MICRO-ETHNOGRAPHIC INTERVIEW REPORT:

THE USE OF BODY LANGUAGE

My informant is an MA student in English Language Teaching at University of Sussex. She has been teaching English at Primary School for more than ten years in China. She is a passionate prospective teacher of English so far I could see. However, she found herself difficult to improve her English especially in expressing herself in spoken English. When I attended her class presentation, May 12^th 2009, I found she was extremely anxious of what she was going to do in front of her imagined students. To what I observed, I noticed that she was unable to loose herself from being over anxious. This was evidenced by her ill-patient movements when preparing her teaching media. It was also apparently seen in her unreliable pronunciation of particular words. Hence, she could not be able to arrange her performance as it was supposed to be. In turn, her subconscious body languages did not appear naturally.

Before conducting interview on Friday 15^th 2009, I set out several questions which I intend to ask dealing with body language that I have observed during the observation. The questions that I have prescribed were based on the research questions set up in the proposal. I basically used these questions as a guide for interview in order to make sure what kind of questions I should ask to lead the interview unscattered. The questions are as in the following:

1. Please tell me what kind of BL do you usually use in your culture?

2. What do you think of the use of BL in teaching English as a foreign language?

3. Please tell me how do you encourage your students?

4. When you are in tense in front of the class, how do you relieve your tension? What kind of action do you usually employ to reduce your nervy?

5. Why do you prefer to use your palm upward to point the picture to your finger point?

6. What do you intend to say by moving your right palm (like scanning over the pictures) over the pictures on the board?

7. Could you please tell me what kind of information you intend to convey to your students when you are putting fingers altogether gently (almost like Buddhist when does praying) then open them up slowly?

8. How do you point your students when you want either individually or whole class to respond your questions or your instructions?

9. Please let me know what do you mean by putting fingers together at the front side of the hip?

10. Ok. Could you please tell me how your culture affects your body language?

The following are the types of body languages (BL) that so far I’ve confirmed and I believe as essential parts of her presentation.

Facial expressions/Gestures/body movements

Smile (though with tense) is a facial expression shown by the trainee to encourage her students to take parts in her class. Her tense implies that she is being afraid of loosing her control over the class especially at the beginning where students’ impressions are her main concern in order to be able to lead them to the topic of discussion. At the beginning, I saw her smile while at the same time gently close her palms up then stretched her hands down at once. These types of BL according to her were intended to release her tension so that she could be able to arrange the flow of her lesson properly. Another body movement shown during her presentation is holding both edges of the picture while showing her students before sticking to the board. Right after that she pointed the picture on the board with her palms upward. This was meant by her as a kind of request for students to pay attention on the picture while observing information or message conveyed in it.

There is another way of using her left palm raised upward scanning over the pictures. What I understood from this type of gesture is to let her students to find overall information from the picture. Here, she agreed the meaning that I’ve predetermined before interview.

Another gesture she used to employ in her teaching is leaning slightly forward by pointing a student with right hand open palm-up. This is also understandable that she is asking or requesting her student to respond her question individually. According to her, this is the most polite way of asking or requesting or addressing questions or requests to someone in china. She also recognized that the students she taught were imagined students so that she could not really feel free as she taught her own students. When she rounded her open palm-up pointing one or twice, she intended to address her request for whole class.

Putting fingers together at the front side of the hip to my understanding when I observed her is waiting her students’ response. In fact, according to her in the interview session is waiting her students and this is the most polite way of waiting someone to give response or to ask questions or to ask for help, etc. She further explained that this type of BL is applicable to any kind of service. I found this type of BL used by the waiter or waitress of Chinese restaurant when he or she waited his or her customers selecting menu. However, in her presentation, she also recognized that this is her way of relieving her tension during the lesson.

I have no idea about the meaning of putting fingers altogether gently (almost like Buddhist when he does praying) then open them up slowly she did in the classroom. She said that this type of BL to her understanding is a kind of encouraging students to give responses step by step. However, I would understand different as others in the classroom did not give any response to her message.

McQuillan (1998)

The belief systems that emanate from our culture shape the way we think, live, act, and interact with each other and with those outside our culture. Our expectations and cultural belief systems reflect our values and perspectives and at the same time can close our minds to accepting other ways of thinking and doing.

Robinson (1994) claimed that in general,

Ø the business of teaching was understood as the activity which was almost exclusively verbal.

Ø However, she argued that nonverbal communication was integral to classroom climate or atmosphere which in turn formed the context in which the interaction between a teacher and students took place.

Ross, (1989).

Despite the claim that teaching and learning process was a verbal activity, it was in fact revealed that only about 35 percent of interaction happens verbally.

Bennet (1990)

Even less than that of previously revealed as estimated that 35 - 90 percent of the communication was channeled through nonverbal communication.

The aim of the ethnographic study is to provide an in-depth description of a particular community

(Malinowski, 1922).

One of the first conditions of acceptable ethnographic work is dealing with totality of all social, cultural, and psychological aspects of the community, for they are so interwoven that not one can be understood without taking into consideration all the others.

Hammersley (1990); Creswell (2003)

Emphasized on an intact cultural group in a natural setting over a prolonged period of time by collecting primarily observational data.

Stressing on producing theoretical; analytical; and thick description - whether of societies, small communities, organization,

LeCompte and Schensul (1999)

Ethnography process is flexible and typically evolves contextually in response to the lived realities encountered in the field setting.

Denscombe (2003)

presented his arguments on ethnography in a more elaborative way. The points to consider to conduct an ethnographic study are the reasonable amount of time required; sharing rather than observing from a distance; routine and normal aspects of everyday life considered as research data; special attention to the people’s world; a holistic approach which stresses process, relationships, connections and interdependency; the final account acknowledged more than just a description - it is a construction.

Malinowski (1922); Hamersley (1990); LeCompte and Schensul (1999); Creswell (2003); and Denscombe (2003)

Essential emphasis on the completeness of data collected from natural setting over prolonged period of time.

Findings

Quite risky to say that the data gather was adequate to completely picture the teacher’ BL because it was merely based upon 30 minutes of videotapes lessons.

Quite reasonable to say that this was just claimed to provide an earlier picture of what happened to the use of BL among diverse English teacher trainees. Yet, this is not necessarily enough for the readers will keep on asking about the completeness of the evidences provided and to what extent they can rely on from every perspective.

By

Ruslin

SMKN 1 Galang Tolitoli

Postgraduate Student

University of Sussex

UK