VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES
****************

ĐỖ THU HƯƠNG

AN ACTION RESEARCH ON USING BODY LANGUAGE IN
TEACHING ENGLISH TO 5 - YEAR - OLD CHILDREN AT SAO MAI
KINDERGARTEN
NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG VỀ DẠY TIẾNG ANH CHO TRẺ 5 TUỔI
QUA NGÔN NGỮ CỬ CHỈ TẠI TRƯỜNG MẦM NON SAO MAI

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111
HANOI - 2014
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES
****************

ĐỖ THU HƯƠNG

AN ACTION RESEARCH ON USING BODY LANGUAGE IN
TEACHING ENGLISH TO 5 - YEAR - OLD CHILDREN AT SAO MAI
KINDERGARTEN
ii

ABSTRACT
The present research aims to discover the attitudes of five years old
children towards the use of body language in their English lessons and the
subsequent changes in their speaking and listening competences after being
taught English with body language. To achieve the objective of the study, the
students were observed in traditional English language lessons where the
teacher used teacher-centered methods with less body language and in
innovative lessons where teacher taught with more body language.
The obtained results showed the children‟s positive attitude which could assist
them in learning English faster and more effectively. Additionally, the
students‟ speaking and listening competences appeared to be improved
evidently with teachers using more body language in teaching English.
Furthermore, the study provided implications for teaching English through
body language to children, especially to five year old ones at Sao Mai
Kindergarten.
With the main findings mentioned above, the researcher believes that this
study provides EFL teachers with relevant knowledge in designing and
implementation activities with body language for children in English classes.
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS

%
ELT
EFL
Ss
T
Percent
English Language Teaching
English as Foreign Language
Students
Teacher

LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES
Table 1: Evaluating the students‟ English speaking competence
Table 2: Evaluating the students‟ English listening competence
Table 3: Evaluating the students‟ English speaking competence
Table 4: Evaluating the students‟ English listening competence
Table 5: Involvement and attention in the activities
Table 6: Students‟ attitude toward ELT
Table 7: Idea and feeling expression
Table 8: Vocabulary understanding
22
23
31
32
34
34
35
36

1.2.1.2. Classification of body language…………………………………. 11
1.2.2. Advantages of using body language in teaching English to children 13
1.2.2.1. Vocabulary improvement……………………………………… 13
1.2.2.2. Speaking improvement………………………………………… 14
1.2.2.3. Daily language understanding…………………………………… 15
1.2.3 Some kinds of body language used in English teaching class……… 16
1.2.3.1. The use of gestures………………………………………………. 16
1.2.3.2. The use of facial expression……………………………………… 16
1.2.3.3. The use of eye contact…………………………………………… 17
CHAPTER II: THE STUDY – USING BODY LANGUAGE IN TEACHING
ENGLISH TO CHILDREN……………………………. 19
2.1. Research questions and design………………………………………. 19
2.2. Planning stage……………………………………………………… 19
2.2.1. The problem………………………………………………………. 19
2.2.2. Observing a lesson that illustrated the problem……………………. 19
2.2.3. Analyzing the video-taped sessions……………………………… 25
2.2.4. Consulting with colleagues………………………………………… 25
2.2.5. Drawing a plan of action to solve the problem……………………. 27
2.3. Acting stage………………………………………………………… 27
2.3.1. Speaking lesson using body language…………………………… 27
2.3.2. Listening lesson using body language…………………………… 29
2.4. Observing stage………………………………………………………. 31
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2.5. Evaluation stage…………………………………………………… 31
2.5.1. Student evaluation…………………………………………………. 31
2.5.2. Teachers‟ evaluation……………………………………………… 33
PART C: CONCLUSION……………………………………… 37
1. Conclusions………………………………………. 37
2. Limitations………… 38

suitable and effective techniques to make contribution to teaching English for
kids.
2

2. Aims of the research
- Identifying the attitudes of the students towards the use of body language in
their English lessons.
- Exploring how the uses of body language in teaching English can enhance
their speaking and listening skills.
3. Scope of the research
Due to the limitation of time and knowledge, this thesis only focused
on using body language in teaching English to five year old students at Sao
Mai Kindergarten in the second term of the school-year of 2013-2014.
4. Research questions
- What are Sao Mai students‟ attitudes towards the use of body language in
their English lessons?
- How can the use of body language in teaching English enhance Sao Mai five
year old students‟ speaking and listening skills?
5. Methodology
The methodological approach was action research using mixed
methods for data collection. The tools for data gathering include one
questionnaire for teachers, two tests (pre-test and post-test) for students,
video recordings, and class observation.
5.1. Action research design
Following the common approach, the action research consisted of four
main stages: Planning, Acting, Observing and Evaluation.
Stage 1: Planning
3

- The author found out problem and its causes through video recording three

academic year 2013-2014.
5.3. Procedures
- At the beginning of second term of the academic year 2013-2014, three
English lessons taught in the traditional way from 3 classes with 30 students
were recorded with a video camera. Then an evaluation of students‟ speaking
and listening skills was carried out. Video tapes recorded on the lessons were
watched carefully and the result of the evaluation was used to find out the
problem and its causes which made the low teaching and learning English in
Sao Mai Kindergarten.
- The researcher planned lessons to try out the use of body language in
English teaching to motivate Sao Mai five year old students to learn English.
- The researcher tried out the techniques of using body language in English
lessons and making records of what happened in 3 classes with 30 students.
- Ten volunteer teachers were asked to observe lessons in the three classes
and observation checklist were used.
- The tasks with speaking and listening criteria in the planning stage were
carried out again to evaluate the children‟s speaking and listening
improvement.
- The result of observation for 3 classes was used to evaluate the students‟
attitude towards the use of body language in their English lessons and the
5

success of the action on that to teach English to the five year old at Sao Mai
Kindergarten.
- Data from observation tool data was analyzed quantitatively for descriptive
statistics and qualitatively for tendency towards the two themes represented
in the two research questions.
- Then writing up was made to complete the research.
Firstly, physical activity is one common characteristic of kindergarten
children, although children vary a great deal in the development of physical
skills and abilities. While some children are slow and cautious about trying
new things, others seem to accept any challenge they can get. Most
kindergarten children are full of energy, ready to run, swing, climb and jump
and are eager to try their strength by moving big blocks or boxes. They are
developing a sense of rhythm, and enjoy such activities as marching, jumping
or clapping to music. Movement activities should follow any stillness activity.
Stillness is more exhausting and stressful for most kindergarten children than
movement (Characteristics of Kindergarten Children, n.d.).
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Secondly, children develop socially and emotionally during the
kindergarten year (Characteristics of Kindergarten Children, n.d.). At the
beginning of going to school, some children may be shy and afraid of the new
environment. They have to stay with new teachers, play with new friends and
do not meet their parents all the time. However, when they are acquainted
with the situation, the teachers and peers, they usually gain confidence and
begin to establish friendship and become an active part of the class. Playing
with other kids in the class is also a time of testing and exploring social
relationship. By participating in activities such as sharing the toys,
exchanging the ideas with peers, suggesting solutions to practical problems,
children are able to develop some skills as working in group, helping the
partners, control their behaviors to the right way. It shows that the kids may
develop not only a sense of independence but also learn how to work
cooperatively with others and show considerable empathy toward poor people
and animals.
In addition, at the young age, children also develop their intelligence
rapidly. Their intellectual development is reflected in the quick growth of
vocabulary and the ability to express their ideas (Characteristics of

communicative situations. On the other hand, learning is a process of having
language consciously. For instance, a student can have a conscious knowledge
about grammar, phonetics and so on through some rules. It is said that
acquiring a language is “picking it up” and language learning is “knowing the
rules” (Krashen and Terrell, 1983:18).
In line with children‟s development and the two concepts mentioned
above (acquisition and learning), the teaching of English to children requires
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situations in which the students acquire language abilities by means of
acquisition rather than learning. It means that the students acquire language
naturally and communicatively. In the teaching-learning process, the English
teachers must know the kinds of language learning resources for children, as
follows (Sukarno, 2008:59):
a. Learning resources are materials which are ordered and learned
as interesting activities which children usually do in their daily lives.
b. Learning resources for children must be appropriate for
children’s aptitude, will, world, and so forth. Therefore, ideal
English teachers to young learners are those who are familiar with
English songs and games in English. In addition, they are able to
change those materials into interesting ones.
c. There must be a clear distinction between technique and resource.
Songs, stories, poems, and games are resources.
In teaching English to children, the English teachers need to comprehend
language learning principles, which are as follows:
1. Children learn through experiences by using or controlling surrounding
objects. This means that they learn through playing with the toys or acting as
what they see in the environment. As a result, music, drama or interesting
activities are good choices for the teachers in delivering the materials so that
their students are able to obtain the lessons quickly and effectively.

with each other. According to Barbara (1957: 3), body language can be
defined as “non – verbal behavior (movements and postures, facial
expression, glances and eye contact, automatic reactions, spatial and
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touching behavior) which is meaningful in both natural and fictional
communication.” It is an important aspect of non – verbal communication
which is usually understood as the process of communicating what you are
feeling or thinking by the way you place and move your body rather than by
words. It refers to the patterns of facial expressions and gestures that people
use to express their feelings in communication.
1.2.1.2. Classification of body language
There are three ways to classify body language (Nguyen Quang,
2008:112):
According to function, we can divide body language into five groups.
They are emblems, illustrators, affect display, regulators, and adaptors.
According to origin, body language can be divided into seven groups
including universal, inborn, genetically transferred, individual, group
specific, area specific, and cultural specific one.
According to body parts, body language can be divided into six groups.
They are denoted as eye contact, facial expression, physical
characteristics, gestures, postures and body movements, and touch.
Eye contact is an event in which two people or animals look at each
other‟s eyes at the same time. As saying goes “The eyes are the window of the
soul”. That is to say, we can read one‟s mind through his/her eyes. Eyes
language can express complicated feelings and it is an important way to judge
the intimacy of communicators. In humans, eye contact can show personal
involvement and create intimate bonds. Mutual gaze narrows the physical the
physical gap between humans (Nguyen Quang: 2008).
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is easily confused with acts of power (it may also be mistaken for homosexual
acts of intimacy) (Guirdham, 1999).
1.2.2. Advantages of using body language in teaching English to children
From the above – mentioned things, it is referred that using body language
in the development of teaching is appropriate for the characteristics of the
children for the reason that they are attracted to the physical movement. It
seems to be easier for them to learn something which is taught through facial
expression, gestures, eye contact and so on. Children enjoy moving around
without thinking whether they can break the classroom rules or not.
Furthermore, children love to play, they learn better when they are enjoying
themselves and they like thinking what they are doing is a real work. There
are some advantages of using body language by which a child can learn new
things naturally and effectively in English teaching class, as follows:
1.2.2.1. Vocabulary improvement
Teaching vocabulary is one of the most important duties in English
teaching to children. The kids often learn new things easily and also forget
quickly. Therefore, the teachers should pay more attention to teaching
methods and using body language is one of them to fully mobilize their study
interest in word teaching. In this way, the teachers do the action while
teaching words or phrases. There are a lot of words which can be directly
expressed through actions. For example, when teaching adjectives “happy,
sad, hungry, angry, tired”, the teacher may say the words and using facial
expressions and gestures showing those emotions at the same time
(expressing “happy” with a smiling face, “sad” with a crying one ). Along
those lines, teachers also only do the actions and ask the students to guess the
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meanings of these ones, then tell them in English. By this way, the kids will
understand how these words denote the meanings more easily and remember
them quickly and effectively.

 “Listen”: we put hand near ear and do pose of listen.
 “Point”: we use fingers to point the book while say to imply mean of
point.
 We can stretch out two thumbs when say “practice in pairs”
 We can stretch out the thumb while say “good” or “wonderful” to
praise students.
The students will understand unconsciously the meaning of words as long
as continuous training like this.
In a lesson, body language is available from beginning to end, whether
teaching letters and words, sentences, or songs, to optimize the teaching.
Another, in the English teaching classroom, using body language may change
difficulty into ease.
In conclusion, in English teaching activities, both encouraging eyes and a
caressing action of teachers can let children feel love, support and trust.
Effective use of body language may enhance teacher - student feelings, arouse
interest in learning, and then improve the teaching effect. In addition,
improper use body language will let children cause error in understanding. In
the long run, it can make children lose interest in learning. Therefore, teachers
should consciously and properly use body language well and together with the
spoken language in order to achieve the aim of English teaching effectively.
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1.2.3 Some kinds of body language used in English teaching class
1.2.3.1. The use of gestures
Sign language, which is the movement or position of fingers, palms and
arms acting with each other to spread feelings and reach the idea, is an
important part of body language. In English teaching, the appropriate
application of the sign language to assist education is very necessary. For
example, when a teacher wants to hint a student to stand up to answer a
question, he or she can then head the center of his palm up and lift it. On the