Page 55 - Silence in Intercultural Communication

42 Silence in Intercultural Communication

Fuji High School is a private school in the centre of Tokyo city with a liberal
policy and atmosphere; there are no uniforms and the students are permitted to
dye their hair or have piercings, and the school is not considered academically
prestigious. The class size is very small; the average student number in one class
is around 20 to 22, just over half the number of students in most other Japanese
high school classes.
Tokyo High School is a public high school in the western suburbs of Tokyo
and academically more prestigious than Fuji High School; most of its graduates
proceed to university level education. In terms of policy and atmosphere, although
more control was exercised on students than in Fuji High School, the rules were
generally not so strict, and there were students with dyed hair and piercings. The
average student numbers in one class are around 40, which is typical of most
Japanese high schools.
Social Science and Japanese were the subjects targeted for observation in these
schools, since the Japanese participants in the intercultural studies in Australia
were predominantly enrolled in subjects in the area of humanities. In addition,
English classes were observed in both high schools to ascertain how Japanese
students learn English since English becomes the medium of teaching and learn-
ing for those Japanese students studying in Australia. The details of the observed
classes are given in Tables 3.1 and 3.2 below.

Table 3.1 Classes observed at Fuji High School

Class Level Teacher Number of Hours of
students observation
Japanese 2nd year Female, Japanese 22 1.5 hours
World History 2nd year Male, Japanese 21 1.5 hours
Japanese History 2nd year Male, Japanese 22 1.5 hours
English 2nd year Female, Japanese 17 1.5 hours

Table 3.2 Classes observed at Tokyo High School
Class Level Teacher Number of Hours of
students observation
Creative writing 3rd year Male, Japanese 16 50 mins
Japanese 2nd year Male, Japanese 40 50 mins
Japanese 1st year Female, Japanese 38 50 mins
Classical Japanese 2nd year Male, Japanese 42 50 mins
English 1st year Female, Japanese 40 50 mins
Male, English
Philosophy 3rd year Male, Japanese 27 50 mins