The Use Of Kinesics And Visual Resources To Improve Students’ Understanding Of Teachers’ Instructions.

Abstract

This study was conducted to analyze the importance of the teacher's use of kinesics and visual aids for students' comprehension of instructions in English classes. A mixed-methods approach with a descriptive and interpretive design was employed. The study was conducted at a public institution in Ecuador, involving 37 students from a ninth-grade General Basic Education class. Data collection relied on three instruments: an observation checklist, a student questionnaire, and an interview with a body language expert. To triangulate the results, quantitative data were processed using descriptive statistics, while qualitative data were evaluated using thematic analysis. The results demonstrated that the use of facial expressions and body movements, as well as visual aids, significantly influenced the comprehension of instructions. Regarding kinesics, 37.84% of the students noted that the teacher's gestures greatly helped them understand the instructions, while another 37.84% indicated that the body movements used during demonstrations likewise improved their understanding. With respect to visual resources, 64.86% of students agreed that visual aids helped them better understand the instructions, and 62.16% abundantly agreed that the use of real objects made explanations clearer. The results demonstrated that the use of facial expressions and body movements, as well as visual aids, significantly improved the comprehension of instructions; this was evidenced by the students' increased attention, more active contribution, and greater confidence during learning activities. Similarly, data from the interview and the observation sheet confirmed that multimodal skills greatly aid in the comprehension of instructions, obviating the need for excessive literal translation. Ultimately, the research demonstrates the positive impact of using kinesics and visual aids as an effective pedagogical strategy to improve comprehension of teacher instructions and foster a more dynamic and inclusive teaching-learning process in an English as a foreign language context.