[Abstract] Since language has been come into being, it plays a commanding role as a means of communication, but not the only means of it. Nonverbal communication takes place with verbal one at the same time in the communication. However, verbal communication conveys the message in a convenient and direct way which makes people depend more on such communicative means while neglect the nonverbal one. So it is not surprising that traditionally language studies have emphasized verbal and written forms, but recently nonverbal communication has received more and more attention and become a young science which is related to many other subjects.
After briefly reviewing achievements made in the study of nonverbal communication, this thesis introduces the definition, classification, function, and cultural differences on cross-cultural nonverbal communication. Aiming to point the significance of nonverbal communication, it focuses on the influence of nonverbal communicative approach in communication, especially in teaching with the implication to it. In reality, nonverbal communication has been widely used in many fields, so it is necessary to learn something about it in order to improve our communicative quality.
[Key Words] nonverbal communication; cultural difference; function; influence; teaching 【摘 要】 自从语言产生以来，言语交际便在人类交际中扮演最主要的角色，但并非是交际的唯一手段。在传播过程中，非言语交际与言语交际是同时进行的，然而言语交际较为快捷地传递信息，因此人们较多依赖于此种交际手段而忽视非言语表达。难怪关于语言的探讨，传统上较重视口语及书面语这两种言语交际形式，而很少顾及非言语交际形式；然而近年来，非言语交际手段越来越受到语言学家们的关注，成为一门跨学科的新兴科学。本文简述了非言语交际的探讨成果，从定义、基本分类、功能、跨文化非言语交际的文化异同这几方面对其作了简要介绍。为了指出非言语交际的重要性，着重论述非言语交际在交际中的作用尤其对教学产生的作用，从而得出对教学的启示。在现实生活，非言语交际被广泛运用于许多领域，英语论文，因此为提高交际质量有必要对非言语交际作一些了解。
【关键词】 非言语交际；文化异同；功能；作用；教学
Introduction
Since language has been come into being, it becomes the most important communicative tool for human being, but not the only one. When we are involved in communicating, we need to mobilize our facial expression, body movement, intonation, temperature, color, smell, clothing and body decoration, time, space and many other ways to communicate with each other, besides using language to transmit information. These means for communication without words are so-called nonverbal communication. Traditionally Language studies have emphasized verbal and written forms, and recently nonverbal communication has received more and more attention. In my paper I’ll present some basic conceptions, functions, cultural difference，英语毕业论文，and influence on teaching especially. 1. A brief review of nonverbal communication studies
The earliest study of nonverbal communication could be traced back to that of various schools of thinkers in pre-Qin Dynasty and Greek philosopher Aristotle. Confucius paid more attention to appearance and posture in different occasions and Aristotle analyzed expressive ways of behaviors in his works. [1](P10) The scientific study of nonverbal communication primarily started after World War II. One of the most influential pre-twentieth century works was Darwin’s Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals in1872. This work spawned the modern study of facial expression, and many of his observations and ideas have been validated by other researchers. In the first half of the twentieth century, the study of nonverbal communication still remained unsystematic for there were only isolated studies of voice, physical appearance, dress and facial expressions. The three influential works during this period were Kretschmer’s book Physique and Character in1925, Sheldon’s book The Variations of Human Physique in1940, and Efron’s book Gesture and Environment in 1941. In 1950s, there was a significant increase in the number of nonverbal research efforts. Birdwhistell’s Introduction to Kinesics in1952 and Hall’s Silent Language in 1959 were two milestones of this decade. In 1956, Ruesch and Kees produced a book entitled Nonverbal Communication: Notes on the Visual Perception of Human Relations. This was the first book to use the term nonverbal communication in its title. 1960s produced a “nuclear explosion” of nonverbal studies. During this time, the classic theoretical piece was Ekman’s and Friesen’s article on the origins, usage, and coding of nonverbal behavior. The 1970s proved to be a time of summarizing and synthesizing on nonverbal studies. It began with Julius Fast’s Body Language in 1970. This book was the best-selling volume at that time and it has now been translated into several Chinese versions. The1980s were a time of further development of nonverbal communication studies. Some nonverbal researches of this decade focused on identifying the ways a variety of nonverbal signals work together to accomplish common communicative goals. The research on nonverbal behavior in our country began from 1980s. Scholars such as Hu Wenzhong, Bi Jiwan, Deng Yianchang and Liu Runqing have done some research work. (P40-41)
Why we began the research on nonverbal communication later than western countries, so far as I know, there’re some reasons for it. Since Joseph Stalin had criticized the “gesture” of Mar in 1950, the scholars in our country who studied linguistic theory considered it as guiding principle to confirm the function of language communication absolutely without considering the position and function of nonverbal communication in communication. As a result, the range of study is only limited to language and communicative tool based on language. [1](P1) And during 1960s-1970s Cultural Revolution happened in our country bringing a disaster to the study of this field. |
