Toward a Qualitative Model of Nonverbal Communication Components in Iranian EFL Learners’ Speaking: A Grounded Theory Study

Speaking in English as a Foreign Language is often judged through verbal output alone, despite repeated claims in communication research that visible and audible behaviors shape interaction. Speaking assessment continues to marginalize non-verbal communication, particularly in culturally bounded contexts such as Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) classrooms. To that end, a qualitative study was conducted using a grounded theory–informed design. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 20 advanced Iranian EFL learners selected through purposive sampling from three language institutes. Data were collected in Persian, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed through open, axial, and selective coding with MAXQDA. Coding decisions were guided by recurrence, participant language, and functional relevance to speaking. A nine-component system was identified through research to reflect an overall view of the relationship between con-verbal communication and speaking ability. The nine components included are facial expressions, body postures, eye contact, gestures, paralanguage, proxemics, touch, silence, and behaviors influenced by culture. All of the components were identified as having an active role in producing meaning, managing interaction, and judging listeners by participants. Certain components, such as eye contact and Gestures, were perceived as having both positive and negative effects depending upon, on the one hand, gender norms, formality, and context for evaluating Participants. The findings suggest that speaking among Iranian EFL learners is treated as an embodied activity rather than a verbal skill in isolation. The resulting model, grounded in learner accounts, indicates that non-verbal communication may influence instructional practice and speaking assessment if explicitly recognized. The findings have implications for speaking instruction, assessment design, and the development of analytic rubrics that explicitly incorporate non-verbal dimensions in culturally sensitive EFL contexts.