Effective communication occurs with non-verbal and verbal tools. In this study the body language as non-verbal communication tool is taken to be examined, and teachers' opinions about the use and importance of body language in education are surveyed. Eight open-ended questions are asked to 100 teachers. As a result, it is shown that teachers realize the importance of body language in education, and that they feel the lack of not having body language training in the university, especially in the early years of their career.
Keywords: Body language; education; teachers

Communication between individuals is divided as verbal and nonverbal communication. Body language is a comprehension and communication tool via physical movements and changes tshow a person's feelings, thoughts, and attitudes about other persons and things. According to Kasikci (2003,p. 26) body language is a form of non-verbal communication that support (as an amplifier, booster of) verbal communication. According to Baltas and Baltas (2002), humans used body language before they developed verbal language. People through body language, share with other people their feelings, thoughts, desires, and needs (p. 11). Body language gives very important clues about people's feelings, attitudes and thoughts, and it helps us to understand their behavior according to their appearance at the point of decision. These clues are important in understanding and assessing both ourselves and other people.
According to İzgören (1998,p. 5) the three channels used when forwarding a message are word, sound and body language. Sometimes it is difficult to understand people's feelings. It is not easy to ask them because they often do not say what they feel, or they struggle to tell their feelings as they often can't describe them. Mahrebian and Ferris (1967) have found that we leave impressions on person or persons in the process of communication by voice and body language with clear proportions among these tools. In verbal communication, it has emerged that the content of speech has 7 %, tone and quality has 38 %, and body language has 55 % effect (Pease, 1988, p. 9-13; Bailey, 2001, p. 44; Kasikci, 2003, p. 19-20; Kuhnke, 2007, p. 12; Feng, 2009). Therefore, it can be argued that how we look like and behave when we talk is more important what we talk about.
According to Cuceloglu (2002,p. 64) people who have previously never seen each other, immediately gain an impression of each other when they meet for the first time. Impressions about whether a person is reliable, pleasant, ignorable, compatible form in thirty to thirty five seconds, and these impressions rely on non-verbal cues.
The first impressions and bad views about a person created via verbal cues are hard to change. Non-verbal cues are as important as verbal messages we communicate. Even if we do not talk, we continue to communicate via body language. Eyes, facial expressions and gestures, hands, arms and legs, sitting way convey messages. Verbal messages reflect our thoughts whereas non-verbal messages reflect more realistically the inner world of thoughts and feelings. James (1999) calls body language signals as leakage (p. 50). While something else is being told, the reality may be leaked through bodily expressions and some expressions may happen inadvertently. According to Kuhnke (2007) we restrict our expressive movements such as connecting the arms, biting lips, and fingers, putting hands over the mouth, crossing legs (p. 18). These movements are applied for very short time period and although they are controlled by internal restriction, partners of a conversation may perceive these bodily expressions as a sign of stress and tension.
Teachers during the lectures use oral or written language as well as body language to transfer information. According to Caliskan and Yesil (2005) this type of language for teachers is indispensable. Therefore, teachers should be able to use this language effectively and to understand students' body language (p. 200). According to Kong (2009) the use of body language affects not only, the students' interest in teaching material but also their imagination and feelings. Moreover, the use of body language is fully compatible with educational principles based on audio and visual methods.
2. Method
Eight open-ended questions are asked to teachers by the researcher. Received answers are evaluated using content analysis method (Yildirim & Simsek, 2003, p. 162). Data obtained is described and analyzed with the induction approach (Mayring 2003, p. 17). Open-ended questions are interpreted with the help of Excel program to determine the percentage rates.
• 2.1 Participants
• 64 female and 36 male teachers have participated in this research. According to the branches, the distribution of participants is as follows: 22 Turkish Language and Literature Education, 12 Math Education, 10 Primary School Education, 8 Biology Education, 6 Religion and Ethics Education, 6 English Education, 4 Turkish Language Education, 4 Geography Education, 4 History Education, 4 Chemistry Education, 4 Physics Education, 2 German Language Education, 2 Philosophy Education, 2 Social Science Education, 2 Psychological Guidance and Counseling Education, 2 Music Education, 2 General Art Education-Technology Education, 2 Computer and Instructional Technologies Education, 2 Science and Technology Education.
3. Findings and comments
1 - What is body language?
Teachers define body language as 'gestures-facial' (48 %), 'body movement' (30%), and 'hand-arm-leg movements' (24%).
• 2 - Is body language important in education? If yes / no, why?
• 100 % of teachers in education state yes to this question. The reasons behind their responses are distributed as 46 % 'to support communication', 32 % 'to draw students' attention and to make them interested in the topic', 20 % 'to influence the students and make the learning material more permanent' and 6 % for 'confidence building'.
• 3 - What is the importance of body language in terms of your own branch?
According to Turkish language and literature teachers' the body language is important in terms of 'making poem and text lively, concrete and emotional'. According to foreign language teachers, body language is used to make elements of foreign words more stimulated and permanent in students' mind. According to primary school teachers because they engage with younger age groups they use body language to sustain the class' interest and attention in the teaching material, and to combine it with fun activities. According to numerical branch teachers, they use body language to eliminate the monotony of teaching material and to facilitate communication.
• 4 - In which branch do you think should body language be used most commonly?
• 24 % of teachers state 'verbal branch', another 24 % state 'Turkish language and Turkish literate', 14 % state 'History', 'Geography', 'Psychology', 'Sociology' respectively, 14 % state 'all fields', 6 % state 'numerical branch (biology, mathematics)', 4 % state 'theater' and 'art-related branch', 4 % state 'foreign language'.
• 5 - During your university education did you receive any training in communicating with your body language? If yes, have you seen the benefits of this training in your career? If not, have you faced any problems in communicating with students?
None of the teachers have received any training in body language in university life. They state that because of this gap, they have faced problems during communication with students in the early years of their careers. They also add that they have overcome these problems with more experience in teaching. Vast majority of teachers have stated that they have tried to fill this gap in body language training by attending workshops, and reading books on body language, etc..
• 6 - Do you think that you can gather information about your students' personality by reading and interpreting their body language? If yes, can you give an example?
• 88 % of the teachers think that they can have information about student personalities by interpreting body language; % 8 of the teachers think that this is impossible and 4 % did not answer the question.
• 7 - Do you think that by using only your body language you can alert a student? If yes, how?
• 100 % of the teachers state yes. The used methods for this are 'eye contact' by 82 % of the teachers, 16 % by 'raising the eyebrows'; 10 % by 'hand sign' ; 8 % by 'facial expressions'; 6 % by 'touching'; % 4 'approaching the student' and 6 % by 'head shaking'.
• 8 - Do you think that your dress leaves an impact on your students? If yes, Why?
• 96 % of the teachers state that costume-dress is very important; % 4 of the teachers state that dress is not important in their profession. Teachers who state that dress is important provide the following reasons in their answer; to get the respect of students and present seriousness, to provide ease of communication, to be a good example, to attract the attention of students and impress them, to show students that they are valued.
4. Discussion and Conclusion
Teachers responded to the question "What is body language?" by giving one of body language features (1th question) as identified by Sillars (1995). In this classification, there are seven types: Face expressions (eyes, lips, gestures and facial expressions) head movements, hand-arm movements, positions and body posture, standing and sitting, legs and feet, including distance use and body contact (p. 78-81).
Purpose of body language was answered as a tool supporting communication by 46 % of teachers (2nd question). According to Feng (2009), body language not only supports verbal language but also hosts many features not available in verbal language. If teacher uses; body language, in correct and effective ways., this will not only increase students' interest in teaching material but also help them comprehend the language correctly and effectively. According to Zhu (2006,p. 81) body language is an important tool in, imagination and information tasks. Body language makes abstract things tangible. According to Caliskan and Yesil (2005,p. 200-1) body language plays an important role in teacher's communication with students, and in teaching-learning process and increasing the quality of student behavior.
6 % of teachers stated the purpose of body language as confidence building (2nd question). According to Zhu (2006) the teachers use body language in their contact with students to reflect love, optimism and deep confidence in students. As for the students, body language helps them feel the warmness and activeness in educational environment (p. 80). To perform an effective education for students, it is primarily important to gather student attention and to streamline course delivery. According to the teachers, body language is a big contributer to these goals. Moreover, as Lei (2007) observes body language plays a very important role in students' character development, because teachers are imitated by students (sometimes unconsciously) in speech and body language. Elegant body language of the teachers helps students' development of character in art, aesthetics and morals (Lei, 2007).
The teachers stated that they use body language for following aims; making emotions concrete, the revival of knowledge in mind, to increase interest, to attract attention, to eliminate the monotony, to increase motivation (3rd question). According to Feng (2009) the use of body language does not only attract students but also deeply affect their imagination and its effects.
To the question "In which branch do you think should body language be used most commonly?" (4th question) 24 % of teachers stated "in the verbal branch," 6 % of teachers stated "the numerical branch". These responses reflect the traditional view of body language. Body language irrespective of branch has a key role in both ensuring effective communication and delivering the course in lively and dynamic way. For this reason, teachers irrespective of their branches should be aware of various effects of body language on teaching performance and be able to deliver and read body language messages in effective and constructive ways. Therefore, as Bulut and Sönmez (2005,p. 88) recommend, body language should be used consciously due to its effect on students' attention and imitation.
Only 4 % of teachers' referred to the importance of body language in foreign language teaching (4th question). According to Feng (2009) the teaching of foreign languages via the help of body language is more used in vocabulary teaching phase and according to Lei (2007), it is used in middle school English teaching to enhance students' abilities and learning.
It is found that the teachers did not receive any training in body language during university education (5th question). The teachers close the gap in this skill by reading books, participating in relevant workshops. In addition, the teachers also highlighted the problems they faced in relation to use of body language in the early years of their careers. According to Feng (2009) few teachers in teaching process are aware of the need to use body language. Similarly Neill and Caswell (1993,p. 50) argue that new teachers hardly take notice of and comprehend students' non-verbal behavior. This is important because as Feng (2009) argues, despite the use of similar teaching materials for a similar group of students, teacher's personal knowledge and skills in teaching and keeping students engaged and interested will make an absolute difference.
People often use body language unconsciously. Although it can be easy to control one's voice and its tone, controlling bodily reactions may not be as easy given the fact that it is used almost automatically in various daily situations with postures, facial expressions, and movement of the limbs (Feng, 2009). According to Tozar (2002) body language is not confined to humans. A cat that caresses its owner's legs with its back, a cat that is ready to jump and catch a humming fly, or a cat that observes a fish tank with wide open eyes, these bodily postures and movements will tell much about an animal's state of mind (p. 72). With knowledge about body language, one can gather information about others without any verbal communication (6th question). This type of knowledge provides advantages to teachers. By using body language, the teachers stated that they can assess whether a student is introverted or extroverted as a personal trait; whether he/she is interested in the material that is thought; whether he/she has a problem or is upset; whether he/she lies. According to the teachers, these can be noticed with observation of aspects of body language such as avoidance of eye contact, face and head movements, movement of limbs, etc.
By use of body language, a teacher can alert a student without other students noticing (7th question). This method is preferable to other direct methods of confrontation that might hurt student's feelings and raise the attention of other students. The teachers stated that they use a variety of methods to do this such as eye contact, raising the eyebrows, hand and face gestures, approaching student, and making physical contact. According to Kuhnke (2007,p. 13), the most widely known and used props of body language are: putting a finger over the lips to ask for silence, raising the hand at shoulder level palm facing others to mean 'stop', winking between two persons to refer to something that is shared between them.
82 % of teachers stated that they use eye contact to warn students (7th question). An ideal teacher should have eyes that can communicate effectively. Eyes can be used to sustain teaching, reveal teacher's attitudes and messages to students. An example of this is provided by Zhu (2006,p. 80) in which a teacher by supportive eye contact can encourage a student who struggles to answer a question due to fear of making mistake. Overall, a teacher's emotional state at the beginning of a class will affect students' reactions and the way they interact with the teacher and teaching material. Therefore, it is important to ensure that teachers are aware of this and act accordingly to maximize the efficiency of teaching contact time.
Despite the commonsense view that a person cannot or should not be judged according to their external appearance, 96 % of teachers (8th question) highlighted the importance of their dress in the classroom. According to Arikan (2003,p. 174), dress in body language has to be in conformity with person's body, character, time and place, and occupation. It is evident that most of the teachers share this view in their teaching duties. Moreover, this demonstrates the awareness of the teachers about students' careful observations and imitations of their teachers.
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