Page 202 - Silence in Intercultural Communication

Chapter 5. Performance and perceptions of silence 189

in this subject. With regard to Tadashi, his preoccupation with his future work
and the imminent arrival of his baby could have set his priority on “getting things
done” and made him appear “business-like.” This is clearly reflected in his com-
ment about his topic preference for administrative matters, while his Australian
peers were more enthusiastic about the topics that they could relate to their expe-
riences or to the world outside university.

5.6.3.2 Relevance of critical comments
As discussed earlier in relation to silence and politeness, critical views were never
expressed by the Japanese students in the case studies. Rather, there were com-
ments and evidence from classroom interaction that they tended to accept what
the lecturers or peers said without question. This also seems to be a reflection
of Japanese classroom practices where learning takes place almost exclusively
through information given by the teacher (see Chapter 3). Tadashi’s comments
indicate his orientation to acceptance rather than critical thinking:
(84) [Interview: Tadashi]
I think they are knowledgeable - they know a lot of things. As for me, I almost
always listen by their side thinking, “Oh that’s what it is,” and I am always
nodding my head.

He also commented, on the suggested assignment which he initially found too
demanding, that he decided not to say anything, thinking “I will do this if the
teacher told us to do this.”
Miki did not explicitly mention anything to suggest her orientation to criti-
cal views, but when her comments were challenged, she remained silent and did
not attempt to respond. For example, in the following excerpt, Miki is asked to
give her view on male and female responses to compliments in Japanese. She in-
dicates that she is not sure what would be the case in Japanese communication.
Following this, Nakki, who lived in International House (university student ac-
commodation), shares her impression of Japanese male students who she finds
“really quiet.” Nakki’s gaze is directed to Miki at this point, but there is a silence of
2.2 seconds (line 32), after which Sophia speaks about her views on gender differ-
ences in communication.

(85) [Interaction: Miki]

5 Lect: Miki, what do you think about it. (0.5) u:m
6 (0.6) the idea of male versus female ways
7 of responding to compliments.=
8 Miki: =I don- I don’t know if- (0.4) if (0.3) it’s
9 because of female (0.2) and male, (.) but I