Page 145 - Silence in Intercultural Communication

132 Silence in Intercultural Communication

(25) [Interview: Bill]
[...] I was perceiving cultural difference here that um, yes, on one hand I
thought perhaps she can’t she doesn’t understand what we were saying, or
maybe this is ( ) just basically a language problem here, but I didn’t
think so. I thought, I thought it was cultural. I thought it was cultural
behaviour affecting linguistic behaviour. [...]

Chapter 4 discussed comments by Japanese interviewees which referred to being
silenced by their Australian peers. If we compare such reactions to Australian
students’ turn-taking behaviour with the above interpretations of silence by the
Australian lecturer and peer, it is possible to see that misunderstanding between
Japanese and Australian students may occur. From the Japanese point of view,
Australians are rude or aggressive, but from the Australian point of view, they are
being helpful to the Japanese students. Miki’s silence shown above is difficult to
interpret, as the silence could be intended as an expression of inability (thus an in-
direct request for help), or as thinking time, to which she assumes she is entitled.
A similar example can be found in the next excerpt taken from a larger class,
the Teaching as a Profession class in Case Study 1, where we find peer students
taking over a response turn allocated to Tadashi, after a silent pause of 1.5 sec-
onds. In lines 3–4, the lecturer nominates Tadashi and Wong Young to comment
on questions about the ethics of the teaching profession. The students had been
given the set of questions to discuss in pairs, and each time a student pair gave
comments, this was followed by a whole group discussion.

(26) [Interaction: Tadashi, Teaching as a Profession]
(Lect= Ms Hardy; WY= Wong Young, a Korean student; Kylie = an Australian student;
Gary = an American student).

3 Lect: Okay, let’s move on, =Tadashi: and (.) Wong
4 Young can you,
5 (1.0)
6 Lect: The last, (.) Eleven,
7 (0.6)
8 WY: What is a profession. (0.3) What
9 distinguishes profession from trade, (0.2)
10 What does it mean to be a professional?
11 (0.4) Does being a pro- professional affect
12 the way you dress (0.2) speak behave
13 towards others at work?
14 (0.7)
15 WY: Uh: °[(so:)]°
16 Lect: [Comme]nts?