摘要：

体态语在人们的交际中特别是跨文化交际中起着非常重要的作用，正确认识体态语有助于人们顺利地交流并避免产生误解。因此，英语学习者在学习英语的同时也应对西方体态语有一定了解，从而增强交际能力。本文关注英语专业学生与非英语专业学生对西方体态语的认知情况，旨在了解中国大学生在英语学习的同时是否有习得关于体态语的知识，以及英语专业的学生是否比非英语专业的学生掌握得更好。通过《对西方体态语认知的问卷调查》对50位英语专业学生和非英语专业学生进行了问卷调查，从目光交流、面部表情、姿势、手势与体触五个方面了解英语专业学生与非英语专业学生对西方体态语的认知程度和认知差异。根据调查结果看，大学生在英语学习的同时有了解到关于体态语的知识，且英语专业比非英语专业的学生掌握得要好，但是整体掌握情况并不算理想。

关键词：比较；英语专业学生；非英语专业学生；体态语

Abstract:

Body language plays an important role in communication especially in cross-cultural communication. Understanding body language correctly helps people successfully communicate and avoid misunderstanding. Therefore, English learners should have knowledge of western body language during English learning, improving their communicative capacity. This paper focuses on the recognition of western body language among English majors and non-English majors, aiming to find out whether college students have acquired the knowledge of body language while learning English. Having investigated 25 English majors as well as 25 non-English majors, the study makes an analysis of the extent of the recognition of western body language and the difference of recognition among English majors and non-English majors through five aspects: eye contact, facial expression, posture, gesture and touching behavior. According to the results of the survey, it comes to a conclusion that students have acquired the knowledge of body language during English learning. Besides, English majors’ level of recognition of western body language of is higher than that of non-English majors. However, both the level of recognition is not so satisfactory.

Key words: comparison; English majors; non-English majors; body language
1. Introduction
People can communicate with one another not only through verbal communication but also through non-verbal communication; moreover, the latter plays an essential role. The majority of experts agree that during face-to-face communication, only 35 percent of the social content of the message is conveyed by verbal language while the other is conveyed through non-verbal language. Borg attests that human communication consists of 93% body language and paralinguistic cues, while only 7% of communication consists of words themselves. It is doubtless that non-verbal communication is an essential part of communication.