Page 131 - Silence in Intercultural Communication

118 Silence in Intercultural Communication

stands Aya’s explanation but is not entirely convinced by it. Thus he provides his
possible explanation but expresses his uncertainty at the end of his comment in
line 17. Nevertheless, Dr. Lucas gives a cue to Aya to continue (line 20), and the
misunderstanding is left as it is.
This incident illustrates the problem that Aya faced in this subject because of
her weaknesses in English and background knowledge of concepts in the field of
education. Rather than the overall proficiency of her English or general fluency,
her lack of command over a specific genre of language in a specific context af-
fected silence in both perceptions and performance.
As to Miki’s performance, she was more silent than Aya but less so than Ta-
dashi, despite her English proficiency being evaluated the lowest of the three Japa-
nese students. One way to explain this anomaly is that she produced turns much
longer than her Australian peers when she was given opportunities to speak. The
other explanation is that the topic of the course, intercultural communication,
may have given Miki more opportunities to talk about her own experiences and
culture. Below is an excerpt from Case Study 2, in which Miki gave a relatively
long account related to education in Japan:

(10) [Interaction: Miki]
10 Miki: Yeah. (0.6) uh I- my mum sent me a ( )
11 (0.5) um program in Japan, she taped it
12 for me and I watched the TV program, that
13 was talking about the high school
14 students in Japan? (0.4) And um (0.6)
15 (played) (1.2) there was one mother who
16 was trying to (1.3) trying to: (0.6) how
17 do you say (1.2) uhm (0.4) there was one
18 girl who (1.2) who really (0.2) do- (0.2)
19 does not respect
20 (0.3)
21 ?: •hhhh
22 Miki: [does]
23 Molly: [S-s-]scold,
24 Miki: Yeah. um=
25 Molly: =the mother has scolded her,
26 Miki: Yeah, yeah. [Sco-] sco:ld?
27 Molly: [Mm. ]
28 Molly: Mm:.
29 Miki: but um (0.5)( ) the girl (0.2)
30 doesn't change at a:ll,
31 Lect: Um:,