Listening to Student Silence In Transnational Education

Presenters: Richard Galletly (Language Centre) and Chanzi Bao (International Business School Suzhou)

Key words: Student Silent Behaviour; Chinese Culture  

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influences of culture, gender, pedagogy, pragmatism and province of origin on student silent behaviour (SSB) in Transnational Education (TNE) in China. This project was supported by the XJTLU Teaching Development Fund.

Data was collected from a survey of over eight hundred undergraduate business students and interviews of their native Chinese EAP tutors.  Participants were asked to think of a recent situation in class when they were expected to speak, but remained silent.  Questions were derived from a literature review (Hwang et al., 2002; King, 2013; Hu & Fell-Eisenkraft, 2003) to investigate the hypothesized silent ‘attractors’ (de Bot et al., 2007).

Students rated the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with a list of statements provided in Chinese using a Likert scale. Open ended responses were invited with space for ‘additional comments’. Students’ native Chinese EAP tutors were also interviewed.

Findings indicate that SSB in TNE is influenced by pragmatism, pedagogy, culture, student province of origin and gender. Students’ written responses suggested they fear the social embarrassment normally associated with Chinese culture; moreover, female students were found to be more susceptible to the cultural pressures of conformity. Students generally agreed they were also silent for pedagogic reasons, for example students may be used to different teaching methods. Inequalities were found to exist between students from differing Chinese provinces, effecting students’ expectations that the tutor should explain every answer in detail and provide sample answers. Student province of origin was also found to affect their silent behaviour due to being unsure what kind of answer the tutor expects, and hoping somebody else will answer the question. Interviews with Chinese cultural insiders suggest strong cultural influences in the classroom towards SSB for Chinese students; they predicted students will be silent to avoid attracting attention, attempting to be ‘modest’, and to avoid negative feedback.

This original empirical study extends the understanding of SSB in the TNE classroom. We provide a framework for describing the silent classroom which may contribute toward improved teaching practices in TNE through an exploration of the sociocultural ‘landscape’ (Wang, 2010) of silent behaviour and the silent ‘attractors’ at play (de Bot et al., 2007). It is proposed that changes can be brought about by the tutor through an appreciation of the sociocultural landscape since, as ‘dynamic state’ theory emphasizes, small movements in the system can effect large changes in behaviour (King, 2013; de Bot et al., 2007), and tutors may counteract (or accentuate) these influences. It is recommended that students should be encouraged to speak - without fear of recrimination - in a risk-free environment to empower them with the freedom to make mistakes, what has been termed a ‘democratisation’ of the classroom (van Lier, 2004; Whiteside & Barclay, 2013).

Future investigations may include classroom observations, student interviews and longitudinal studies.

*This is a Teaching Development Fund project.