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2 Silence in Intercultural Communication

cussion on the study of talk and social context, Erickson (2004) argues that the
two paradoxical positions – the view that interaction is created locally moment-
by-moment by local actors and the view that interaction is also influenced by
wider contextual factors – must both be considered. This is what this book aims
to do, and such a holistic view that captures factors at the individual, situational
and sociocultural levels of social organisation was necessary for that purpose (see
Chapter 2 for more details).
The proposed model is built upon a combination of theoretical frameworks of
the ethnography of communication, conversation analysis and politeness theory.
This combination is in part similar to what has been used in Erickson’s approach
to studies of talk (Erickson 2004; see also Erickson 1996; Erickson & Shultz 1977,
1982). The ethnography of communication (Hymes 1972, 1974a, 1974b; Saville-
Troike 1984) has been one of the most dominant frameworks applied to studies of
silence, as it allows the researcher to capture community-specific and context-de-
pendent use of silence (Saville-Troike 1985). Although conversation analysis has
only recently begun to be used as a tool for analysis of second language conversa-
tion, it has provided valuable insights into silence at the micro-level of interaction
(e.g. Jefferson 1989; Sacks et al. 1974). Politeness theory (Brown & Levinson 1987)
was found to be relevant in the process of data analysis in that the role of face-
threat in silence in the context of interaction under examination was important;
and that the recent emphasis on ‘assessment’ in addition to ‘strategy’ in politeness
proposed by Watts (2003) and Eelen (2001) was appropriate for the analysis of
perceptions and performance of silence.
Another objective of this book is to provide an empirical view on silence in
intercultural communication. The predominant attribution of silence to Asian
students in ‘Western’ classrooms has not been discussed with sufficient empiri-
cal evidence from actual performance data, and naturally-occurring performance
needs to be examined closely. In the research project reported in this book, video
and audio recordings were made of classroom interaction. These recordings were
analysed and follow-up interviews were conducted with the participants. I also
collected data from high school classrooms in Japan in order to assess the im-
pact of the classroom discursive practice on Japanese students’ performance in
Australian university classrooms. Through such empirical accounts of silence the
book aims to evaluate the widely debated perceptions, or stereotype, of Japanese
students’ silence in ‘western’ classrooms.
This takes me to the third objective of the book. It is to reconsider the ste-
reotypical notion of ‘Silent East’ as opposed to ‘Eloquent West.’ The book does
not reject the stereotype, but instead, explores the complex relationships among
various contextual factors, from sociocultural background to specific topics. At
times, ‘culture’ may play an important role, while an emerging local context of