activities are important in our daily
classes but we use many other activities. When introducing new vocabulary, for
instance, we cannot use communicative activities. Actually, since language has to go in
before it can come out, students often understand more language than what they are
able to produce.

III. EXTRALINGUISTIC STRATEGIES TO RESPOND TO MESSAGES.

NON-VERBAL RESPONSES
When we introduce new concepts at the presentation stage, they are usually
linked to devices such as visual clues or body language. In most cases non-verbal
responses are easier to produce than verbal ones. Moreover, students have to be
encouraged to use non-verbal signals when they are told stories, rhymes or songs.
Students can communicate effectively by non-verbal responses and show that they
understood what has been said. The second language classroom is full of this type of
responses.

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Very young learners, for instance, are excellent observers and have a natural
ability to grasp meaning from a variety of sources: body language, gesture, facial
expression and the context. Some children are reluctant, unwilling to speak. These
silent periods can take up a few days, a few weeks or even a few months. However,
this does not often imply that a child is not acquiring new language. In fact, there is a
theory of second language acquisition which holds that the second language must be
learnt in the same way as the first one does, so this silent period is of primary
importance.

The use of extralinguistic communicative strategies and responses are

obviously part of the development of the communicative competence. We resort to
these strategies when we perceive a gap in our verbal capacities or when the strategies
are more economical or contextually adequate than words.

James Asher’s Total Physical Response is a method which uses an

extralinguistic non-verbal reaction to messages. In this method, no native language is
allowed. It develops listening skills, introduces new language in a very visual and
contextualised way, involves activity and movement and does not at first put pressure
on young learners to speak. In this method, the role of the teacher is director of a stage
play and the pupils are the actors.

TPR provides comprehensible input and lacks of stress which are essential
ingredients of a successful methodology. In this method, the teacher tells the pupils
what to do, uses clear pronunciation and natural intonation and helps them
understand by gestures or by doing the actions. The pupils have to listen carefully to
the instructions; enjoy doing the actions; can do them altogether or on their own; do
not have to speak and understand because movement and language go together. Here
are some TPR activities:

 FOLLOW THE LEADER: is the most basic technique. Children have to copy
the teacher and listen to what s/he says. It is a good activity for very young
learners starting to learn English.
 TOPIC-BASED TPR: for vocabulary practice, for instance, to practice the
colours: “If you are wearing something blue, stand out one leg”. You can

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use conventional body language or introduce your own movements: “wave

hands”, “clap”, “sing”, “move your head”...
 TPR ROUTINES: to wake children up if they are feeling sleepy or let
children have a break when they have been concentrating on another
activity –a short physical break from a longer activity-. A pointing rhyme
would serve as an example:
“Point to the ceiling,
point to the floor,
point to the window,
point to the door,
clap your hands together,
one, two, three,
now sit down
and look at me”
 TPR FOR CLASSROOM ARRANGEMENT: using TPR from the very
beginning gets children used to directions/orders/commands in English:
“come here”, “sit down”, “stand up”.

Apart from TPR, there are many other activities where pupils need to
understand just enough to follow the instructions without saying a simple word. Now,
I am going to give some tips on how to introduce non-verbal activities in the foreign
language classroom:

 Start by giving instructions in English: it is very easy to use your mother

tongue when asking children to sit, stand or move around in preparation for
activities. It is also quicker. But your aim is to teach English, not to be quick.
At first, while telling them what to do in English, you can use gestures and
demonstrate what you want them to do. After a few days, they will
understand without gestures. You can also try to use English when talking
to them outside the classroom.

 Listening and identifying activities: they have two stages; first, you talk to
the children about the things you want them to learn. Then, ask the children
to point to or show you the things when you name them. When they listen
and identify, they are associating what they have in their hands with the

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phrases the teacher is using. Examples are: “Show me your book!”, “Let me
see your pencil!”, “One, two, three, rubbers up!” You can use small picture
cards which they can hold up and show you or big pictures on the wall or
other classroom objects. You can also do more than extending the children’s
vocabulary, you can use it for grammatical awareness: singular and plural
(“she is”/”they are”), gender pronouns... Little by little, children can begin
to acquire a feeling for what is grammatically accurate.

 Listening and performing/miming: when children are familiar with the

vocabulary used for a particular topic, you can introduce mime. Miming
means acting silently without speaking. Students have to listen carefully
when you describe what they have to mime, decide how to perform what
you describe, need some thinking time for this, move and act but do not
have to speak. Mime gives the children freedom to be creative. Mime is
especially suitable for stories; as you read, ask the children to mime the key
actions. Another possibility is to mime rhymes and chants, which can break
the monotony of the class and change the pace of a lesson.

 Listening and responding games: games can help children have fun and
make them listen while you are speaking English. Some good games are:

o Stand up for the truth: in this game, the teacher has to hold up a
flashcard and ask ‘Is it a ___?. If the children think the answer is yes,
they stand up. If they think the answer is no, they remain silent.
o Hop to the flashcard: the teacher puts some flashcards around the
classroom. After that, s/he divides the children into three or four
groups to go to a different flashcard in a different manner e.g. group
one…walk to the ball! group two…jump to the plane!
o Simon says: this is a very popular action game. It is very easy and
the children have to listen carefully to find out whether to respond
or to keep still. This game can be played inside or outside the
classroom. It is also useful because it belongs to the English culture,
which links the game you are playing with the cultural contents
stablished in the new Decree 61/2022 passed on the 13th of July.

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 Listening and doing activities: they need action as a response. They also let
you check immediately if the children understand or if they do not. These
activities are very creative, and they usually involve children in making
something. They have to make decisions, take time to think, there are
opportunities for cooperation between learners and often the children have
something to take home at the end of the class. There are different types of
listen and make activities. The most popular ones are:

o Listen and colour: to revise the colour whenever necessary and

show understanding of what they are about to colour. If we use
drawings of animals, food, clothes, we can cut them out later. An
idea for making the activity more challenging and add a
grammatical element is by giving out two pictures, for instance, a
boy and a girl, and giving the two instructions at a time: colour his
hair brown and her hair black, etc…or by giving the children
alternatives: colour his hair either red or yellow, or even by dividing
the class in two and giving different instructions to each group and
using the pictures later for games like ‘Spot the difference’.

o Listen and draw: where students have to draw what you describe.
They can also make greeting cards for celebrations such as
Christmas or Easter.

 I would like to point out that there is a lot more going on in listening and
doing activities than just the task they are carrying out. Through these
activities, children become familiar with all the names they need for
drawing/painting; crayons, scissors, brushes…they also take charge of
these materials and work together. Furthermore, if the students cut out
shapes and keep them in envelopes, they can be used later on for guessing
games or to mix and match to put labels on. Furthermore, we can carry out
some of these activities using ICTs, to make it even more interesting.

IV. CONCLUSSIONS AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

To sum up, what I have developed in this essay is the concept of communication
and the different types of communication. Starting with a definition of communication,

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I have highlighted the importance of non-verbal communication. After that, I have

focused on our communicative classroom and I have given out some tips on
extralinguistic strategies and non-verbal reactions to messages that our students can
carry out during lessons to show understanding. Personally, I believe that our English
class is full of non-verbal communication and we need to be fully aware of this and use
it as a powerful tool for language learning.
In order to develop the topic I have used the following bibliography:

 Brewster, J. Ellis, G. and Girard, D. The Primary English Teacher’s Guide. Penguin.
London, 1992.

 Crystal, D. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. CUP. Cambridge, 1987.

 Davis, F. Non-verbal communication. Alianza editorial. Madrid, 1989.

Further sources:

http://www.edutopia.org

http://www.englishraven.com