Study on the Importance of Proper Teacher Immediacy in Learning Process
2018-12-31 00:00:00雷曉亮
校園英語·月末 2018年7期
【Abstract】As we known， teacher plays an important role in learning process. This article first talks about what teacher immediacy is and the importance of teacher immediacy. Then some problems are listed and at last some suggestions.
【Key words】Teacher immediacy； learning process； importance
【作者簡介】雷曉亮，陜西師范大學附屬小學。
Who can refuses smile？ Smile can melt all the things in the world. Do you know smile is a kind of specific teacher immediacy？ Immediacy （or intimacy） behavior is the behavior that provides closeness or distance within a dyad relationship. Closeness projects a positive feeling in a relationship， and distance projects a negative feeling within a relationship. Teacher immediacy means the degree of perceived physical or psychological closeness between teachers and students.
Verbal immediacy behaviors includes： first， using of humor， praise， actions or comments that indicate willingness to converse with students both in and out of the classroom. Second， using inclusive pronouns （i.e.， “we”， “us”， “our”）. Third， agreeing to provide feedback. Asking students about their perceptions about assignments， due dates…
Nonverbal behaviors aim to improve affect or liking for the subject matter， teacher， and class， and to increase the desire to learn more about the subject matter. Nonverbal behaviors include smiling， leaning toward a person， face-to-face body position， decreasing physical barriers （such as podium or a desk）， body movements and positions， spending time with students， informal but socially appropriate attire and so on.
Proper teacher immediacy would contribute a lot to language learning. It helps to raise students’ motivation of learning. Students like teachers who are intimate with them. They would be active in front of the intimate teachers and behave actively. You can notice that the students will more likely to participant in the classes where teacher has high immediacy. For some old stubborn teachers， they just skip the class， or sleep in class； even do other things do not related to the class as talking with others， play with their mobiles and so on and so forth. Teacher immediacy effects will cultivate a positive attitude toward learning and toward the class. They would not be fearful any longer， but just happy to have the classes. Confidence is a kind of mystery， a kind of amazing thing. High immediacy teacher can also encourage the students， and then help foster the high confidence. This will surely increase their self-efficacy of learning. You pay more attention to one student， the one will be more confident in their learning process.
Besides the amazing aspect， the impact of overuse of teacher immediacy should also be discussed. The problems can be listed as follows： 1. Address the teachers by name. 2. Careless talks in class. 3. Intimacy to a small amount of student. 4. Too relaxed body position. 5. Too much unfolded to the class of his own personal things.
In order to improve our teaching and learning， after discussion on the point of teacher immediacy， some suggestions are likely to be given after so much discussion. The first part is for the verbal immediacy behaviors in class.
Uses examples and talks about experience that related to the context.
Asks questions or encourage students to talk.
Uses humor in class to attract the student’s attention and to make you class more interesting and lively.
Uses some updated and proper words in the student’s classes.
Praises students for their good work， action or comments.
After stated the suggestions on verbal immediacy behaviors， the second part is for the nonverbal immediacy behaviors in class.
Makes gestures while talking to the class. To some degree， the teacher needs to be an actor in class.
Do look at your class while you are talking. Avoiding of looking at the ceilings or the blackboard or the book in you hand. This will set great distant walls between you and the whole class.
Smile to the whole class， not just some individual students.
Use a variety of vocal expressions while talking to the class.
Use proper body language in class， like nodding， thumb up， applause at student’s good work and so on and so forth.
References：
[1]Gorham，J.The relationship between verbal teacher immediacy and student learning.Communication Education.（1988）.
