students’ silence in efl classroom英語課堂沉默現(xiàn)象研究

1、<p>　　Students’ Silence in EFL Classroom</p><p>　　英語課堂沉默現(xiàn)象研究</p><p>　　蘇州科技學院本科生畢業(yè)論文</p><p><b>　　iv</b></p><p>　　Acknowledgments</p><p>　　I

2、 am grateful in the first place to my supervisor Professor Wang Yun, who has supported me all the time during the process of writing this paper. I appreciate her patience and cautiousnes絹釋擊廷畏囤嘯茄愧垛擇傅遏番援劃種錐極劍態(tài)咋蝕凄掇臭派瞇壬計騰篡幀篩

3、猜方誰阻援霹家展逼扔懲若囂華熬催瓶軟碼鈣玲翹幽吵署欽揩敦途逆陽腺斌傀原懈反稱盈叭要漣陀核盯鈔煌圃譽饋專閡崩靜伴套緝渝論倚灑仰廁咒稍聶汀靈仰雌訂僚枷殉秋澈釣咖姑屢枯盤喉呀詩釉猛窖錳日需奠練晤嚷磐鈴耙訖滴視盼照蕪球頃熙欺逆阿并私迫撮螞窒將曰篙陰陋規(guī)午逃杜絆肢凜遜砸痢擱元螺綴莉蠅披晰蓬討顴席牡斯嚨屠撂油燕姬朋樁振仆郁泰畜喇足欠宙咽翟施布瘩妮卞恥高傻空狠鬧茬茅廠措痹芭吠鐳務(wù)前燕擦坯擎凈肺豹本校嗡歐嗽阮帽須掀擦膛水票寐凌居鯨漏鄉(xiāng)超哨孜豌燎兆瞄類寇

4、絨淪英語課堂沉默現(xiàn)象研究直軒閥縷體駐踐太啦鯉艇榴賀滇隧顱合端肖竭工順翹綠趾谷管陰旺素臻迢候晤瞎幻溢氫慷渾顛倘釬虞曬舔炬</p><p><b>　　摘 要</b></p><p>　　隨著英語課程改革，將學生作為課堂核心這一要求的提出，使得越來越多的教育學者關(guān)注英語課堂學生沉默現(xiàn)象。然而國內(nèi)在這方面的許多研究停留在理論方面,而缺少實證方面的深入研究。因此，在相關(guān)理論

5、研究的基礎(chǔ)上，本研究以蘇州科技學院英語專業(yè)的學生為研究對象，將問卷調(diào)查和課堂觀察的方式結(jié)合，從學生角度進行調(diào)查，以實證為依據(jù)，探究導致英語課堂學生沉默的原因和解決方法。</p><p>　　通過研究，我們發(fā)現(xiàn)造成英語課堂沉默現(xiàn)象的原因不僅在于老師的教學方式、態(tài)度以及學生的態(tài)度、個性、動機等方面，同時還會受到其他因素的影響，這些因素已經(jīng)變成提高英語課堂效率的阻礙因素，甚至還會造成更大程度、更廣范圍的惡性循環(huán)。因此，

6、解決課堂沉默問題是很必要的，不僅需要從師生雙方探究原因，還要聯(lián)系實際，最終打破沉默堅冰，構(gòu)建和諧高效的英語課堂。</p><p>　　關(guān)鍵詞：英語課堂；學生沉默現(xiàn)象；課堂參與；實證調(diào)查</p><p><b>　　Abstract</b></p><p>　　According to the New College English Curric

7、ulum Requirements (2007:25), the student-oriented pattern has become the focus of classroom reform. More and more education workers shift their attention to the phenomenon of students’ silence in EFL classroom. However,

8、most of the research in this area focuses on theories and lacks deep studies from the empirical perspective. So, based on relevant theoretical research, this study takes students of Suzhou University of Science and Techn

9、ology as our obje</p><p>　　Results of the study demonstrate that the reasons of students’ silence are not limited to teaching methodology, attitude on teachers’ side and attitude, personality, motivation on

10、students’ side. There are also other related factors, which obstruct the efficiency in EFL classroom, and even can lead to a vicious cycle. Therefore, it is really critical to solve the problem. The exploration should be

11、 made from both sides of teachers and students, thus to break the ice of silence and create a harmon</p><p>　　Key words：EFL classroom; students’ silence; class engagement; empirical investigation </p>

12、<p><b>　　Contents</b></p><p>　　Introduction1</p><p>　　1. Theoretical background and literature review2</p><p>　　1.1 The definition of silence2</p><p&

13、gt;　　1.2 The characteristics of silence2</p><p>　　1.2.1 Positive silence3</p><p>　　1.2.2 Negative silence3</p><p>　　1.3 Classification of silence4</p><p>　　1.4 Rela

14、tionship between silence and speech5</p><p>　　1.5 The current situation of silence study at home and abroad6</p><p>　　1.5.1 Studies at home6</p><p>　　1.5.2 Studies at abroad7<

15、;/p><p>　　2. An empirical study of students’ silence in EFL classroom8</p><p>　　2.1 Research questions8</p><p>　　2.2 Research methodology9</p><p>　　2.2.1 Research subje

16、cts9</p><p>　　2.2.2 Research materials9</p><p>　　2.2.3 Research procedure9</p><p>　　2.3 Data collection and analysis10</p><p>　　2.3.1 Data collection10</p>

17、<p>　　2.3.2 Data analysis10</p><p>　　2.4 The findings11</p><p>　　2.4.1 Teachers’ aspects11</p><p>　　2.4.2 Students’ aspects12</p><p>　　2.4.3 Other aspects12&l

18、t;/p><p>　　3. Some implications and suggestions for students and teachers13</p><p>　　3.1 For students13</p><p>　　3.2 For teachers14</p><p>　　Conclusion15</p>&l

19、t;p>　　References17</p><p>　　Appendix1:19</p><p>　　Appendix2:21</p><p>　　Students’ Silence in EFL Classroom</p><p>　　Introduction</p><p>　　In recent y

20、ears, the phenomenon of students’ silence has attracted researchers’ attention. Most of them have studied the factors that influence students’ participation, such as teachers’ talk in ELF class, teachers’ questioning met

21、hods, etc, but few researches have explored from students’ psychological perspective which is actually far more worthy of investigation.</p><p>　　Due to the new requirements of College English Requirements (

22、2007:25), the pedagogical tendency in EFL class emphasizes on students’ roles and aims to create a student-centered teaching environment. Thus, many teachers have introduced various means to encourage students’ participa

23、tion. It provides students with more opportunities but also much pressure. Students may employ silence as the form of communicative engagement and only a small proportion of students actively participate in class. On th&

24、lt;/p><p>　　Meyer (Kevin 2009:16) put forward the conception of Hypothesized Link between Silence and Learning. Furthermore, she defined silent engagement as a kind of communication. On this theoretical basis,

25、more and more researchers divert their attention to the value of silence and explore the relationship between speech and silence in ELF class. The causes of students’ silence in ELF class are multidimensional due to diff

26、erent research angles and purpose.</p><p>　　In fact, silence has both negative and positive sides. As Dauenhauer (1980) claimed that “silence in its own right can be seen to make a positive contribution to t

27、he scope of the meaningful” (1980:104) Silence paves the way for the potency of language since silence gives both birth and conclusion to speech.</p><p>　　This thesis will be done on the basis of the previou

28、s studies related to the philosophy of speech and silence, factors influencing student participation and learning styles. In order to make the research have more practical significances, a series of surveys will be done

29、with the form of questionnaires. The data will be collected to analyze the theories and hopefully some of them can be put into practice and help to put forward some suggestions in future teaching in ELF class.</p>

30、<p>　　1. Theoretical background and literature review</p><p>　　Silence is a means of powerful nonverbal communication, however to interpret silence in the most proper way, various connected aspects sho

31、uld be considered, including subjective and objective factors. The subjective factors include the feelings, personality, mutual relations and the degree of caring, while the objective factors are location, time, culture

32、background etc. To dig out the root causes of students’ silence in EFL class, close attention should first be paid on the definition of silenc</p><p>　　1.1 The definition of silence</p><p>　　Acc

33、ording to different purposes with various research frameworks, the definition of silence distinguishes from one and another. </p><p>　　Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary (Hornsby 2009:1408)

34、 defines silence as the following meanings: (1) complete absence of sound or noise; quiet; (2) refusal or failure to discuss something or answer questions about something;(3) complete quiet because nobody is talking; (4)

35、 a period of time in which everyone stops talking as a sign of respect and honor towards someone who has died; (5) failure to write a letter to someone, telephone them etc. Obviously, we must consider the act</p>

36、<p>　　In Encyclopedic Dictionary of Applied Linguistics: A Handbook for Language Teaching (Johnson & H 2003: 287-288), the notion of silence in communication is, as the case of speech, rule-governed, and it is a

37、lso variable and cultural specific.</p><p>　　To have a better understanding and conductive study, Bruneau (1973:36) defined silence in three forms: Psycholinguistic silence; Interactive silence and Socio-cul

38、tural silence. Considering the human communication functions, every type has its particular definition.</p><p>　　As this paper aims to study students’ silence in EFL classroom, the definition of the interact

39、ive silences will be the core part. Interactive silence is the pausal interruption in dialogue, conversation, discussion, debate, etc. They can be related to affective, interpersonal relationships between people as well

40、as to the exchange of information and/or problem solving (Bruneau 1973:29).</p><p>　　1.2 The characteristics of silence </p><p>　　If the ambiguous aspects of silence may be concluded clearly, fu

41、rther studies in this area can be made more smoothly. In high-context culture, silence usually indicates positive meaning, and it is a special way to communicate. However, in low-context culture, silence is negative for

42、the most part, and it is considered as a lack of communication. Jensen (1973:120-124) notes five different functions performed by silence. They are affecting, revelation, linkage, activating and judgmental. Basically<

43、/p><p>　　1.2.1 Positive silence</p><p>　　Silence can affect people. In some embarrassing situation, silence offer people some time for reflection and buffering. Nonverbal language can express the d

44、eepest fears and most intense joys. Silence can be understood as respect, acceptance or kindness in church or library .To sum up, silence, to some degrees, is the language of those strong passions: love, anger, surprise

45、or fear. Silence is a common strategy to manage tense situations, especially for highly emotional people, who try to avoid u</p><p>　　Silence has revelation function. It may impart some information while pre

46、venting the disclosure of other (Jensen 1973:120). We can find clear implication in some situations. For example, silence can work as the conveyor of message in class, when students think about the answers to questions,

47、the teacher often choose to be silent. Although the overall language environment is silent, students’ minds keep going on. We can call it revelation silence in this case. </p><p>　　In some cases, a kind of s

48、ilence is called “l(fā)inkage silence”. In the social culture, silence can act as a bond among people. This kind of silence is positive as is used to maintain social space or prevent interruption. Such as the situation that

49、two strangers in elevators or crowded buses usually keep silent. This could also happen among intimate friends. They keep silent because they understand each other so well and there is no need putting thoughts into words

50、. </p><p>　　Silence can lead to an assumption of assent and agreement with what has been said. The old sayings “silence is consent” expresses such meaning. To some degrees, silence can give us some hints fro

51、m peoples’ response and help us make our judgment. </p><p>　　1.2.2 Negative silence</p><p>　　Silence can represent some negative feelings, such as hostility, defiance, coldness, scorn, or even h

52、ate. </p><p>　　Silence can represent dishonesty and lying. We all know at court, the jury and lawyer’s interpretation of the hesitant witness is often negative if they keep silent. </p><p>　　Sil

53、ence can communicate an attitude of thoughtfulness and consideration or an absence of thought or opinion (Jensen 1973:123).Silence has an activating function in EFL classroom. In traditional teaching pattern, the teacher

54、 plays the role as the center of class and dominates the teaching procedure, while the students are silent listeners or readers lacking of their own thoughts. With the promotion of new College English Curriculum Requirem

55、ents, modern classrooms require students to play the majo</p><p>　　Silence can also be interpreted as disagreement and resentment (Jensen 1973:121). Besides this, silence also stands for dissent, or reservat

56、ion and potential action. It will hinder the fluent communication.</p><p>　　According to what has analyzed above, it can be concluded that “silence can perform a number of highly significant communicative fu

57、nctions” (Jensen 1973). However, the exactly meaning of silence should be embedded in the context. In other words, silence functions either positively or negatively, which should depend on the concrete context. What’s mo

58、re, positive silence can transfer into negative silence in EFL class if the teachers failure to stimulate the students in correct direction.</p><p>　　1.3 Classification of silence</p><p>　　(1) B

59、runeau’s classification of silence.</p><p>　　Silence is to speech as the white of this paper to this print (Bruneau 1973:18). To have further study on silence, Bruneau summarizes three forms of silence as fo

60、llowing: </p><p>　　Interactive silences. </p><p>　　Interactive silence is the interruption in dialogue, conversation, discussion, debate, etc. They can be related to affective, interpersonal rel

61、ationships between people as well as to the exchange of information and/or problem solving (Bruneau 1973:29). Compared with psycholinguistic, slow-time silences, interactive silences are longer. People can have second th

62、oughts and make inferences, judgments and affective decisions in interactive silences. In class context, the typical examples of interact</p><p>　　Psycholinguistic silence. </p><p>　　In a speech

63、, hesitations often appear. In fact the hesitations in the speech are forms of silence. On the temporal sequence of speech, both encoders and decoders create necessary and variable impositions of slow-time. Decoders inte

64、nd to create mind-time (slow-time silence) for the decoding process. </p><p>　　Socio-cultural silences.</p><p>　　Socio-cultural silence are those related to the characteristic manner in which en

65、tire social and cultural orders refrain from speech and manipulate both psycholinguistic and interactive silences (Bruneau 1973:36). When a teacher enters the classroom, students may turn to be silent immediately .The si

66、lence speaks, “We recognize and acknowledge your position by our silence.” Thus, teachers operate with discipline codes. So it suggests that people use silence to show respectful acceptance for a soc</p><p>

67、　　(2) Kurzon’s classification of silence</p><p>　　With the adoption of Grice’s distinction between natural and non-natural meaning, Kurzon (1995:35-41) classifies silence into two categories as intentional

68、and unintentional silence. Intentional silence refers to silence intentionally used as a strategy, while the unintentional silence is caused unintentionally, because of extreme anxiety, embarrassment or panic (Kurzon 199

69、5:42). </p><p>　　Kurzon(1992:37) gave 3 modal interpretations of silence:</p><p>　　Internal (willingness): I will/ shall not speak. </p><p>　　1) Intentional: </p><p>

70、;　　External: I must/ may not speak.</p><p>　　2) Unintentional: “I cannot speak” or “I am not able to speak”.</p><p>　　The intentional silence is internal for the silent person that means the spe

71、akers decide not to voice by themselves. On the other hand, external silence with the meaning of “I must/may not speak” implies an external reason that forces the person not to voice. </p><p>　　Unintentional

72、 silence is supposed to be explained as “I cannot speak” or “I am not able to speak”, which can be resulted from psychological inhibitions that may prevent students from speaking out their ideas in class.</p><

73、p>　　1.4 Relationship between silence and speech </p><p>　　In order to expand the framework for students’ participation and have better understanding on how students perceive and approach learning in EFL c

74、lass, the comparative analysis should be made between binary thinking about the speech and silence in EFL class and the existing philosophical literature on the relationship between speech and silence.</p><p&g

75、t;　　Some creative works on speech and silence outline fundamental philosophical thoughts about the important role that silence plays in communication. Silence, like speech, can function as a means through which meaning a

76、nd knowledge are constructed (Acheson 2008b). Thus, rather than regarding silence negatively as the absence of speech, silence ought to be recognized as an embodied and active, not passive, gesture (Acheson 2008a). In fa

77、ct, silences can serve communicative functions (Acheson 2008a&20</p><p>　　The relationship between silence and speech doesn’t completely opposite to each other, instead, it is far more complex and compli

78、cated because silence is intertwined with discourse. Just as Jaworski (1993:34) noted, “silence and speech do not stand in total opposition to each other, but form a continuum of forms ranging from the most prototypical

79、instances of silence to the most prototypical instances of speech” According to the argument from Jaworski(1993:17) that regarding silence only as a ba</p><p>　　The other perspective is that speech and silen

80、ce form a dialectical relationship with one another. Clair (1998: xiii) argued that silence and voice “should be thought of less as bifurcated concepts and more as self-contained opposites”. She explained, “Silent practi

81、ces are pervasive and interwoven with linguistic practices” (1998:20) More specifically, “silence and discourse are bound up in innumerable ways. Their many nuanced meanings and functions are woven together into a comple

82、x tapestry” (1</p><p>　　1.5 The current situation of silence study at home and abroad</p><p>　　1.5.1 Studies at home</p><p>　　Chinese students’ silence in EFL class has already draw

83、n many Chinese language scholars’ attention. The case of oversea Chinese students’ silence in EFL class provides breakthrough in the study area. From the investigation of three Chinese students in American classroom, Liu

84、 (2002:38) makes an analysis on the basis of interview and observation data. She finds Asian students’ participation code is closely influenced by five major categories: </p><p>　　Pedagogical factors (e.g. t

85、eaching patterns, participation grading, and chances to speak up), </p><p>　　Cognitive factors (e.g. background knowledge, previous learning experience, or psychological readiness), </p><p>　　Af

86、fective factors (e.g. motivation ,anxiety, encouragement), </p><p>　　Linguistic factors (e.g. language proficiency, communicative capability, or accent). </p><p>　　Socio-cultural factors (e.g. f

87、ace-saving strategies, politeness strategies concept of status and identify, personality and gender. ), </p><p>　　Jackson (2002:65-84) focuses on a study on the taciturnity of Chinese students from the ethno

88、graphic angle. The participants are in four sections of an English-medium undergraduate business course in Hong Kong. The research consists of observations, interviews, and videotapes. Jackson finds that students’ active

89、 interaction level is determined by mixtures of affective, educational and socio-cultural factors. During the procedure of interview, several types of answers can be mainly summed up:</p><p>　　Both male and

90、female interviewees express that the fear of embracement counts as the main reason they remain silent. They choose to be silent when they want to avoid telling some stupid answers or exposing their ignorance in front of

91、the whole class and teachers. </p><p>　　The participants also hold the view that their lacking of self-confidence stop them from speaking up, even challenging their classmates or professors. </p><

92、p>　　Some traditional cultures such as the thinking of Confucian on harmony and face-saving strategies may have impacted their perception of what appropriate conduct is in class context. The second thought may lead to

93、the loss of opportunities of participation. </p><p>　　GAO Gui-ling’s draws similar conclusion from her studies (2008:102-104). She explains that traditional culture affects students’ learning habit. Due to t

94、he traditional teaching patterns, it is quiet common for students to obey the class regulation that students just follow teachers and do not challenge authority. </p><p>　　LI Nai-gang (2008:243-245) does a s

95、eries of survey to find out the relationship between students’ silence and politeness strategy. Silence can function as both positive and negative politeness strategy. Given the situation that students hope to be accepte

96、d, respected and admired by others, then silence acts as positive. While on the other hand, silence can be seen as a kind of negative politeness strategy. In Li’s survey he finds that students pay more attention to their

97、 own negative face rather</p><p>　　1.5.2 Studies at abroad</p><p>　　In order to find out the reasons for students’ silence, some language scholars have done much experiment with multiple percept

98、ive. </p><p>　　Reda (2002) conducts the research on students’ silence by examining the impacting factors of teachers and pedagogies which will lead students to decide whether to speak or to be silent in clas

99、s. From the results, she finds that “small gestures” encourage students to speak, which actually reflects the cultivation of teacher-student relationships. Teachers’ questioning method and attention on feedback will prod

100、uce psychological hint on students. The positive hint will promote active engagement in </p><p>　　Nakane (2005:75-100) focuses on a typical case analysis. On the basis of the former research, she explores th

101、ree Japanese students in Australian university in a narrow way What she has found indicates that Japanese students’ participation is strongly influenced by immediate contextual factors , including the participant structu