Page 146 - Silence in Intercultural Communication

Chapter 5. Performance and perceptions of silence 133

17 WY: U:m (0.5) my definition of a profession is:
18 u:m (0.4) actually (0.2) ei occupation,
19 (0.2)
20 Lect: Mm hm?
21 WY: Uh: but um (0.4) who got thi: (0.5) um e-
22 expert on (a special) field?
23 Lect: Mm: hm?=
24 WY: =Yeah.
25 (0.4)
-> 26 Tadashi: An- to be paid for (too).=
27 WY: =Yea:h.
28 Lect: And what? Sorry?
29 Tadashi: Um to be paid for?
30 (0.3)
31 Lect: Paid for?=So what to do with (distinguishing)
32 a profession from a trade.
-> 33 (1.5)((Tadashi looks down, hands on chin))
34 Kylie: [You have to study to]
35 Gary: [You have to (0.2) ni]fty ja:rgon (.) if
36 you are a professional (0.2)
37 ((Class laugh))

Tadashi waits till Wong Young has given his comment, and then gives his (line
26). After the clarification of his comment, the lecturer asks the second part of the
question from the original task (lines 8–9), implying that there is more to be said
about ‘profession.’ Tadashi remains silent, looking at the task sheet with one of his
hands on his chin (line 33). He revealed in his interview that he and his partner
only discussed the first part of the task and then talked about job hunting. Thus,
it is likely that he remained silent because he did not have the answer. Two of his
peers seem to have judged Tadashi’s 1.5 seconds of silence as a sign of an inability,
or a refusal, to answer, and volunteered comments in lines 34 and 35 (although at
least one response was deliberately humorous). From there on, the mode of com-
munication was no longer one-on-one (or in this case, one-on-two), and the stu-
dents began to self-select. (The continuation of this talk is in example (28) below.)
Another example of other student self-selection from Case Study 3 is shown
below. Robin, one of the Australian students, is the presenter of a talk on one of
the reading materials in the History of Secondary Education class:

(27) [Interaction: Aya]

1 Robin: Thus the:y introduced courses that would
2 have greater relevance to adolescence.