Page 174 - Silence in Intercultural Communication

Chapter 5. Performance and perceptions of silence 161

(49) [Interview: Robin]
[...] she said it’s very possible, I think she said - or something like that. So that
sort of showed […]. It probably shows that she’s got a lot of respect for the
lecturer as well. In that way, like that “it was very possible,” like straightaway
she said without hesitation like “Oh no.” […] She’s - yeah, whatever he’s saying,
you know.

From Aya’s perspective, whether or not she has “a lot of respect for the lecturer,”
she mentions “a very strong pressure” to perform and be well prepared:

(50) [Interview: Aya]
[Dr. Lucas] is very, you know, experienced, and certainly his own knowledge,
he knows his own subject well, and yeah, he is very well organised, so in that
sense, I am not unhappy about him. To some degree, yeah, because he is too
strict, or rather than strict, he is disciplined, I myself in turn have to be
disciplined, that sort of pressure is very strong, so - yeah.

As previously claimed in Australian-Asian cross-cultural classroom studies (e.g.
Braddock et al. 1995; Ballard & Clanchy 1991; Milner & Quilty 1996), the footing
that these Japanese students take in classroom interaction thus seems to assume
a relatively more hierarchical relationship between the teacher and the student.
This relationship is evident in Japanese schooling, where teachers are often re-
garded as holding the authority for knowledge, which is to be transmitted to the
student without question (Kato 2001; Matsuda 2000; Yoneyama 1999). Thus, in-
stead of highly face-threatening disagreement or criticism, silence is the appropri-
ate option for Japanese students. Here again, the level of face-threat may be per-
ceived to be higher by Japanese students due to institutionally and socioculturally
conditioned politeness orientations (see Hamamoto 2001; Ide 1989; Matsumoto
1988, 2003). In the Australian university classroom context, however, the option
for silence is a marked, and negatively evaluated, strategy. According to Thomas
(1983), such a mismatch of power and social distance assessment is one of the
causes of cross-cultural sociopragmatic failure.

5.5.3 Silence as an “off-record” strategy

As shown earlier, the close examination of classroom transcripts in the case studies
revealed instances of Japanese student silences after being nominated. In this sec-
tion, I will demonstrate that the silence of Japanese students when being asked for
a comment or response can be identified as an “off-record” politeness strategy.