A Comparative Study of Native and Non-native Body Language: The Case of Americans’ Kinesics vs. Persian English Speakers

Abstract

Body language is considered as one of the most fundamental components of communication. Many factors including culture, gender, age, and psyche can affect the use of body language among different people. However, related literature shows that culture and gender are more effective in causing variability of kinesics. This study is an attempt to examine the effect of these two factors on the nonverbal behavior of Persian EFL learners. In other words, the research investigates the differences between Persian students and native speakers of English in using body language. A total of 80 (40 males/40 females) Persian students of English (from Payame Noor University of Tehran) participated in this study. The subjects were observed against a checklist by two trained raters on different body language instances. Three Chi-square analyses were employed to analyze the results. The findings of the study revealed that there was no significant difference between Persian EFL students and American native speakers of English in terms of using kinesics. Moreover, it was found that there was no significant difference between Persian male and female students of English in using body language. However, it was observed that Persian EFL learners use more facial expressions than gestures in their communications.