On the Differences in Nonverbal Communication between the Chinese and American1.doc

论中国人和美国人非语言交际的差异on the differences in nonverbal communication between the chinese and americanabstract: in daily communication, more attentions are paid to the verbal correctness, appropriateness and acceptability while the cultural differences and effects of nonverbal communication are neglected, causing misunderstanding and conflicts cross cultural communication. at the same time, nonverbal communication, as an integral part of communication system, plays an important role in intercultural communication. it reflects culture and varies in different cultures. this paper devotes to a comparison of nonverbal communication in different cultures in terms of body language, environmental language, paralanguage and object language, which highlights the importance of intercultural nonverbal communication and helps to achieve success in intercultural communication. moreover, studying nonverbal communication is an essential part of foreign language teaching. we can knowing about the relationship between study of nonverbal communication and foreign language teaching. the purpose of nonverbal communication is to call attention the significance of combining foreign language teaching with nonverbal communication and to improve students competence of intercultural communication. key words:nonverbal communication；cultural differences；nonverbal communication competence；foreign language teaching摘要：在实际交际中，人们通常多注意语言行为的正确性，合适性和可接受性，却往往忽略了非语言交际行为的文化差异及其影响，导致跨文化交际中的误解和冲突频频发生。同时，非语言交际是人际交往中必不可少的组成部分，在跨文化交际中起着举足轻重的作用。它有很深的文化内涵，表达的含义因文化而异。本文通过对非语言交际的体态语，环境语，副语言和客体语的跨文化对比，揭示中国和美国文化背景下非语言交际之间的差异，突出跨文化非语言交际的重要性，促进中美跨文化交际的顺利进行。再者，研究非语言交际是外语教学中重要的一部分，了解它与外语教学之间的关系，引起外语教学的重视，从而提高学生跨文化交际的能力。关键词：非语言交际；文化差异；非语言交际能力；外语教学 contents. a brief introduction to nonverbal communication.1a. significance.1 b. literature review.2ii. the contents of nonverbal communication.3a. definition.3b. classification. .3c. the relationship and differences of nonverbal communication.41. different definitions of culture.4 2. the relationship between nonverbal communication and culture.4iii. the similarities and differences of nonverbal communication between chinese & american.4a. body language: kinesics.4 1. gesture.5 a. head gesture.5 b. facial expressions.6 c. smile and laughter.7d. eye contact.8e. arm gesture.9 f. hand gesture.11 g. leg movement.12 2. posture.13 a. walking posture.13 b. standing posture.13 c. squatting posture.13 d. sitting posture.14 3. touch.14. the characteristics and functions of nonverbal communication.14a. the characteristics of nonverbal communication.14b. the functions of nonverbal communication.15. the defects and prospects of nonverbal communication.15a. the defects.15b. the prospects.15. conclusion. .16works cited17on the differences in nonverbal communication between the chinese and american. introductiona. significancehuman beings, living on the earth, cannot survive without language just like fish needs water. languages inherent function is communication. human communication adopts two kinds of channels, one is verbal communication and the other is nonverbal communication. peoples communicative means include verbal and written language, oral language and body language. however, the overwhelming of people communicates with each other by using verbal communicationand they ignores the nonverbal communication.nonverbal communication is closely related to intercultural communication. so in the intercultural communication, nonverbal communication is a kind of indispensable method. it is also an essential part of intercultural communication. in the intercultural communication, when we communicate with each other, we usually pay attention to verbal communication. but people often ignore the nonverbal communication. actually, it is a kind of incomplete communication. because of much complex messages, true and precise thinking emotions pass through the combined this two kinds of means which can express fully. therefore, studying the nonverbal communication is very important, which should be causing peoples attention.(wang 8) through studying the nonverbal communication, this thesis will reach the following purposes:1. let people pay high attention to the nonverbal communication, especially students of learning foreign language who should know about the significance of the nonverbal communication in intercultural communication. besides, let them master the different nonverbal communications diversity between china and america. thus, people can understand the significant function of nonverbal communication in the intercultural communication. and people can communicate with each other by nonverbal communication smoothly and easily. in short, studying the nonverbal communication can strengthen the effect of communication. 2. improve peoples understanding in nonverbal communication under intercultural background of cognition and help people avoid the pragmatic failure in nonverbal communication to ensure people communicate each other successfully. at the same time, it can improve my own research levels from both the theoretic aspects and the practical aspects. 3. emphasize the significance of nonverbal communication under different cultural background and help people to reduce the fault of nonverbal communication. 4. emphasize the application of nonverbal communication in foreign language teaching and draw students attention to the knowledge and the skills of nonverbal communication. it can improve students competence in communication . (wan and duan 1) b. literature reviewnonverbal communication is an indispensable part of communication process which makes the communication successful and smooth in hinge element. (liu 6).as a subject, nonverbal communication has forty years history. before several years of world war, the research of this field mainly remains limited part of body language, not be a system. after world war in fifty years of 20th century, the study of nonverbal communication has a qualitative leap and appears several scholars which make a remarkable contribution for this subject. such as the introduction to kinesics of bird whistell and the silent language of e.t.hall are even regarded them as well-known works. the beginning of sixty, seven years, the study of nonverbal communication is deeper going and the whole of system is more perfected. but national scholars starts to introduce generous researching fruit of this field in abroad and set about each of research begin with eighty years. our own country early publishes the researching fruit of nonverbal communication by the form of monograph is the general introduction on body language of gen erling and hu wenzhong writes several communicating books early or late. for example, the book of intercultural communication and english learning and american english culture of dictionary. some books are all selected in studying essays of nonverbal communication for many domestic and external scholars. in recent years, external scholars have already developed the nonverbal communication in some burgeoning subjects, such as paralinguistics, kinesics and proxemics so on. in our country, on this research of aspect is not too much and the researching fruit is also limited. (tang 147) in my opinion, nonverbal communication in intercultural communication is an essential part in our daily life. we should pay more attention to it. ii. the contents of nonverbal communicationa. definitionamong linguists and scholars, there have always been complicated views on nonverbal communication. although there has been an enormous amount of research in nonverbal communication in the past half century, no authoritative answer has been given to “what nonverbal communication is” here are sample definitions to “nonverbal communication” proposed by some linguists and scholars:in the book intercultural pragmatics failure of research (tang 146), there are the following definitions: a. nonverbal communication is also called body language communication or posture language communication which is conducted through peoples gestures, body behaviors (all kinds of postures), and facial expressions of “silent language” and so on. it delivers information of process each other or through using methods and means of exclusive languages type to transfer information of process. b. for my part, “nonverbal communication is not passing through ones words to deliver information or it is not using words and phrases of communication”(richards and platt et al 149).b. classificationprofessor tang hongfang integrated the results of the nonverbal communication that have been researched and divided nonverbal communication into four aspects:1. the history and current situation of nonverbal communication: as a subject, nonverbal communication only has about 40 years history. according to statistics, nonverbal acts pass on the information reaching to 65 percent. that is to say, nonverbal communication has a great effect on peoples communication (tang 147).2. what is nonverbal communication? “nonverbal communication is not passing through ones words to deliver information or it is not using words and phrases of communication”(william 149).3. the function and trait of nonverbal communication: three functions and four traits.4. the pragmatic failure of nonverbal communication and the differences of nonverbal communication between chinese and american: body language, environmental language, paralanguage and object language. for the different classifications of nonverbal communication, this thesis divides nonverbal communication into five categories: a. body language, which includes gesture (such as head gesture, facial expressions, eye contact, arm gesture, hand gesture, leg movement, etc.), posture (such as standing posture, sitting posture, walking posture, ect.), and touch (such as hand shake, kiss, hug, ect.); b. environmental language, including time language and space language; c. paralanguage, including the study of silence,turn-talking and nonverbal sounds, ect. d. object language, including dress, cosmetics, ornament, furniture, olfactory messages ect. but this thesis will pay more attention to talk about body language.c. the relationship and differences of nonverbal communication1. different definitions to culture there are more than 250 definitions concerning culture. there are various ways of its classification. “generally speaking, culture indicates human social history of practical course to create material wealth and spiritual wealth of sum. simply speaking, culture refers to the living ways of human realized oneself and reformed the world”(tang 3).2. the relationship between nonverbal communication and culture learning a foreign language, in fact, is to gain communicative competence, but improving the communicative competence depends on verbal communicative knowledge and nonverbal communicative knowledge and then nonverbal communication needs to develop under different culture background on different nations. so nonverbal communication is an essential part of culture. iii. the similarities and differences of nonverbal communication between chinese and americana. body language:kinesicsbody language, also called body movements, body behavior and so on,refers to all expressions and movements that send communication messages. the study of body language or how movement communicates is called “kinesics”. this word was coined by birdwhistell. in general, kinesic cues are those visible body shifts and movements that can send messages about our attitude toward the other person, our emotional state and our desire to control our environment(samovar et. al 155). here, this paper research into three elements of body language: gesture(head gesture, facial expressions, eye contact, arm gesture, hand gesture and leg movement), posture (walking posture, standing posture, squatting posture and sitting posture), and touch(ten distinctions concerning touching behaviors).1. gesturegesture refers to the use of movement of the body(our arms, legs, torsos and especially hands) to express a certain message. it is estimated that the human body can produce over 270,000 discrete gestures (du et. al, 223). care should be taken in using gestures because different cultures interpret gestures differently. understanding human behavior is a tricky stuff. no two people behave in precisely the same way. nor do people from the same culture all perform exactly the same gestures and body language uniformly.as researchers have studied this field extensively in recent years and have developed body language dictionaries such as a dictionary of gestures,the nonverbal dictionary of gestures, signs & body language cues and so on, here this paper just probes into the distinctive chinese and american gustures used in common daily life.a. head gesture chinese and american head gesture shares a number of similarities. for example, nodding the head up and down means “yes”, “i agree”; shaking the head side to side means “no”; heading forward shows an interest in the conversation; heading backward shows lack of interest and so on.as to the differences, a nod of the head in china can function as greeting and beckoning someone to come here, while the same function performed by the americans is a raise of the head. patting on head means differently in these two cultures. occasionally, chinese adults may pat on the head of children to show affection; patting the head of a teenager or an adult would cause displeasure and can be insulting. americanpatting on others head is just for giving comfort, consolation or encouragement; and also for showing affection. a unique head gesture in chinatip the head backward and audibly suck air in through the teethmeans “no” or “something is very difficult” and has the function of pausing to rethink. also there are some head gestures used in america but seldom seen in china: scratching the head means thinking or confused or skeptical; chin stroke, tapping the head with forefinger shows contemplation; hand cutting across the top of the head shows impatience; head switching to one side with a rush or chin pointing to a certain direction functions as beckoning someone to come here or pointing direction. b. facial expressionswe constantly read expressions from peoples face. in fact, facial cues are the single most important source of nonverbal communication. (tubbs and moss, 151)facial expressions have own features: they are innate and universal. therefore, the expressions for happiness, sadness, disgust, fear, anger, and surprise (the six basic emotions) are recognized by most culture groups as having the same meaning. however, some variations also exist. some facial expressions and their interpretations may vary from one culture to another.generally speaking, chinese people are more self-controlled, especially in formal, public occasions when they communicates with strangers and foreigners, they tend to control their emotions. when in low spirits (sad, angry, contemptuous and so on), chinese people usually try to sustain a neutral expression. the whole face is on a loose state, forehead and eyebrow are equable, lips close naturally, and eyes open looking forwardsuch kind of looks is considered to be a neutral expression. differently, the americans may show in their expressions immediately when they are in the same spirits. controlling ones bad mood properly is considered mature and well-educated in china. therefore, they think the americans lack of control their emotions as an illustration of puerility and philistinism; whereas the american may consider the chinese to be wooden and slow.when expressing some positive emotions, such as compliment and sympathy, chinese people sometimes have less sense of propriety in th