On Student's Silence In The EFL Classroom Context

Classroom interaction refers to the oral interaction that occurs between teachers and students and among students. Researches (e.g. Allwright, 1980) show that classroom interaction plays an important role in improving student's language proficiency. Since Chinese EFL students have few chances to practice English with native-speakers and their English learning is mostly confined to classroom context, student's participation in classroom interaction is of great importance. However, students seem to keep silent in EFL class even they are encouraged or required. Student's non-vocal, silent behavior, e.g. student's inability, unwillingness or avoidance in classroom interaction is generalized as student's classroom silence.Student's classroom silence as a problem has emerged as modern Chinese EFL teaching has attached great importance to learner-centeredness and classroom interaction. Studies show that student's classroom silence is harmful for both students and teachers, e.g. boring atmosphere, inefficient teaching, poor oral proficiency, etc. Therefore, student's silence cannot be neglected any more. This thesis is to investigate student's silence in the EFL classroom context through classroom observation, interview and questionnaire. It involves 120 students and 6 teachers. Initial investigation has ascertained that student's silence is a common phenomenon in the EFL classroom context. Accordingly, research questions are designed as follows:1. How do teachers and students perceive student's classroom silence?2. What are the influencing factors that cause student's classroom silence?3. Suggestions for handling student's classroom silence.Investigation shows that student's silent image in class is widely held by both teachers and students. Teachers claimed student's silence in EFL class as "no feedback" or "lack of response". Students tend to describe themselves as "shy", "introvert" or "silent" in class. Student's classroom silence can be classified into pedagogical silence, linguistic silence, cognitive silence, psychological silence and social-cultural silence. Pedagogical silence refers to the silence caused by student's previous educational background. Linguistic silence refers to silence triggered by lack of proficiency in English as a foreign language. Cognitive silence refers to silence caused by the need for cognitive processing time. Psychological silence refers to silence reflecting inhibition, fear, anxiety and embarrassment about speaking in public. Social-cultural silence includes withdrawal from classroom communication due to the influence of participant's own sociocultural background.Student's classroom silence is explored from student's perspective and teacher's perspective. Results show that there are many factors influencing student's classroom silence, such as teacher's factors, student's factors, sociocultural factors and environmental factors. Teacher's factors include teacher's instructional styles, teacher-student relationship, teacher expectancy, etc. Student's factors include student's passive learning habits, motivation, poor language proficiency, etc. Socio-cultural factors include face concept, politeness, etc. Environmental factors include class size, teaching equipment, etc. However, this classification is not clear-cut but overlapping.Saville-Troike (1985) highlights the inherent ambiguity of silence: "Except in certain contexts, the meaning of any silence is inherently ambiguous and therefore subject to misinterpretation and misevaluation". So does student's classroom silence. It might be student's respect for his/her teacher or silent resistance; it might be intentional or unintentional. However, teachers tend to evaluate silent student negatively as not well prepared, uninterested, inattentive, uncooperative, or possibly not as sharp as their outspoken classmates. Teacher's such negative judgment make student's silence worse and worse. Thus, it is urgent for both teachers and students to take efforts to encourage active students' participation in class. Suggestions provided by both teachers and students are as follows. Teachers should change their negative attitudes to student's silence and make efforts to improving their teaching, e.g. establish harmonious teacher-student relationship, treat students fairly, diversify classroom activities, protect student's face, leave enough time for students, help student reduce anxiety, etc. to encourage more student's participation. Students themselves should make efforts to cooperate with their teachers in class and after class. Students should develop awareness of the importance of classroom participation and make efforts to develop their self-confidence, reduce their anxiety, cast off face saving concept, etc. to change their silent behavior in class.With a clear understanding of student's classroom silence and combined efforts of teachers and students, there will be less student's silence and more participation in classroom interaction and better student's English proficiency.