Oral Communication in EFL Classroom: Non-verbal Aspects

In the present era of global communication and intercultural competence, non-native users of English are required to have good intonation with proficiency in non-verbal communication. As the non-verbal aspects of the language considerably determine the impact of oral communication, the EFL teacher has to integrate all such aspects into the classroom context in order to enable the learners to attain a culturally relevant fluency. However, EFL classrooms tend to ignore the suprasegmental and non-verbal aspects of the language. A top-bottom approach making use of audios and videos is found to be wellsuited for teaching such aspects of the language. O'Conner's grammar-based approach to intonation practice is well-suited for EFL classrooms. Effective use of interactive audios and videos in the classroom by trained teachers can impart EFL learners, fluency with intelligibility and intercultural competence.