This thesis will discuss the application of body language in teaching English. It includes three research questions. The first one is the analysis about the features and functions of body language. The second research question is the new meaning of body language in the context of the New Curriculum Standard. The last research question is mainly about the application and suggestions of body language, such as eye contact, facial expression, gestures and postures. The principle of using body language also will be discussed in this thesis .Finally, this thesis makes some suggestion and conclusion for the proper application of body language in English class of primary school.

Hopes this thesis can help people have better understand of the application of body language in English class of primary school and help teachers to find a properly way of using body language which will improve the teaching quality and create a happy classroom atmosphere.

2. Literature Review

The study history of teachers' body language should be much shorter. As a kind of communication tool, the aboard study of body language didn't start until 1950s. In the 1960s, people launched a series of discussion about the state and function of body language. Teachers' body language was developed during 1970s and 1980s. More and more books have studied the importance of body language in teaching. For example, the linguist W.Rivers points out the importance of the foreign language teachers quality, which includes teachers' knowledge about people's behavior, gesture, and facial expression and demonstrated that teachers should use body language properly. Keith Johnson also stated some kinds of body language used for teaching in foreign language classes in his book --- An Introduction to Foreign Language Learning and Teaching. In recent years, the American curriculum course standard has attached great importance to non-verbal communication which includes body language.  

While in China, the importance of body language in education field was neglected by scholars until 1980s. With the current situation of China's academe, body language was notices until at the late 1980s.(Geng Erling, 1988) In 1988, Geng Erling introduced the function of body language, the skill of use body language and the relation between body language and culture in detail, and illustrated a large number of the Han nationality body language. The scholars of our country stared to specialize in body language until 1990s. And body language got more attention by educators, artists and psychobiologists and other experts. 

Teachers' body language also began to be concerned widely. A lot of foreign finding about teachers' body language was introduces in. In 1993, scholars Zhuang Jinying and Li Zhencun  published The art of teachers' body language and made thorough and systematical study on teachers' body language. After that, some teachers who work on the teaching did a lot of relevant researches about the functions of body language, the relation between body language and teaching as well as the application of body language. For instance, Lin Jiming concluded the function of body language; Luo Qiuming emphasized the fact that the proper use of body language can improve teaching efficiency; Some scholars write articles to conclude the skill of the application of body language. Some teachers and scholars explored the connection between the learning interests and the application of body language in English class of primary school. For example, Yao Guofen pointed out that the application of body language can promote the emotional communication between teachers and students.

In Dong Hongying' s article, she thinks Body language just as the spoken language which is the tool for people to communicate with others and express their thoughts and feelings. English teaching is not only a kind of information transfer and communication process between teachers and students, but also a kind of emotional communication. In order to realize the teaching efficiency, English teachers should pay more  肢体语言在小学英语教学中的应用(3):http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_45519.html