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1、The Use of Body Language in International CommunicationIntroductionAs the trend of globalization is strengthened step by step, international communication is frequent and important day by day. It is the process of communication between people from different cultural backgrounds. It can be divided in
2、to two types: verbal communication and nonverbal communication. People can communicate with each other not only through verbal communication but also through nonverbal communication. Body language is just an important part of nonverbal communication. “ Research shows that when people meet someone fo
3、r the first time, only 7% of their initial impact on others is determined by the content of what they say; 93% of their message is made up of body language (55%) and the tone of their voice（38%）” (Birdwhistell，1952: 79). Body language is also interlinked with spoken language and a whole pattern of b
4、ehavior from a person. As well as, various body language signs can complement each other to make a particular meaning clear or strengthen the meaning of what we convey. Thus body language is very crucial. Because every culture has its special body language, learning the application of body language
5、in different culture backgrounds becomes increasingly essential.This paper intends to present its meaning and classification, functions, above all, displays its application in different countries, so that we can improve our communication skills and abilities by understanding it well. When someone co
6、mmunicates with foreigners, he can know their real thoughts from their body language.All in all, language is the component parts of culture. Studying and understanding body language is helpful to study language of foreign countries and avoid mistakes in intercultural communication.1 Literature Revie
7、wWhen people speak of the communication, first they think of the verbal language. Actually, body language is used earlier than verbal language. So the research of body language is also important.The research of body language can trace back to 1872 when Charles Darwin (1872) publishes the book The Ex
8、pressions of Emotions in Man and Animals. He thinks human will gradually obtain communication capacity through body information. Afterwards, people are beginning to recognize, in the foundation of the language, the groups members through facial expressions, gestures, posture, and speech to relay the
9、 information to each other and complete language and nonverbal language decoding process. In the early of 20th century, Kreteschmer(1925) writes Physique and Character and Variation of Human Physique, as well as Efron (1941) writes Gesture and Environment. There book are the reformation of the resea
10、rch of body language. Then G. L. Trager(1948) and E. T. Hall(1948) propose that people need to learn cultural characteristics in the other countries in international communication. R.L.Birdwhistell (1952), as the founder of Kinesics, points out the concept of Kinesics, which is the study of nonlingu
11、istic bodily movements, such as gestures and facial expressions, as a systematic mode of communication. And in 1970, he advances the theory that human communication needs and uses all the senses. The information conveys by human gestures and movements is coded and patterned differently in various cu
12、ltures, and these codes can be discovered by scrutiny of particular movements within a social context in Kinesics and Context. In China, HuWenzhong (1988) writes Cross-cultural Social Intercourse and English Study, The Cross-cultural Social Intercourse Choose to Read, Culture and Social Intercourse,
13、 which analyzes body language in cross-cultural communication and explain the importance of it. In addition, Huang Xianjin explores the difference of non-verbal communication under different cultural background. And Cao Hejian researches the effect of body language in the words meaning.Today though
14、the mankinds language system has been highly flourishing, the study is still going on. Body language is one of the most useful ways in intercultural communication.2 Information about Body Language2.1 DefinitionAs a kind of communicative tool, body language takes a complementary role to help people t
15、ransfer information to improve communication, which is an indispensable power to break up language obstacles in intercultural communication. Body language, also called Kinesics, is the complementary of language and belongs to the scope of nonverbal communication. It cooperates with verbal language t
16、o express information more accurately.2.2 Functions of Body Language The study of psychology shows when two people do faceto-face communication, more than 50% information of communication are finished by mute body language. Moreover, because body language is international, people coming from differe
17、nt countries can communicate by body language even if they cant speak each others language. Why do people see this phenomenon? It is because body language plays an important role in repeating, complementing, regulating, contradicting.2.2.1 RepeatingSome of the nonverbal information can be repeated w
18、ith oral language. Movements of head and hands are always playing a role of strength when talking to others. For example, sometimes when you say the number “one”, you put out one of your fingers to help you express your idea. Samovar said: “The most important communicational tool used by human being
19、s is of course language; however, it does not mean that language is the only tool. It also depends on many other nonverbal behaviors. When one is speaking, gesture, eyes contact, posture and facial expression are always accompanying voiced language. All the movements including all nonverbal behavior
20、s are behaved as one aim to deepen the impression of meaning” (Samovar, 1981: 11). In intercultural communication, this function of body language has great help. There is a simple example, when people say, “goodbye” while they wave their hands. This is repeating.2.2.2 ComplementingSometimes the voic
21、ed languages were powerless and the nonverbal behaviors embroider on these speech acts by eye contacts, facial expressions, gestures, physical contacts, etc. “These silent body languages gain a start by remedy the powerlessness and inadequacies” (Devote, 2004: 78). Suppose you are on a phone call, a
22、 foreign friend comes to visit you. You nod your head or give a gesture or cast him a glance to ask him to sit down and wait for you. We see sometimes information conveyed by nonverbal acts have no relation with oral words. But these nonverbal acts complement what you want. Thanks to these nonverbal
23、 behaviors, language becomes more symbolic, emotional and lively.2.2.3 Regulating A period of conversation can be described as a series of listening and speaking. They are coordinated with each other in some communication, such as starting chatting, changing topics and giving an end to it. “Nonverba
24、l behaviors are usually used to regulate such kinds of cooperation” (Coester and Smith, 1988: 69). When there is a conversation, one shows another about his emotion response and attitude with the help of nonverbal behaviors. Regulating is usually used to keep talking in a face-to-face conversation.
25、It implies the speaker that he can go on talking, repeat again, give a further explanation, speak faster, speak more lively, and invite others to give a speech, etc. 2.2.4 ContradictingCompared with language communicative functions, body language is more authentic and accurate to convey information
26、and record the meaning in some language environment, because languages sometimes are insincere in ones words and nonverbal behaviors are the authentic feeling from ones heart; (Hu Wenzhong, 1988). For example, you have received a present from your friend that you do not like. Though you will say, “I
27、 like it very much” happily, your facial expression will show you are unhappy. That is to say, your facial expression contradicted with what you said. To communicate with foreigner, people should especially pay attention to this point that one cant lie with foreigners, because his body language will
28、 leak his secret.2.3 Important Role of Body Language in Intercultural CommunicationAlthough language is a chief tool to help people communicate, yet body language cant be replaced by verbal language, especially in interpersonal communication. “Nobody can keep secret completely, if his lip keep silen
29、t he will talk by his finger, every gesture of his body will betray him” (Hu Wenzhong, 1988: 12). His words mainly explain the important function of body language during conversation. In addition, a famous psychologist has ever proposed a formula: emotion expression = 7% language + 39%voice +83%expr
30、ession behavior; (Cao Hejian, 1997), which also illustrated the important role of body language in interpersonal communication.Charles Darwin once said, “Human would gradually obtain communication capacity through body information” (Darwin, 1872). All in all, body language is indispensable in interc
31、ultural communication. Greeting, introductions, farewell, visiting and etc have different body language in every countries. If one merchant does not know these, he will surely fail in his business. Therefore, if somebody wants to succeed in international business, if he wants to have a good personal
32、 relationship with the foreign friends, and if he wants to go out of mistaking zone, he must learn and master body languages of different countries because it is one of the most useful ways to lead to successful communication.3 Questionnaire SurveyThe previous chapter has shown some information of b
33、ody language. This chapter will illustrate an experiment which is designed to testify the difference of body language. It will include the research problems, methodologies, such as participants, testing materials, and the procedures, etc.3.1 Research QuestionsBased on testing materials chosen from t
34、he research of G.L.Trager, the specific research questions will include: (1) Whether there is any influence of cultural background knowledge on body language?(2) In Chinese views, whether there is any difference of body language in different countries?(3) Whether is it necessary for Chinese people t
35、o learn every body language in international culture? 3.2 MethodologyIn this part, the methodology used in this research elaborated. After introducing subjects, instrument used in this study is described. Eventually, research procedures, data collection and analysis will be explained in details.3.2.
36、1 SubjectsBy using random cluster sampling, a total of 100 students, who are learners of English as foreign language from Heze University, were selected to participate in the questionnaire survey of present study. Among them, 56 are males and 44 are females, and all of them were non-English majors.
37、3.2.2 InstrumentQuestionnaire survey is one of the most useful instruments in the research to collect data, which are not easily observed. This study used a questionnaire, which was examined by experts. This questionnaire includes two parts. The first part is about personal information, which involv
38、es the participants gender. Part two is the Chinese version of differences of body language in different countries. The questionnaire is written in Chinese in case the students have difficulty in understanding each question or expressing their opinions in English. To ensure that they would answer th
39、e question items honestly, the students would be asked to responded the questionnaire anonymously.3.2.3 Data CollectionOne week before formal administration, the author had got in touch with the English teachers of the participants, explaining the research purpose, significance, requirements, specif
40、ic steps and so on. The questionnaire was distributed to the participants on April 3. All participants received uniform instructions as to how to fill out the questionnaire in order to minimize confusion and they were told that the questionnaire were used only to investigate their true views of body
41、 language, and there is no right or wrong response, so they were supposed to complete the questionnaire as carefully and honestly as possible. Generally speaking, there were no problems of understanding. And then they finished this questionnaire soon.3.2.4 Data AnalysisAlthough there are 100 partici
42、pants, some of their questionnaires are invalid. By eliminating incomplete answered questionnaires, there are 90 valid subjects finally. Then results were obtained by calculating. In the process of data analysis, data was used to learn the real situation of body language.4 Results and DiscussionThis
43、 part presents the results and discussion of three research questions in the present study by analyzing the data collected from questionnaire survey. The answers to the above questions are as follows.(1)In this survey, about 91% students believe that there is very important influence of cultural bac
44、kground knowledge on body language. (2) Questionnaire about Difference of Body LanguageEye ContactPhysical DistancePhysical ContactFacial Expressionsdifference 72%(65)89%(80)94%(85)53%(48)Similarity 28%(25)11%(10)6%(15)47%(42)(i) The numbers are the number of students who choose the same answer.(ii)
45、 The percentage is the percentage of students who choose the same answer.(3) It is necessary to research the difference of body language in international culture according to this survey because almost all of people hold that they should learn the use of body language. With the economic globalizatio
46、n, people pay more attention to body language of different countries. Next, the following paper discusses the use of body language of some countries in the four aspects.4.1 Eye ContactPeople always say: “Eyes are the windows of ones mind.” Eye behavior is an important aspect of kinesics. “The eyes a
47、re highly expressive in most cultures” (Hu Wenzhong, 2004: 6). Furthermore, every culture has its unique social rules governing eye contact. 4.1.1 A Kind of Eye ContactGazeGaze is the specific use of eye contact. It is important in all cultures, and can signal interest, attraction, approval, challen
48、ge. “Gaze is closely coordinated with speaking and listening, and provides useful feedback in a social encounter; gaze can emphasize points, indicate who should speak next, express approval or disapproval and get a speakers attention. A meaningless gaze often signals distress, mental illness, or con
49、fusion” (Morain, 1986: 235).4.1.2 Application of Eye Contact in Various Cultures As we all known, Chinese do not have much eye contact during a conversation because in Chinese culture, staring at another for a long time is considered as an invasion of privacy, an act of defiance or demonstration of lack of trust. Therefore, the Chinese should have a good understanding of eye contact and use it correctly because theres a really big di
