Body Language in Iranian EFL Classroom: Concentration on Age and Culture

One of the neglected issues in second language acquisition research area which requires due attention and well-grounded investigation is the study of using body language in language learning and teaching context. Although recent studies have examined the effectiveness of body language in a wide range of settings and contexts (e.g. Rosenshine, 1997;Middle Web List Server, 2000;Hartley and Karinch, 2009), the necessity to conduct more in-depth inquiries in this domain is still attached by great importance. Accordingly, the present research attempted to investigate the usefulness of body language in enhancing Iranian EFL learners’ language learning between two age groups. To this end, 24 Tiny Talk and Interchange students were randomly selected and assigned into four groups; two control groups and two experimental groups. To analyze the obtained data, inferential statistics, i.e. Ttest was run. The results indicated that the learners in Tiny Talk experimental group outperformed those in the control group in the tests administered; however, the difference between Intermediate control and experimental groups mean scores was not significant. In other words, age is an influential factor in learning language via body language.

Keywords:

Second language acquisition , body language , age , control groups , experimental groups , T-test