Page 162 - Silence in Intercultural Communication

Chapter 5. Performance and perceptions of silence 149

Table 5.19 Number and length of self-selected turns in History of Secondary Education
(Presentation Discussion)*
Participant Number of turns Total turn length Average turn length
Aya 13 61 4.7
Robin 8 52 6.5
Kathy 27 198 7.3

* Henry is not included in this table, since his presentation had taken place before recording started.

Table 5.20 Number and length of turns in open floor situations in History of Secondary
Education (Regular Discussion)
Participant No. of classes Total number Total turn Average no. of Average turn
included of turns length turns per class length
Aya 3 2 6 0.6 3.0
Robin 3 13 75 4.3 5.8
Kathy 3 5 55 1.7 11.0
Henry 3 26 121 8.7 4.7
Average 3 11.5 64.3 3.8 6.1

In class Kathy was generally silent, looking sleepy and slumped in the chair often
with her head bowed and arms crossed. However, when she gave her presenta-
tion, she was completely in control to the extent that it was difficult for other
participants to have a say. Almost all the answers to the questions which Kathy
prepared were answered by herself before others had managed to respond. When
Aya was a presenter, on the other hand, she let others respond first. In this sense,
Kathy demonstrated greater initiative and motivation when she was responsible
for the tutorial paper. Nevertheless, Aya can still be described as an average par-
ticipating student when the frequency of her contributions in her Presentation
Discussion are compared with Robin’s.
Looking at the number of turns in ‘open floor’ situations in Regular Discus-
sion, the results show that Aya is the least frequently participating student with
only two turns. Table 5.20 shows that Kathy is also low in her frequency here, but
her average turn length is by far the longest of the group.
In the other two case studies, a low frequency of participation in ‘open floor’
situations was commonly seen in both Tadashi and Miki, and in this regard, Aya
shows the same tendency. What seems crucial, however, is that ‘open floor’ situ-
ations in Aya’s case were often created by either the teacher checking on the key
facts discussed in preceding classes or by a student presenter asking discussion
questions. Since the questions for discussion at the end of a presentation directly
addressed the key points each week, the presentation is assumed to provide guid-
ance on these points. Thus, responding to these key questions in an ‘open floor’