Page 170 - Silence in Intercultural Communication

Chapter 5. Performance and perceptions of silence 157

who “lets it pour out regardless how grammatical it is.” This student, Nakki, was
perceived by the lecturer as an excellent student, although she was aware that this
student did not always attend the class.
As we have seen, the perceived silence of the Japanese students had a nega-
tive effect on perceptions of academic competence, yet the desire to avoid being
perceived as an incompetent student seems to have led to the face-saving silence
of the Japanese students. Thus, when studying in the Australian education system,
academic achievement seems to be sacrificed to some degree by Japanese students
for the sake of saving face.

5.5.2 Silence to save the other’s face: “Don’t do the FTA” strategy

Silence is also used as a “Don’t do the FTA” strategy in a classic sense (see Brown
& Levinson 1987; Sifianou 1997) when Japanese students refrain from expressing
disagreement with the lecturer (see Chapter 4, 4.3.2) This use of silence, in place
of the verbal expression of critical views or disagreement, can be identified as the
superstrategy of “Don’t do the FTA,” and this was also found among the Japanese
students in the case studies. They rarely made critical comments or disagreed with
anyone, while their Australian peers showed more willingness to verbally demon-
strate their critical thinking, which is valued in Australian university education
(Ballard 1996; Ballard & Clanchy 1991; Matsuda 2000; Milner & Quilty 1996).
Below is an example, from Case Study 1, of an Australian student critically
commenting on the lecturer’s point. The excerpt begins with a comment by the
lecturer, Mr. Fuller, on the lack of communication between teachers across differ-
ent languages at secondary schools:

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

6 Lect: Language teachers haven’t checked, (.)you know,
7 Greek teacher hasn’t checked with Italian
8 teacher=Italian teacher (.) ah hasn’t checked
9 with the Japane[se t]eacher.
-> 10 Tamara: [But-]
11 (0.2)
12 Lect: What’s happening in the different
13 languages that I can bring in,
14 (0.2)
15 Tamara: Mm[:]
16 Lect: [t]o my subject for example film, (0.4)
17 bringing in the aspect of film. and
18 the text. ((cough)) u:m (1.2) one of the