Page 149 - Silence in Intercultural Communication

136 Silence in Intercultural Communication

in one language classroom at a secondary school. Immediately, Linda responds,
but this is overlapped by Kylie (line 9). The moment Kylie’s response is heard and
Linda withdraws from her turn due to the overlap, Tamara responds and starts
talking about her experience. When she finishes the first part of her account, Kylie
begins to talk about her experience, but this is interrupted by Tamara, who has
not finished her account and to whom the lecturer has been giving continuers
(lines 16 and 18).

(29) [Interaction: Tadashi, Curriculum and Examinations]

1 Lect: You sometimes ha:ve a beginner's group,
2 (see it), (0.8) and the two unit into the
3 same class.=
4 Kylie: =Um,
5 (0.4)
6 Lect: And the issue's about how to manage
7 that.= 'ave you ever experienced that,=
8 Linda: =No [ u- ]
9 Kylie: [Yep.]
10 Tamara: Yeah.
-> 11 Tamara: My history teacher:, (0.5) had a: (0.4) I
12 remember we used to do two
13 units three unit at the ( ) time,=
14 Lect: =That's right.=
15 Tamara: =All in the (one cla[:ss)?]
16 Lect: [Yeah.]
-> 17 Kylie: We [ did ] two ( ) two general
18 Lect: [Yeah.]
19 Kylie: to: [( )]
-> 20 Tamara: [And others] in both cla:ss (.) both
21 in two unit and three unit and so (.)
22 we're sort of lost, (0.3) for a while,
23 thinki:ng,(0.4) what are we doing
24 are we doing three unit or two unit,
25 or: what's happening,
26 (0.3)
27 Lect: So: you had to (.) become a little bit of
28 a magician.[Yeah].
29 Tamara: [Yeah](hh) huh.
The competition between Tamara and Kylie is clear here. This type of floor com-
petition is not very common in Japanese classrooms, and with English as their