Page 127 - Silence in Intercultural Communication

114 Silence in Intercultural Communication

5.3.3 Case Study 3: Aya

As in Case Study 2, participation in tutorials given by other student presenters was
considered separately from participation in a student’s own tutorial presentation.
In this case study, the contributions of all four participating students were coded
for analysis, as the group was small enough to identify speakers in all the recorded
data. The contribution made in Regular Discussion included one one-hour tutorial
in which the lecturer, Dr. Lucas, delivered a class using newspaper articles.
Looking at Aya’s contribution to Regular Discussion in Table 5.7 below, her
participation shows almost average frequency in the group.
The results above show that Aya is not significantly inactive. On the other
hand, Henry participates twice as frequently as the second most actively partici-
pating student, Robin. In addition, his total turn length is overwhelmingly longer
than Robin’s. From these factors, it appears that Aya is an average participant in
terms of frequency of contribution. However, in the follow-up interview, she was
perceived as a “quiet” student by Dr. Lucas:

(7) [Interview: Dr. Lucas]
My general impression was that she was very quiet and very retiring so it
needed some real, I suppose, a real decision on my part whether I was going to
ask her questions or bring her in because I felt just that she would have been
quite happy to be in the corner and not really part of it.

As the comment above shows, Dr. Lucas not only found her “very quiet” but
also lacking in interest and engagement. One of the peer students, Robin, also
commented on Aya’s silence, saying “she’s really – she seems quiet”, although
she said another student, Kathy, was also “pretty quiet.” Another peer student,
Henry, mentioned, “She didn’t really ask – I have rarely heard her ask too many
questions.” However, the results of coding actually show four questions by Aya,
six by Robin, one by Kathy and six by Henry in Regular Discussion, which does
not support Henry’s perception. Aya also asked seven questions during her own

Table 5.7 Number and length of turns in History of Secondary Education
(Regular Discussion: Total)
Participant No. of classes Total number Total turn Average no. of Average turn
included of turns length turns per class length
Aya 3 21 122 7.0 5.8
Robin 3 24 112 8.0 4.7
Kathy 3 11 83 3.7 7.5
Henry 3 44 287 14.7 6.5
Average 3 25 151 8.4 6.1