Page 17 - Silence in Intercultural Communication

4 Silence in Intercultural Communication

lowing the tradition of ethnography of communication, the assumption is that an
understanding of the role of silence in Japanese classrooms is a crucial resource
for interpreting silence in Australian-Japanese intercultural communication in
the classroom. Chapter 4 explores perceptions of silence in intercultural com-
munication derived from ethnographic interviews and questionnaires conducted
in Australia. In Chapter 5, I present analyses of silence in naturally-occurring
interaction among Japanese students, Australian students and lecturers in univer-
sity seminars, using the framework presented in Chapter 2. Three case studies are
used to ascertain the relationship between participants’ perceptions of silence and
their actual performance in interaction.
In the concluding chapter, the findings of the research are summarised in re-
lation to the framework proposed in Chapter 2, and the notion of the ‘silent East’
is re-evaluated.
Listening to silences in the classroom and talking about silences with ‘the
silent students’ have given me valuable insights into human interaction and in-
tercultural communication, and the ultimate goal of this book is to share those
insights with the readers. It is hoped that the book is relevant not only for re-
searchers interested in intercultural communication, silence in communication,
and discourse analysis in general, but also for those who teach in a multicultural
classroom environment and those who take part in intercultural communication
in various professional contexts.