Page 65 - Silence in Intercultural Communication

52 Silence in Intercultural Communication

3.3 Socio-psychological domain

3.3.1 The teacher-student relationship and politeness orientation

Differing assessments of power relationships or social distance, as in the case of
teacher-student relationships, may cause problems in intercultural encounters at a
sociopragmatic level (Thomas 1983: 105). Generally, when the teacher-student re-
lationship in Japan and in Australia is compared, we find it is more hierarchical in
Japan and more egalitarian in Australia. In Yoneyama’s (1999) survey study, for ex-
ample, 93% of the Japanese students indicated they did not feel comfortable about
discussing personal problems with their teachers, whereas for 31% of the Austra-
lian students, teachers were people with whom they felt they could share personal
matters. The teacher-student relationship in Japan is summarised by Yoneyama as
“extremely teacher-centred and autocratic” while in Australia ‘both the democratic
paradigm and the autocratic paradigm co-exist with comparable strength” (p. 72).
In Kato’s study (2001), both Australian and Japanese exchange students found
teacher-student relationships more equal in Australia but more hierarchical in Ja-
pan. Australian teachers were described as “friendly,” “informal” and “approach-
able,” while Japanese teachers were described as “polite,” “formal” and “strict.”
Australian students often found Australian teachers had better rapport with stu-
dents, and this was regarded as a good quality in a teacher. Interestingly, although
Japanese students appreciated the friendly attitudes of their Australian teachers,
they gave credit to Japanese teachers for being good at discipline.
Some of the Japanese students in Kato’s study commented that, not only psy-
chologically but also physically, teachers are higher than students are in the class-
room, since there is usually a teaching platform in front of the blackboard on
which teachers stand while giving a lesson. Japanese students also observed that
Australian teachers often walked amongst students and physically stayed closer
and on the same level as students.
In my own visits to Japanese high schools, in almost all the classes, teachers
taught on teaching platforms from which they rarely moved down to the stu-
dents’ level. However, the teacher-student relationship was generally not found to
be as hierarchical and authoritarian as Yoneyama (1999) and Kato (2001) suggest.
Both schools had a relatively liberal atmosphere, Fuji High School to a greater
degree than Tokyo High School. For example, Fuji allowed students to leave the
classroom and return whenever they wanted to during the class without asking
permission from the teacher, and they could also choose their own seats, all of
which is unusual in Japanese schools. The comparatively liberal policies of these
schools could also be found in the fact that the principals both accepted, without
reluctance, having a researcher visit their schools to observe the classes.