The importance of body language in public speaking=tầm quan trọng của ngôn ngữ cơ thể đối với việc thuyết trình trước đám đông

VINH UNIVERSITY FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT ĐẶNG THỊ VÂN THE IMPORTANCE OF BODY LANGUAGE IN PUBLIC SPEAKING (TẦM QUAN TRỌNG CỦA NGƠN NGỮ CƠ THỂ ĐỐI VỚI VIỆC THUYẾT TRÌNH TRƯỚC ĐÁM ĐÔNG) GRADUATION THESIS Field: Linguistics VINH - 2014 VINH UNIVERSITY FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT THE IMPORTANCE OF BODY LANGUAGE IN PUBLIC SPEAKING (TẦM QUAN TRỌNG CỦA NGÔN NGỮ CƠ THỂ ĐỐI VỚI VIỆC THUYẾT TRÌNH TRƯỚC ĐÁM ĐƠNG) GRADUATION THESIS Field: Linguistics Supervisor : Nguyễn Hữu Quyết, Ph.D Student : Đặng Thị Vân Class : 51B1 - English VINH - 2014 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis would not have been completed without the enthusiastic assistance, support and encouragement from many people First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Nguyen Huu Quyet, for his absolutely indispensable assistance, excellent suggestion and advice, and detailed critical comments I am greatly indebted to the Department of Foreign Languages of Vinh University for offering me a great opportunity to carry out my study I would also like to extend my sincere thanks to Mr Neil, a friend from USA, who has sent to me many websites and useful materials to the research I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the staff and students of AMA Vinh for their kind support, cooperation and assistance during my survey My warmest thanks are due to my beloved parents, my older sister, my younger brother for their help, support and encouragement Vinh, 2014 Dang Thi Van i ABSTRACT This study investigates the importance of body language in public speaking by giving a basic knowledge background about public speaking and body language, providing some problems that a speaker often faces when making a speech, and indicating the effectiveness of body language in public speaking Besides, the author conducts a small survey to assess the ability of reading the others‘ body language of students and their awareness of the importance of body language in public speaking More importantly, the author gives some main suggested tips for using body language in public speaking effectively These tips are hoped to help the students overcome the fear of speaking in the public and maximize the benefits of using body language ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .i ABSTRACT ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES .v CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the Study 1.2 Purpose of the Study 1.3 Scope of the Study 1.4 Method of the Study 1.5 Design of the Study CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 Public Speaking 2.1.1 Definition 2.1.2 The Role of Public Speaking 2.1.3 Important Components in Public Speaking 2.1.3.1 Content Preparation and Time Control 2.1.3.2 Voice 2.1.3.3 Body Language 2.1.3.4 Attitude 2.1.3.5 Listening Skill 2.2 Body Language 2.2.1 Definition 2.2.2 The Role of Body Language .10 2.2.3 Main Components of Body Language 12 2.2.3.1 Facial expression 12 2.2.3.2 Smile 13 2.2.3.3 Eye-contact 14 2.2.3.4 Hand gestures 15 2.2.3.5 Appearance 16 2.2.3.6 Spatial Factor 17 2.3 Culture-Shock in Using Body Language 18 2.3.1 Handshake Culture 18 2.3.2 Eye-contact 19 2.3.3 Spatial factor 19 iii 2.3.4 Smile 20 2.3.5 Hand gestures 21 CHAPTER 3: DISCUSSION AND FINDINGS 22 3.1 The Importance of Using Body Language in Public Speaking 22 3.1.1 Eye-contact 22 3.1.2 Facial Expression 22 3.1.3 Body Movement 23 3.1.4 Gesture 24 3.2 How does Body Language Reveal a Liar? 25 3.3 Student‘s Recognition about Body Language Importance 29 CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION 33 4.1 Summary of Study 33 4.2 Suggestions 33 4.2.1 Overcome the fear 34 4.2.1.1 Realize the source of your fear 34 4.2.1.2 Face down Your Fears 34 4.2.1.3 Breathe Deeply 34 4.2.1.4 Relax 35 4.2.1.5 Good preparation 35 4.2.2 The Power of Smile 35 4.2.3 Use Eye-Contact Effectively 36 4.2.3.1 See people in the right way 36 4.2.3.2 Move to another person at an appropriate time 36 4.2.3.3 Look for the audience‘s reaction 37 4.2.3.4 Respect people who are uncomfortable .37 4.2.4 Where can I put my Hand? 37 4.3 Suggestion For Futher Research 38 REFERENCES 39 APPENDIX 40 iv LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1: The Rank of the Fear Table 2: Table 3: Table 4: Deception level of students in public 25 Self-assessment of deception ability 25 Level of deception found in public 25 Table 5: The reaction of a liar 26 Table 6: Student‘s feeling when speaking in public 29 Table 7: Student‘s ability to use body language 30 Table 8: Students‘ recognition about the role of body language 31 Table 9: Student‘s body language use in public speaking 31 Table 10: Student‘s ability to read body language 31 Chart 1: Body Language‘s Role 10 v CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the Study In today's world, when knowledge becomes the measure of a country's development as well as the measure used to assess people, more and more people want to assert their own value One of the best ways is to use the power of speech If you want to assert yourself, to express your views about the like or dislike a particular problem, then speak out You can be very good in a certain area, but no one will know that if you not speak out We are witnessing a major change teaching methods that have made many significant progresses in the education system The most important change is to encourage self-study skill of the students, and to show what they have learned for all to see Presentation skill becomes more important than ever, accordingly Body language is an essential characteristic that plays a significant role in creating effective changes that lead to growth and development of individuals Body language conveys more information about the true emotions of human For public speaking, it becomes a useful tool to increase the power of speech Although we use body language everyday and we know it plays an important role in the success of the speech, most of us are not fully aware of the power of body language and how to use it for the most effective communication Most of us use it arbitrarily and inertia For the above mentioned reasons, the author has decided to carry out a study on the topic: ―The importance of body language in public speaking‖ with the hope to contribute useful ways to body language use and to help students improve their public speaking skill 1.2 Purpose of the Study This thesis has the following purposes: - To provide a basic overview about public speaking and body language in order to help the reader understand what public speaking is, what body language is and the factors affecting them - To point out the importance of using body language in public speaking which may help readers recognize the significance and the need to use body language in presentations - To point out the mistakes that a presenter can make when using body language, through which some solutions will be provided to help avoid unnecessary mistakes - To point out some differences in using body language in a number of countries to avoid causing misunderstanding situations - To help the speaker use body language effectively and overcome the fear of speaking in public Besides, reading body language also helps readers discover the liar and interpret other people's feeling with a view to make communication more effective 1.3 Scope of the Study Body language is a very interesting topic but it is very difficult to study Reading body language, involves having not only a deep knowledge about body language meaning but also a flexible observation skill Moreover, the body language is so ambiguous and different It is difficult to identify the exact meaning For those reasons, within the limitation of author‘s knowledge and the scope of a graduation thesis, the author only focuses on the effectiveness of body language in public speaking 1.4 Method of the Study In this study, questionnaire method is a cheap, useful and accurate way to get the information The author used it to check the student‘s ability of reading body language and the way they use body language as well as the difficulties they face to have suitable solutions Main steps towards designing a questionnaire: Writing an introduction for questionnaire Setting up a list of questions Collecting the sheets Analyzing the collected information Making recommendations for the data The author uses the qualitative method to give a deep understanding about body language and public speaking Additionally, the author uses the data collected to make evidence for her point and increase the persuasiveness for the research Theoretical is an important method in linguistic research Because of the shortage of reference books, the author mainly searches the information on the internet She looks for books that read by many people and introduced by famous speakers as well as body language experts She selects the information that she thinks it will be useful for her study and make it easier to understand The main strength of observation is that it provides direct access to the social phenomena under consideration Instead of relying on some kind of self-report, such as asking people what they would in a certain situation, you actually observe and record their behavior in that situation This, in principle at least, avoids the wide range of problems associated with self-report In an interview situation or in response to a questionnaire item, for example, a person may not always provide accurate or complete information, or they might answer in ways that correspond to what is socially desirable In this study the author uses observation method to observe the way people around use their body language to discover the difficulties they have and the connection between body language and verbal communication Moreover, the author also watches some video about famous people‘s speech to give some useful suggested tips to help student solve their problems To implement this study, the author decides to use these methods for recognizing their advantages and conveniences To investigate the role of body language in public speaking, the author does believe that these are most suitable methods for the study 1.5 Design of the Study The thesis consists of five chapters The first chapter is Introduction This chapter deals with the reasons of the author for choosing the topic of the study, the purpose, the scope and the structure of the study The second chapter (Literature review and theoretical background) gives a basic overview on public speaking and body language, factors of public speaking and body language, the difficulties in using body language and the differences in using body language in some countries Chapter (Method of study) aims to point out the methods that the author applied in the study Questionnaire, observation, qualitative methods are used in this thesis Chapter (Finding and discussion) analyzes the results of the questionnaires and the assessment on the importance of body language in public speaking Besides, this chapter reveals some signals to detect a liar The importance of body language is also mentioned in this chapter In the last chapter (Conclusion), the author provides some suggested tips to help the students use body language effectively and overcome the fear of public speaking Also, this chapter is the summary of main points that are presented in the study The suggestions for further study are also mentioned in this chapter The study ends with the ―References‖ with list of all the materials and sources of the information that are used in the study and the questionnaires designed for the students are also mentioned in this chapter while lying, but that's also hard to do.‖ (Allan Peace, The definitive book of body language, p.25, 2004) [6] When her brain thinks one thing and her mouth says another, her body gives up the telltale signs of lying In The Six Keys to Unlock and Empower Your Mind (2012), mentalist Marc Salem explores the fault lines between fact and fiction: ―Read Her Lips: The physiological stress of lying increases peristalsis, or the constriction of esophageal muscles involved in swallowing Stress also slows saliva production, leaving a sudden dry mouth Watch whether she compulsively licks her lips before speaking, or swallows forcefully Ask For Details: Most people resort to verbal gymnastics to avoid an outright lie She might answer a question with a question to stall for time, or suddenly suffer selective memory Once she's fibbed a little, she'll fib a lot, so press her for specifics and see if she squirms Listen For Flubs: A moment of distortion in vocal tone can betray a lie Listen for long midsentence pauses (as she tries to invent a story), a staccato burst of words, or a sudden warble, or rise or drop in pitch, caused by the trouble she'll have breathing normally when her nerves are in overdrive Find Her Hands: Her mitts express feelings in conversation, so a liar will hide her hands either under her armpits or behind her back But if she's thought through her lie in advance, she'll simply try to keep her hands still unnaturally hanging at her sides or resting flat on a table Follow Her Gaze: There's one lying cue even a practiced deceiver can't control Check for dilated pupils It's a biological by-product when the sympathetic nervous system your fight-or-flight response kicks in under duress Those pools of darkness at the center of her eyes will spread as she utters the lie Have you ever been burned by somebody because they told you an outright lie? It can happen in your personal or business life-you‘re on cloud nine when your girlfriend says she loves you, only to find out later she‘s been cheating on you for months; a client says their business is solvent, but they end up bankrupt, and you lose a ton of money on an account Wouldn‘t it be great to avoid these situations by being able to tell right then and there if someone is lying to you? Well, based on research by behavioral scientists and the work and experience of FBI agents and police officers, a system has been developed to help people become human lie detectors.‖ [7] These signs also help you to detect a liar: Body Language: Liars usually hide their palms and don‘t sit straight while telling a lie They also avoid eye contact while telling the lie and they might take the body language negative evaluation gestures if they felt bad while lying Eye Accessing Cues Mismatch: The direction of the eye moves in reflects the function taking place inside the brain at that time For example, looking towards the 27 upper left side means that you are constructing an image in your mind while looking at the upper right side means that you are recalling an image How can that be of use? Well, think about it, if someone looks towards the upper left when asked about something then he's probably constructing an image of the lie he's about to tell This is one sign that shows that he might be lying Inconsistencies in the Story: If the person is lying then the story he tells might change a bit every time it is discussed The liar will forget a word, add something completely new or remove something that he had previously mentioned Regardless of the type of inconsistency, it‘s a sign that shows that a person is lying Feeling Anxious: Almost anyone who lies feels anxious The intensity of this anxiety varies depending on how professional the liar is Try to spot this state of anxiety in order to detect liars Talk as much as you can about the subject in order to keep the person anxious Let me tell you a story about the relationship between Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky On Jan, 26, 1998, Bill Clinton famously told the nation, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky."Clinton later confessed that he did indeed have an "improper physical relationship" with Monica Lewinsky, a 24-year-old White House intern But how did his body language reveal that he is telling lie? The first thing: Internal Dictionary: We all have an internal dictionary We each pull words from that dictionary to describe events We tend to use the same words, unless we are under stress or are being deceptive If we refer to our car as a car, we usually will refer to it as a car It is unnatural for a person to refer to it as a Car, Automobile, Vehicle, Toyota, etc in the same story If you question someone and they start using words from your own internal dictionary, they are probably lying Here is an example: Jim Lehrer: ―You had no sexual relationship with this young woman?‖ Bill Clinton: ―There is no sexual relationship - that is accurate.‖ (Didn‘t answer the question + Changed the verb tense + Borrowed from Lehrer‘s internal dictionary = Lying) The second thing: body language American neurologist Alan Hirsch and psychiatrist Charles Wolf did an extensive analysis of Bill Clinton's testimony to the Grand Jury on his affair with Monica Lewinsky and Found that, when he told the truth, he rarely touched his nose When he lied, however, he gave a split-second frown before he answered and touched 28 his nose once every four minutes for a grand total of 26 nose touches Conversely, Bill Clinton did not touch his nose at all when he answered truthfully, they said Moreover, he avoided facing the camera in the interview We all know that we hardly lie when having direct eye-contact with other person Although Bill Clinton tried to prove that he didn‘t have an affair with Miss Lewinsky, his body language proved the opposite Bill Clinton lying about his affair with Monica Lewinsky 3.3 Student’s Recognition about Body Language Importance Question 5: How you fell when having a public speaking? Answer Choice Percentage Very nervous 32 45% A little bit nervous 25 36% Normal 11 16% Confident 3% Table 6: Student’s feeling when speaking in public 29 As can be seen from the table, only students asked feel confident when speaking in public and 11 students, accounting for 16 %, fell comfortable Meanwhile, more than 80% of students say that they are always feeling nervous if they have to present This is an understandable result because a study before about the fear of human being also shows that the greatest fear of them is public speaking There are so many reasons why a person afraid of speaking They can be not ready to speak because they have no preparation But even when they have a good preparation, they are also afraid of making mistakes We know that no one is perfect and a famous speaker can make mistake, too And your audience, they are not as strict and scary as you think They are like you and easy to forget the mistakes that you cause Moreover, you don‘t have opportunity to speak in public if you are always avoiding doing it If you want to progress, there is no better way than doing practice Practicing help you feel more confident and get more experiences Question 6: Do you have any trouble in using body language to express your idea in public? Answer Choice Percentage 23 33% I sometimes can‘t use my body language to express my opinion 45 64% I can use my body language to express my opinion easily 3% I often can‘t use my body language to express my opinion Table 7: Student’s ability to use body language As it is shown in the above table, most students (97%) have trouble when using body language They are difficult to use body language as they want Only students (3%) are confident that they can use their body language effectively Most of students don‘t care much about body language use, they are only focus on the content of the speech The reason is that students may be aware of the importance of body language in public speaking but they don‘t know what they should with their body language Nowadays, there are not many schools teaching about soft skill for students The students don‘t have enough knowledge so they don‘t know how to use body language They only observe others then it themselves 30 Question 7: What you think about the importance of body language in public speaking? Answer Unnecessary Normal Important Very important Choice 37 27 Percentage 0% 9% 53% 38% Table 8: Students’ recognition about the role of body language Question 8: How often you use body language in public speaking? Answer Never Rarely Sometimes Always Choice 12 57 Percentage 0% 1% 17% 82% Table 9: Student’s body language use in public speaking As you can see from the table and 9, Most student asked agree that body language plays an importance role in public speaking More specifically, 37 students, accounting for 53%, think that it is important to use body language and 27 students say that a speech can‘t be successful without body language Meanwhile, no one thinks that it isn‘t necessary to use body language Be aware of the important of body language in public speaking, more than 80% of students asked say that they always use body language in public speaking The result shows that most of students know that body language contribute a great part of the success of the speech However, they use body language in the right way? Using body language effectively needs a long progress of practicing The most important thing is that they have many opportunities to speak in public This can help them find their mistakes and repair mistakes as well as more confident and professional in public Question 9: Can you always read other’s body language? Answer Yes No Sometimes Choice 26 49 Percentage 7% 37% 70% Table 10: Student’s ability to read body language 31 Although body language is regarded as an important factor of public speaking, students find it is very difficult to read other‘s body language As the table below, students think that they can read the meaning of body language of other, 26% of students asked admit that they can‘t know exactly what other body is saying Besides, 49 students accounting for 70% say that they sometimes can read other‘s body language There is a fact that, sometimes many body language experts have trouble in reading body language Even much of what the experts tell you about body language is wrong So, why is it hard to read body language? The biggest misconception perpetrated by many so-called experts is that specific gestures - of your hands, say have specific meanings Rather, gestures are ambiguous They can have many meanings If a person crosses his arms, he may be signaling my defensiveness, but he may also be cold, or simply tired and propping up with his arms - or just getting comfortable And he could be signaling all those things at once It‘s possible to be simultaneously cold, tired, defensive, and desirous of comfort So, the best way is observing carefully and trying to guest them Question 10: Could you give me some more suggestions to improve the ability to use body language? This is an opened-close question This question, the author builds to find out all student‗s suggestions to improve the ability of using body language Most of students say that they fell so nervous in public and want the study gives some advice to help them overcome the fear of public speaking Many students express their embarrassment that they not know how to use body language effectively and properly The author should give a basic way to help students express their emotion through body language and make the body language consistent to words Besides, students surveyed also give so many suggested tips These suggestions are really useful for the author to build some advice for students and help other students improve body language using skill To conclude, the survey has a significant meaning It helps the authors know about the problems that most of students have in speaking in public as well as in using body language Through this survey, the author can give some suitable suggestion that can help students solve these troubles The survey also shows that the ability of using and reading body language is not very good, it can due to the lack of practical chance at school as well as the student‘s attitude 32 CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION 4.1 Summary of Study There is no doubt that body language has a significant meaning in public speaking and there is a fact that the real problem with being a confident speaker is not how well you prepare or how well you string sentences together It‘s absolutely about how you speak as you stand up in front of people Body language is critically important and you have to project strength, confidence and self assurance if you really want to command attention The study provides basic knowledge about public speaking and body language The author finds that body language plays an important role in public speaking Body language has a great power that can makes a speech become more interesting and convincing She indicates some problems that a speaker often faces when they make a speech Thus, the audience can avoid making them again The author also shows how body language can express the speaker emotions and the necessity of using body language in public speaking to have a successful speech Additionally, the author gives some differences in using body language in many countries so that the reader can avoid making regrettable misunderstandings which can disrupt relationships The interesting thing is that the author discusses some signs that can help to detect a liar How a liar can behave when they tell a lie The importance thing in the study is that through a small survey she finds that many students find it is very difficult to use body language naturally in public speaking So, the author suggests some tips with the hope that the students can use body language more effectively The main point of this thesis is finding the importance of body language in public speaking To make it clearer, the author indicates main components of body language and how these factors affect to the success of the presentation Body language is an integral component of public speaking 4.2 Suggestions Judy James, a body language specialist and author, say that most interviewees who ask for advice are told ―Just be yourself!‖ This, she say, is wrong approach ―If you are just going to be yourself, why not turn up in old tracksuit? You would never that, so why ―Just be yourself‖ in body language? Instead by marketing your body language, you can control your own success.‖ 33 So, you can control your body language as well as control your success No one is perfect, but it doesn‘t mean you can‘t be better Here are some suggested tips for you to use your body language effectively in public speaking: 4.2.1 Overcome the fear 4.2.1.1 Realize the source of your fear The source of your fear is this: not knowing what will happen when you are in front of people, giving your speech or presentation Your fear is not that you don't know your topic You definitely have so many fears: the fear of being judged, making a mistake, not measuring up, doing something stupid But you should remember that people in the audience really want you to succeed Nobody is standing there hoping you'll be boring or bad 4.2.1.2 Face down Your Fears Olivia Mitchell (15 baby steps to overcoming the fear of public speaking, 2008) has given some advice to get acquainted to the fear as follows: ―Imagine if you were frightened of birds A therapist working with you would gradually expose you to a bird They might start by showing you a small picture of a bird and keep it far away from you You‘d be nervous at first, but gradually you‘d realize no harm was going to come to you and your symptoms of fear (heart beating, sweating) would die down Then the therapist would bring the picture closer and wait again till your symptoms faded The therapist would then repeat the process with other pictures, then a feather, then a stuffed bird, then a bird in a cage, and finally a live bird flying free So the process is slow, graduated and systematic To apply the same process to public speaking, start by making yourself a list of behaviors related to presenting - but which don‘t involve an actual presentation - until the very last behavior on the list The behaviors will involve speaking to one person or several, and some should include making requests which are likely to be turned down This is important, because often one of our fears around public speaking is the fear of being disapproved of or rejected.‖ 4.2.1.3 Breathe Deeply Practicing a breathing exercise before you go on will relax your body and mind Here's one that you can anywhere, even in the wings Stand still and feel the ground beneath your feet Close your eyes and imagine yourself suspended from the ceiling by a thin thread Just listen to your breathing and tell yourself there is no rush Slow your breathing until you can count to seconds of in-breath and seconds of out-breath You'll now go on in a totally relaxed and confident mood 34 4.2.1.4 Relax Relaxing is the art of letting go There are many ways to let go You can imagine you're made of rubber Or you can sit in front of a mirror and make a horse's laugh with your lips Why not lie on the ground and pretend you're floating? Or, just collapse on the ground like a limp doll Letting go un-tenses the body and makes you more at ease and relaxed 4.2.1.5 Good preparation If you carefully prepare everything: speech content, psychology, fantasy costumes, situations that may occur and how to solve them You will not have to worry anymore The feeling that you did prepare very well everything makes you more confident 4.2.2 The Power of Smile It has been well documented in research that only percent of the impact of our communication comes from what we say The other 93 percent comes from the way we look and sound when we say it For a presenter, this means that delivery skills are crucial When you're speaking, what you think is the audience looking at? Unless you've got something really distracting going on with your clothing or your legs or arms, your face is the focal point What are you doing with it? You've undoubtedly heard the old expression, "It takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile." Well, I don't believe it A smile requires lifting some muscles It's more conscious work If you're not smiling, then it doesn't matter if you're not frowning Not smiling translates into a negative expression, whether unhappy, bored, or mad So work at that smile Now, if you have a serious topic, or bad news to deliver, I'm not suggesting that that you need to grin like the Cheshire cat But it's important for your facials to be expressive If you have that death mask expression while you're announcing layoffs, it'll look like you don't care You can show in your face that you're unhappy, that you feel compassion for those laid off And if your face is frozen, it'll reflect in your vocals and you'll sound bored and flat If you're speaking of something that makes you angry-or concerned or confused let your face show it You really have a lot of muscles in your face, so use them Smiling is a warm, interpersonal skill What happens when you smile at someone? They smile back So it will go a long ways towards helping you get comfortable and build your confidence when you smile at your audience and they give you warm facial feedback in return Remind yourself to smile Draw a happy face on 35 your notes Tell yourself that you want to let the audience know you're pleased to be there Think to yourself, "I'm happy to be here; I'm happy to share this information with my audience." Then tell your face! A smile takes much less work than a frown and it certainly is more pleasant to view than an immobile face exuding pain In addition, inducing laughter for both you and your audience releases endorphins, the body‘s natural painkillers Thus, if you laugh during your presentation or speech, you will find your body relaxing which will make your delivery that much easier Not that I am advising you to deliver your material with a perpetual grin on your face; but, if you are able to add humor at various times throughout your presentation, you will discover one of the best means of controlling your nervousness An added bonus is that your audience‘s response to your humor will bolster your confidence So, make use of your smile to have a successful presentation 4.2.3 Use Eye-Contact Effectively You definitely heard so many times about eye-contact So why should you use it in public speaking? Firstly, People in your audience will feel that you have genuinely connected with them and that you care about their reaction Secondly, because you‘re talking to people as if you were in a one-on-one conversation, you‘ll come across as conversational That makes you easy to listen to and engaging Here are some tips on how to make eye connection that you can consult: 4.2.3.1 See people in the right way A lot of people we work with confess that they don‘t really see individual people in their audience They‘re just aware of a blur of faces If you can relate to this, next time you present, experiment with seeing people Look at their facial expression, look for their reactions to what you‘re saying We call this ‗listening to your audience.‖ 4.2.3.2 Move to another person at an appropriate time If you carried out the experiment above, you probably found that your friends dropped their hands at the end of your sentences That‘s also an appropriate time to move onto another person By doing this you‘re adding ―formatting‖ In a written document there‘s punctuation, paragraphs, and headings to guide the reader In a presentation, the presenter adds the formatting by the way they deliver The movement of your eyes is one way to add verbal formatting Note: If you tend to talk in long sentences, you may find that making eye connection with one person for a whole sentence is too long If that‘s the case, move to 36 another person at the end of a phrase (And work on making your sentences shorter that will make it easier for your audience to digest what you‘re saying.) 4.2.3.3 Look for the audience’s reaction After important points look for the person‘s reaction to what you‘ve just said If the person feels like you‘ve been talking to them, they‘ll nod People nod when they‘ve processed what you‘ve just said ―Waiting for the nod‖ is an effective way of pacing your delivery to the rate at which your audience can take it in 4.2.3.4 Respect people who are uncomfortable Some people in your audience may show that they‘re uncomfortable with eye connection by looking away Different cultures have different norms regarding eye connection Respect that by spending less eye connection time with them - but don‘t ignore them! 4.2.4 Where can I put my Hand? So what to with your hands? Olivia in the writing of The three benefits of gesturing – it’s not what you think (2008) advices: ―Unclasp them (or take them out of your pockets) and let them be free To begin with they may just hang by your sides that‘s OK Although it feels awkward it looks fine As you get into the flow of your talk - your hands will join in because gesturing is a natural part of speaking ‖ Many speakers wondered if it is good for them to put their hand in their pocket or something like that The audience is often taught never to put their hands in their pockets But for me, as long as you look smooth, feel confident, your pockets are empty and it's not for too long, I say go ahead and whatever you want For some beginning speakers, figuring out what to with their hands seems to bring relief and confidence However, it actually doesn‘t matter too much what you with your hands as long as you‘re not doing something distracting The most important thing you can with your hands is avoid make the same gestures over and over throughout your speech Hardly anyone does that when they are speaking one-on-one or in small groups, but when some people get up on stage, they believe they need to be dramatic so they start gesturing in a certain way, get into a pattern, and can‘t seem to get out of it Jeanette Henderson in a writing of What Do I Do with My Hands When I’m Speaking? (2007) also gives us some advice to use hand gestures: ―Here‘s what to First and foremost understand that gestures originate from the image center of the brain Don‘t fight them, don‘t plan them, just realize that your brain has been doing this dance between your word center and your gesture center all your life, and the best thing you can is to get out of its way The trick is easy; simply wait for an 37 overwhelming urge to gesture, and when it comes, give yourself the freedom to gesture Sounds simple, and it is Don‘t force gestures, but be aware that your natural instinct is to make gestures, and open your mind to that inevitable instruction from the gesture center When it comes, don‘t try to stop it, or minimize it, just let it come out.‖ So, you can anything with your hand as long as you feel natural and your audience doesn‘t pay too much attention to the movements of your hands Learn from other experiences and you'll know what you should with your hand 4.3 Suggestion For Futher Research Due to the scope of the graduation research and the limitation of the author‘s knowledge and experience, she can‘t cover all the aspects of the matter in this study Within this work, the author only focuses on some main factors of body language that have significant to public speaking quality Besides, the author also tries to find some helpful solution for people who want to have a successful speech and use body language effectively However, these solutions are not right for everyone because each person has a capability and distinctive style The author wants to more for this interesting topic related to the affection of other factors that can have significant influence in public speaking such as voice, attitude and other skills Therefore, the reader can have necessary things to have a successful presentation After all, the author hope that this study can be basic for the people who pay attention in body language as well as reading other body language to enlarge and deepen to make it more adequate She recommended that future studies about the topic relating to soft skill will be carried out and other authors will give more and more knowledge and suggestion to help student be more confident and have better in public speaking 38 REFERENCES Books: Joe, N and Marvin, K (2008) What everybody is saying Oxford: William Morrow Paperbacks; edition Darwin, C (1871) The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals Carol, G (2011) The silent language of Leader Jossey-Bass Cheryl, M (2011) Your Speaking Voice USA: Toastmasters international Hồ Thanh Mỹ Phương (2007) Kĩ thuyết trình Trường Đại Học An Giang Dự án P.H.E Allan, P and Barbara, P (2004) The definitive book of body language Australia: Pease International Marc, S (2012) The Six Keys to Unlock and Empower Your Mind Rodale Lenny, L (2001) 10 Days to More Confident Public Speaking USA: Grand Central Publishing; edition Gestures: your body speaks USA: Toastmasters international (2011) Websites: http://www.womenshealthmag.com/life/meaning-of-a-smile http://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2011/05/facial-expressions.aspx http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/mar/31/happily-disgusted-scientistsmap-facial-expressions https://www.boundless.com/communications/delivering-thespeech/components-of-effective-visual-delivery/eye-contact-and-facialexpression/ http://listverse.com/2013/07/05/ten-compelling-origins-of-our-facialexpressions/ http://www.studymode.com/essays/Role-Of-Body-Language-InCommunication-713755.html http://www.journeywoman.com/culturallycorrectdosandtaboos/culturally\correct-flirting-1966.html 39 APPENDIX I am Dang Thi Van, a student of Foreign Language Department of Vinh University I am conducting my graduation thesis on ―The effectiveness of using body language in public speaking‖ Your cooperation in answering the following questions is highly appreciated This is the for the purpose of studying only and you can be sure that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Question 1: Have you ever lied in public? A Yes B No C Sometimes Question 2: Do you think that you are a good liar? A Yes B No C Sometimes Question 3: Have you ever seen someone told lie in public? A Yes B No Question 4: In your opinion, what will a person if they tell lie? A They will nothing B They have some strange actions C Some changes in their voice Question 5: How you fell when having a public speaking? A Very nervous C Normal B A little bit nervous D Confident Question 6: Do you have any troubles in using body language to express your felling? A I often can‘t use my body language to express my opinion B I sometimes can‘t use my body language to express my opinion C I can use my body language to express my opinion Question 7: What you think about the importance of body language in public speaking? A Unnecessary B Normal C Important D Very Important 40 Question 8: How often you use body language in public speaking? A Never C Sometimes B Rarely D Always Question 9: Can you always read other‘s body language? A Yes C Sometimes B No Question 10: Could you give me some suggestions to improve the ability to use body language? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… 41 ...VINH UNIVERSITY FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT THE IMPORTANCE OF BODY LANGUAGE IN PUBLIC SPEAKING (TẦM QUAN TRỌNG CỦA NGÔN NGỮ CƠ THỂ ĐỐI VỚI VIỆC THUYẾT TRÌNH TRƯỚC ĐÁM ĐƠNG) GRADUATION THESIS... with the hope that the students can use body language more effectively The main point of this thesis is finding the importance of body language in public speaking To make it clearer, the author indicates... basic overview on public speaking and body language, factors of public speaking and body language, the difficulties in using body language and the differences in using body language in some countries