Part I - INTRODUCTION
I. Rationale
Since 1986, when the open - door policy and doi moi began to be applied in
Vietnam, the country and its people have witnessed significant changes in many aspects of
life. People from other countries have started to come in with investments. The presence of
multinationals in Vietnam, in particular, has created an appetite for learning English and
communicating in the language. In the light of globalization, language and communication
cannot be separated from our daily lives (Marley, 2001).
It is omnipresent that, in communication, we express our emotions and attitudes more
nonverbally than verbally. One study in Anglophone countries showed that in the
communication of attitude, 93 percent of the message was transmitted by the tone of the
voice and by facial expressions, whereas only seven percent of the speaker’s attitude was
transmitted by words. Birdwhistell (1997), who deserves most credit for awakening interest
in serious nonverbal studies, has also estimated that at most only about 30 percent of what is
communicated in a conversation is verbal. People observe us to see HOW we are saying
things and what we are DOING, more than they actually LISTEN to the WORDS used. If we
smile, they relax and smile; if we scowl at them, they tense up and become defensive.
Likewise, if we stand rigidly behind, tether ourselves to the lectern and scarcely move, they
become rigid – physically and mentally.
Hence it is safe to assume that non - verbal behaviour is undeniably important in
communication, within a culture and across cultures.
Considering the facts given above, we can see that in English language
classrooms, teachers frequently conduct direct communication, which serves as a
fundamental skill not only in university teaching but in real life as well. Among the many
direct communication forms, making presentations, delivering speeches and explanations,
giving lectures, reports and briefings in class have become a compulsory part of teachers'
tasks. Nonverbal behaviour including gesture, posture, facial expression, gaze, and
distance is tightly weaved in all these skills. There are various chances or occasions when
Vietnamese learners of English are taught by native teachers, and Vietnamese teachers
attend or observe their classes. It is for this reason that both Vietnamese learners and
teachers of English should develop a thorough understanding of non – verbal behaviour

communication breakdown in interacting with American teachers of English in
particular and American communicating partners as a whole.
iii. scope of the study
The study of the nonverbal behaviour of American and Vietnamese teachers of
English is merely confined to classroom interaction with Vietnamese students. American
teachers surveyed are those who have been teaching English in Vietnam for a certain
amount of time. Vietnamese teachers are all from Division I – English Department -
College of Foreign Languages – Vietnam National University. They are equivalently
teaching pre – intermediate leveled students.
The paper is intended to cover three factors of non – verbal behaviour namely eye
contact, posture and distance.
The situations to be discussed are the most common and typical ones in classroom
setting and they are generalized into the four following situations:
 You are lecturing on a topic or giving instructions
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 When organizing group - work or pair work for students, you are sitting down
with one group or one pair and joining the activity they are doing
 Students do not understand your points and raise questions
 Students are doing their presentations
iv. methodology
The major method to be employed is quantitative. Additionally, contrastive
analysis is used. All the considerations, comments and conclusions in the thesis are
therefore largely based on the following methods:
• Reference to relevant home and foreign publications in both primary and
secondary research,
• Survey questionnaires,
• Statistics, descriptions, and analysis of the collected and selected data,
• Personal observations and experience,
• Consultations with supervisor,
• Discussions with Vietnamese and foreign colleagues.

factors of culture itself are believed to be the fittest working definitions because they
illustrate the relationship among social members or social groups, their communication and
behaviour.
In the first place, UNESCO (1996:108) launches the formal definition focusing on the
character of culture as follows ‘Culture is a set of symbolic systems which regulate the
behaviour and enable the mutual communication of a plurality of people, establishing
them into particular and instinct community.’
Ferrando (1996:18) considers Culture according to the nature of human beings’
possession, perception and action: Culture is everything that one has, thinks, and does as a
member of a society.
Figure 1 - 1. Ferrando’s definition of culture
Levine and Adelman (1993:58), on the other hand, look at the visible and invisible
nature of constituting factors of culture. The definition they put forth may be the most
imaginative definition of all. In their view, as for an iceberg, we can hardly see most of
the influence of culture on an individual. The risen part of culture is not always which
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Realizatio
n

Perceptio
n
CULTURE
Possessio
n
that causes difficulties in cross culture; the hidden aspects of culture exert meaningful–
influences on one s behaviour and interaction with others. ’
Figure 1 - 2. Levine and Adelman’s definition of culture
As a matter of fact, various definitions of culture reflect different theoretical concepts of
what culture is. It is, however, necessary for the researcher to adopt one that best guide her
study. Therefore, the thesis author finds the definition offered by Sikkema and Niyekawa

the six - characteristics paradigm as follows.
 Culture is not innate, but a product of the process of acquisition
 Culture is able to be propagated widely
 Culture is dynamic
 Culture is optional
 Culture is a perfect whole with intertwined and related factors.
 Culture is ethnocentric
1.1.3. Place of Culture in English Language Teaching in Vietnam
As mentioned from the very beginning of the research, English has regained its
position of importance from Russian and French after suffering years of neglect. English
schools and centres have been mushrooming all over the country, especially in Ho Chi
Minh City and Hanoi, the two most populous cities in Vietnam.
In the light of globalisation, language and culture cannot be separated from our daily
lives (Marley, 1996:17). It is also undeniable that language plays an essential role in the
perpetuation of culture (Kramsch, 2000:52). Therefore, an overview of how cultural
factors affect the learning and teaching of English in Vietnam should undoubtedly be
included in this research. Towards this end, the influence of Confucianism and more
modern philosophies needs to be investigated to get a picture of the classroom culture in
which the target language is taught and learnt, as language needs to be understood within
the particular context in which it is used (Pennycook, 1997:35).
To elaborate on the current situation of learning and teaching English, the thesis author
will address two issues concerning the effects of Confucianism: the traditional method of
teaching and the implementation of communicative language teaching (CLT).
 The Vietnamese people have a long tradition of appreciation of educational
achievements. However, Tong (2000:46) points out that the remaining traditions do not
always represent the most beautiful aspects of the people but may contain elements to
hinder progress and create inappropriate attitudes toward improvement. One aspect of this
tradition is reflected in the hierarchy of both the society and education systems.
The highest institute of education is the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET),
which decides all the activities of the whole education system. School authorities, teachers

now cater to more and more students living in the suburbs. One of the reasons these
students go such a long distance for their English studies is because they believe these
centres can provide them with more communicative courses (Le Tran Hong Phuc,
interview, 2001- an extract from the Internet).
The need to use English in actual communicative contexts is beginning to emerge
as learners realize that the traditional learning and teaching styles do not help them
communicate with foreigners, both native and nonnative speakers of English. ‘ The way
English was learned and taught at high school did not help me to speak and understand
English at work’ (Phuc, interview, 2001- an extract from the Internet).
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Development in the society brings forth the demand of using English in the work
place, especially in the field of computer and research sciences. Another factor that
urges learners to alter their traditional aversion to communicative learning is the annual
availability of scholarships. This altogether means the need for the application and
enhancement of C.L.T in English teaching and learning.
Generally speaking, due to the culture influenced by the Confucian ideology,
Vietnamese education still heavily centers around the traditional, grammar- translation
centred methods. Although there have signals of CLT approval, it is not adequate to
confirm that CLT is so far the most successful method in Vietnam. However, knowing that
there is still a long way to go, it is justifiable to take an optimistic view of learning and
teaching English in Vietnam.
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1.2. Communication
1.2.1. What Communication?
There have been a great number of studies by scholars and linguists on communication
who agree on one point that communication is an interactive or transactive process.
However, they hold different points of view so they give out various ways of classifying
and defining the term. Their definitions therefore have different emphases and factors.
The definition may focus on the meaning of the conveyed message. According to
Rudolph, F. Verderber (1989:4), ‘communication may be defined as the transactional

Environmental languageObject language
Lexicon
Rules of grammar
Rules of phonetics
Rules of language use
and interaction skills
Vocal characteristics
+ Pitch
+ Volume
+ Rate
Types of vocal quality
Vocal interferences
Silence

Eye contact
Facial expressions
Gestures
Postures
Touch/ Haptics/
Tactile
Clothing
Jewellery
Accessories
Make-up
Artificial scents
Flowers
Gifts
Setting
Conversational
distances/ Proxemics

The setting is where the communication occurs. Settings, formal or informal, can be a
significant influence on communication.
Noise
Noise is interference that keeps a message from being understood or accurately
interpreted. Noise occurs between sender – receivers, and it comes in three forms:
external, internal, and semantic.
In a nutshell, all communication is made up of senders and receivers, messages,
channels, feedback, setting and noise. Every time people communicate, these elements are
somewhat different.
Figure 1 - 4 shows how all these elements work together. The amoeba – like shape of
the sender – receiver indicates how this person changes – depending on what he or she is
hearing or reacting to.
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Figure 1 ’ 4: Hybels and Weaver II’s diagram of communication elements
1.3. Cross - cultural communication
1.3.1. What Cross – cultural Communication?
Cross – cultural communication has drawn attention of linguistic researchers. This
notion is normally interpreted as the exchange of ideas, information, messages, etc. among
people from different communities and cultural backgrounds. In fact, it is clarified by
Levine and Adelman (1993: XVII) as ‘ communication verbal or nonverbal between
people from different cultures; communication that is influenced by cultural values,
attitudes, and behaviour; the influence of culture on people s reactions and responses to’
each other.’
1.3.2. Cross – cultural value dimensions
Culture is community specific and has its own sets of values that help distinguish one
community from another. This modulates the effects of intercultural communicative
competence. Hofstede (1997: 5) refers to four dimensions of cultures: individualism/
collectivism, and masculinity/ femininity. These dimensions reflect the pattern of thinking,
feeling and acting which greatly influence the ways people prefer to communicate. People
normally know how to behave properly within their own culture and community but when

covering merely nonlinguistic behaviours, which is insufficient to depict a comprehensive
picture of nonverbal communication. This is precisely because contemporary researchers
on this field have insisted on the existence of linguistic aspects of nonverbal
communication namely paralanguage.
Robert N. Bostrom (1988: 160) has a more general view with higher consciousness of
the presence of paralanguage: ‘direct, face to face communication has a large– –
channel capacity you can send more than you can with a written message. This–
additional message capacity stems from the things that people do while they are speaking:
adopt various positions, take different actions, make different movements, and produce
subtle variations with their voices.’ Robert, nevertheless, only points out the existence of
paralanguage and body language factors not object language and environmental language
which has been proved theoretically and practically to be indispensable in nonverbal
communication.
Most comprehensive of all may be the idea of Rudolph, F. Verderber (1989: 82) stating
that ‘Nonverbal communication may cover any aspect of communication that is not purely
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verbal. More precisely, nonverbal communication can be viewed from two different
perspectives. From one perspective, nonverbal communication refers to people s actions or’
attributes other than words From another perspective, however, nonverbal communication
also refers to elements that neither come from nor are part of people but that communicate
through people s use of them. Thus, such artifacts as clothes and such environmental factors’
as furniture, lighting, temperature, and colour also fall within the realm of nonverbal
communication.’ With the same viewpoint, Nguyen Quang (forthcoming: 44) has also
given his own opinion which seems to cover most important dimensions of nonverbal
communication. According to him, it refers to ‘all the components of the message that
when taken together constitute the communication which is not verbally coded but both
vocally and nonvocally channeled. Nonverbal communication is composed of
paralinguistic factors (nonverbal vocal channel), such as rate, volume, etc. and
extralinguistic factors (nonverbal non vocal channel), such as body language (gestures,–
postures, facial expressions ), object language (including clothing, jewellery ), and

a day, and that more than 65 percent of the social meaning of a typical two – person
exchange is carried by nonverbal cues (Valdes, 1992: 65).
These all persuasive evidences have clearly shown the undeniably important role of
nonverbal communication. A number of researchers put forth three reasons for this. First,
people remember what they see more easily than what they hear. Second, nonverbal
communication accounts for more time than verbal communication in communication.
Besides, people can easily cheat others by verbal communication but not nonverbal
communication.
1.4.3. Functions and Principles of Non – verbal Communication
Functions of Nonverbal Communication
According to Nguyen Quang (forthcoming: 49) and Rudolph F. Verderber (1989:
85), nonverbal communication has four functions as follows.
 Nonverbal cues may complement a verbal message when they add to its meaning.
When you meet someone for the first time you might say “I am really glad to meet
you. I’ve heard a lot about you.” If you say this with a warm smile and shake his or
her hand, your nonverbal behaviour complements your verbal message.
 Nonverbal cues may regulate verbal communication. If you are talking to your boss
or one of your teachers, how does she tell you that it is time for the conversation to
end? She might get up out of her chair, or she might look pointedly at the clock on
the wall – two ways to indicate that the conversation is over.
 Nonverbal messages may also substitute for verbal messages. The secretary waves
you into the boss’s office without telling you to go in. We raise a hand in greeting
instead of saying hello, or we give someone a hug – a wordless way of saying we
like that person.
 Nonverbal behaviour may contradict your words. For instance, when you slam the
door behind you but say you don’t care, when you perspire profusely but claim
you are not nervous, when you shout and say you are not angry, your verbal and
nonverbal messages are contradictory. Which is to be believed? In these
circumstances, the nonverbal messages are likely to override the verbal meaning.
Observers are more inclined to believe what is expressed nonverbally because it is

through your closet, etc.
Feedback
When reacting nonverbally to others, we do not use words or sounds, but so much by
our facial expressions and the positioning of our bodies. For example, we show our interest
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with our smile or nodded head whereas a lack of interest is expressed by fidgeting or
sneaking a look at the watch.
Continuity
Verbal communication begins and ends with words, whereas nonverbal
communication is continuous. Imagine you are at a train station. Although some people
might occasionally talk to each other, they are all engaged in continuous nonverbal
communication. Several are looking at magazines, and occasionally at their watches.
Others sit for a few minutes, then get out of their chairs and pace a few steps before they sit
again. All these people, then, are continuously sending out nonverbal messages about how
they are feeling in the situation.
Channel
Verbal communication requires a single channel that is words whereas nonverbal
communication uses several channels. This means nonverbal communication is
multichanneled (Verderber, 1989: 84). For example, we watch an interviewee waiting
outside the interview room for her turn. She is communicating her state of mind through
several channels: her posture is tense, her facial expression is worried, she may also hold
hands together. She is at the same time communicating information to us. Her clothing tells
us something about her socioeconomic status, her hairdo might indicate that she has
recently been to a hairdresser, and if she speaks, one might get an impression of how
educated she is.
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Control
Verbal communication is undoubtedly under our control because we can choose our
own words, but nonverbal communication is controlled part of the time. We have control
when we can choose the clothes to wear, the hairstyle to make, or decide whether we

four categories which are body motions (eye contact, facial expression, gesture),
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paralanguage (pitch, volume, rate, quality), self – presentation (clothing, touch,
chronemics) and environment language (space, temperature, lighting, and color).
Beisler et al. (1997:59) believes that nonverbal communication covers the following
areas:
 Body language
 Physical characteristics and form
 Paralanguage
 Space (conversational distance)
 Environment
 Time
They also state that silence can be classified as one type of nonverbal communication.
Ekman and Fiesen (1967:44) pay more attention to object language in extralanguage
area. Their classification is expressed as follows.
 Paralanguage
 Body motions (facial expressions, movements, gestures, postures)
 Object language (clothes and jewelleries)
 Touch (handshake, rub one s head )’
 Space (conversational distance)
 Time
 Silence
However, if we take into account the whole communicating situation with the central
communicating channel is the intralanguage, and the communicating boundary is all
situational factors indirectly involved in the process of communication, we can look at the
thorough and reasonable classification by Nguyen Quang (forthcoming: 66) as illustrated
in the diagram given below.
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Figure 1 ’ 5 : Nguyen Quang’s diagram of nonverbal classification
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Tactile
-…
-Clothing
- Jewellery
- Accessories
- Make-up
- Artificial
scents
- Gift
- Flowers
-…
- Setting
- Conversation
distance/Proxemics
- Time/
Chronemics
- Lighting system
- Colours
- Heat
CHA PTE R 2
NONVERBAL BEHAVIOUR IN FOCUS
As discussed in the previous chapter, there are different types and subtypes of
nonverbal communication. However, in this thesis, the writer merely wishes to get an
insight into those factors which, in her belief, first and foremost influence the interaction
process between English language teachers and their students. She is therefore going to
present here a literature review of three factors namely eye contact, posture and distance.
2.1. Eye contact
2.1.1. Nature and importance of Eye Contact
When people look directly at each other’s eyes while talking, eye contact occurs
(Rudolph F. Verderber, 1989: 86).

Nonverbal communication across cultures.
Mode 1
Eye contact is divided into two types namely direct eye contact and indirect eye
contact.
Direct eye contact includes three categories as follows
 Soft, warm eye ’ contact: this type of
eye contact elicits trust, truthfulness,
sincerity, interest, passion, etc.
 Staring: this type of eye contact conveys
coldness, anger, conceit, etc.
 Wide eyes: this type of eye contact often
shows uncertainty, surprise, fear, etc.
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Indirect eye contact consists of three categories as follows
 Looking upward: this type of eye contact
shows conceit, couldn’t – care – less
attitude, uncertainty, etc.
 Looking downward: this type of eye contact
shows embarrassment, lack of confidence,
shame, lie, untruthfulness, etc.
 Looking sideway: this type of eye contact
elicits insincerity, in - coordination, couldn’t -
– give – a – damn attitude, indifference,
etc.
This mode can be diagrammatized in the following chart:
Figure 2 ’ 1. Nguyen Quang’s classification of eye contact ’ mode 1
Mode 2

2.1.3. Eye Contact in focus
In this thesis, the writer would like to explore the ways English language teachers
maintain their eye contact from the first perspective. She is going to ask the respondents to
take into account whether they maintain any types of direct (soft, warm eye contact,
staring, wide eyes) or indirect (upward, downward, sideway) eye contact in classroom
situations, and how often they perform these gazes in their interaction with students.
2.2. Posture
2.2.1. Nature and importance of Posture
Postures refer to the body positions and stances, which are the ways we sit or stand, the
way we arrange into different kinds as relaxed, formal, defensive, aggressive stance, etc.
The way we stand indicates clearly what we think of the audience, the subject, and perhaps
most importantly, ourselves. A physical slouch can also be a mental slouch in the minds of
many audiences. Good posture is extremely important if we wish to take control of the
situation (Bostrom, 1989: 164).
When we talk about gesture, we think of the movements of body parts, especially the
hands; when it comes to posture, much attention is paid to the state and position of body
parts, especially the legs and the hands. Hayes (1960:92) has discovered around 1, 000
different postures accompanied by relevant gestures.
In terms of the importance of posture in communication, Beisler et al. (1995: 195)
states that ‘You can perform consciously one posture or another, but normally it happens
naturally. Just as for most cultural behaviours, disconformity with unwritten rules will
tangle everything and can be considered a bad habit. Some other writers assert that if
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Nguyen Quang (forthcoming: 113)
Nguyen Quang (forthcoming: 113)
Nguyen Quang (forthcoming: 113)