Silence as resistance, choice, right and strategy among chinese ‘me generation’ students implications for pedagog

This art icle was downloaded by: [ Monash Universit y Library] On: 21 Novem ber 2012, At : 14: 31 Publisher: Rout ledge I nform a Lt d Regist ered in England and Wales Regist ered Num ber: 1072954 Regist ered office: Mort im er House, 37- 41 Mort im er St reet , London W1T 3JH, UK Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education Publicat ion det ails, including inst ruct ions for aut hors and subscript ion informat ion: ht t p:/ / www.t andfonline.com/ loi/ cdis20 Silence as right, choice, resistance and strategy among Chinese ‘Me Generation’ students: implications for pedagogy a Phan Le Ha & Binghui Li a a Facult y of Educat ion, Monash Universit y, Clayt on, VIC, Aust ralia Version of record first published: 21 Nov 2012 To cite this article: Phan Le Ha & Binghui Li (2012): Silence as right , choice, resist ance and st rat egy among Chinese ‘ Me Generat ion’ st udent s: implicat ions for pedagogy, Discourse: St udies in t he Cult ural Polit ics of Educat ion, DOI:10.1080/ 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he use of t his m at erial Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education 2012, 1Á16, iFirst article Silence as right, choice, resistance and strategy among Chinese ‘Me Generation’ students: implications for pedagogy Phan Le Ha* and Binghui Li Downloaded by [Monash University Library] at 14:31 21 November 2012 Faculty of Education, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia The topic of silence and ‘the Chinese learner’ has been extensively studied often in relation to cross-cultural adjustment, intercultural issues, learning styles, language ability and differences of classroom expectations These studies have often led to recommendations to understand silence and ‘the Chinese learner’ in more complex ways However, there is a real need to go beyond just recognising the complexity and myths underlying these two notions This article consolidates the need to recognise diversity and fluidity among this group of students and the changing time and space in which silence experiences among them are contextualised and studied It does so by revisiting established meanings of in-class silence obtained from a qualitative case study with ‘Me Generation’ Chinese students studying in Australia, while contextualising the phenomenon in both Chinese and Australian classrooms Pedagogical implications building upon the discussion of silence as right, choice, resistance and strategy among these students are provided Keywords: higher education; international students; Chinese students; silence; pedagogy; Australia Introduction That afternoon, after finishing my inquiry about the assignment, my lecturer asked me a question Á ‘Why you seldom answer questions in class?’ That moment I was stuck, as I had never expected to be asked such a question In my view, this question was equal to those that did not need an answer, such as, ‘Why you like blue?’ I just like it (Lily’s diary) The topic of silence and ‘the Chinese learner’ has been studied extensively over the past few decades, often in relation to cross-cultural adjustment, intercultural issues, academic performance, learning styles, cultural patterns, language ability and differences of classroom expectations These studies have often led to recommendations to understand silence and ‘the Chinese learner’ in more complex ways However, there is a real need to go beyond just recognising the complexity and myths underlying these two notions This article does so by offering pedagogical implications that build upon the discussion of silence as right, choice, resistance and strategy among Chinese students born in the 1980s *Corresponding author Email: Ha.phan@monash.edu ISSN 0159-6306 print/ISSN 1469-3739 online # 2012 Taylor & Francis http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2012.745733 http://www.tandfonline.com P.L Ha and B Li This article responds to Chan’s (2010) argument that: Downloaded by [Monash University Library] at 14:31 21 November 2012 although there is a continuing growing interest in the Chinese learner, relatively less attention, thus far, has been given to examining the contemporary Chinese learner in the light of changing global and educational contexts (p 169) Likewise, Jin and Cortazzi (2011) and Ryan (2010) urge more research to be done to explore the dynamic changes associated with China’s educational reforms, its internationalisation of education and China’s emerging role as a significant player internationally Examining ‘in-class silence’ experiences and perceptions among a group of 1980s-born [Me Generation (MG)] postgraduate students from Mainland China in the context of contemporary China and Australia, the findings reported in the article not only enrich the field but also offer pedagogical contributions Me Generation (Elegant, 2007) refers to the post-1980s generation in China, many of whom currently study in tertiary institutions in Australia and other Englishspeaking countries The term Me Generation suggests that the impression the Chinese society often has of this generation, ‘the centre of Me’, a concept that implies various meanings associated with silence One author of this article, whose pseudonym is Lily, described herself as an MG member Her reflection on her experience with inclass silence and on the dilemmas she had faced, as China was going through significant changes in terms of social, cultural and educational values, has also been incorporated into this article The article first revisits research into the in-class silence experience of Chinese students in China and in English-speaking Western contexts It next discusses values associated with the MG in China, followed by review of the key concepts of collectivism, face and Chinese culture of learning, as these have often been seen as the excuse and cause for silence among Chinese students The article emphasises the opportunity/empowerment Chinese MG students (MGers) have to be more ‘open’ about their feelings in discussing their in-class silence experience It argues for the need to see silence as choice, right, resistance and ‘strategic’ competition among a group of MGers, whose experience in both China and Australia was revealed Being exposed to transnational learning space, these students’ explanations of their silence and other students’ silence in Chinese and Australian classrooms challenge many previous studies on in-class silence among Chinese students that often treat ‘learning diversity’ in fixed terms and under unchanged homogeneous Confucian ideas The findings of this study urge the need to approach silence as pedagogy in learning, teaching and research Revisiting research into the in-class silence experience of Chinese students Over the past 30 years, ‘the Chinese learner’ has often been studied from either the deficit or the surplus model (Ryan, 2010) Specifically in relation to Chinese students and silence, the ‘deficit’ model tends to stereotype students as passive learners who are reluctant to speak in the classroom Their reticence in this model is often linked to obedience, lack of critical thinking, spontaneous oral participation, sitting quietly, or having no questions or answers (e.g Ballard & Clanchy, 1984, 1997; Hu, 2002; Liu, 2002; Samuelowicz, 1987) Under this approach, Chinese students have been homogenised and thus variations across generations of Chinese learners and the Downloaded by [Monash University Library] at 14:31 21 November 2012 Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education changes that have occurred both inside and outside China over times have been ignored This deficit model thus treats ‘the Chinese student’ as a ‘reduced Other’ and/or as a fixed static homogeneous group, as criticised by Clark and Gieve (2006), Grimshaw (2007), Gu and Maley (2008) and Gu and Schweisfurth (2006) On the other hand, the ‘surplus’ model tends to largely praise Chinese students for their positive attributes, seeing them as models of success and valuable resources for the Western academia to learn from (e.g Watkins & Biggs, 1996, 2001) In contrast to some of the findings of scholars who follow the deficit model, scholars promoting the surplus model have provided evidence from the literature on Chinese rhetoric that shows that ‘independent thinking’ and ‘originality and skill in reasoning and expression’ have long been advocated in Chinese academic traditions (Kirkpatrick, 2005, cited in Gu & Brooks, 2008, p 343; Kracke, 1953, p 62; Moloughney, 2002;) The assumed nonparticipation and silence among Chinese students, in light of this approach, are interpreted as part of a process of active thinking and a form of participation That said, the surplus approach, while viewing ‘the Chinese learner’ as a complex subject, often does not go beyond the surface of the de-generalisation of certain attributes claimed to be possessed by Chinese students only As such, this approach tends to shift ‘the Chinese learner’ from a subject having all the ‘minuses’ to one possessing all of the ‘pluses’, and is thus ultimately another mode of stereotyping (Ryan, 2010) Grimshaw (2007) has been one of the few scholars who has attempted, though very briefly, to read the in-class silence and seemingly non-participation experiences among many Chinese students in classrooms in China in such a manner that treats these students as complex human beings with feelings, emotions, ambitions, motives, resentment and attitudes He demonstrates that ‘withdrawal and refusal to participate verbally in the lesson was often a form of protest’ (p 306) among many students Nevertheless, Grimshaw does not place in-class silence as the central focus of his study, nor does he pay any more attention to this phenomenon apart from the abovementioned findings This study will further Grimshaw’s (2007) approach by contextualising in-class silence among Chinese MG students in both Chinese and Australian classrooms This will offer scope for comparative analysis and for understanding why many Chinese students still appear to be silent in Australian classrooms despite their reportedly perceived positive experiences with the Australian classroom in general The ‘Me Generation’ in China MG refers to the post-1980s-born generation, the time when the two most important policies in China, the one-child policy and the open-door policy, brought about significant changes in the country Many urban children from this generation tended to grow up in the age of an economic boom, technology development, educational availability, a cultural influx and under extra care of their parents, which have given the MG a unique experience that former generations had never before undergone These children, in many ways, share similar experiences in the ways they were brought up and educated in the context of contemporary China A popular metaphor about the MG in China represents them as ‘flowers in a glasshouse’ They were grown as an individual plant, but their growing procedure was under scrutiny, and the temperature, humidity, water, nutrition and all other essential elements were controlled Parents at home often influenced MGers with P.L Ha and B Li Downloaded by [Monash University Library] at 14:31 21 November 2012 Chinese traditional values, and teachers at schools taught them to be good citizens according to Chinese culture Nevertheless, this generation has experienced value clashes and different kinds of pressures from everywhere, as China has opened its door to the world and continues to enjoy sharp economic growth Reflecting on her experience of value clashes and educational paradoxes, Lily, the co-author of this article who sees herself as a MG member, wrote in her diary: However, when reality one day permeated into the family and the education system via the development of the technology, especially the Internet, the environment around us changed When the absolute truth no longer existed, facing the bubbles of pluralism, we lost our direction, as each direction was leading to different destinations Traditions were still affecting us, while the other values from ‘Western’ culture, or materialism or pragmatism emerging along with the economic boom, reminded us of an alternative option Confusions appeared here We were taught to be loyal to friendship, however the situation appeared Materialism would teach us that money is even more important We were taught to be respectful to the elders, however, when the situation appeared, pragmatism would teach us that self-satisfaction is the priority The traditions and other values surrounded and influenced us, as impetus, or restrictions The conflicts worried or even made us suffer to the extent that we did not want to care about it any longer This was the Me Generation, struggling in the pool of the pluralism and trying to find the ‘Me’ in their dictionary Lily’s reflection reinforces Grimshaw’s (2007) observation of contemporary Chinese education in urbanised areas in which traditional Chinese classroom teaching and learning styles have been integrated with Western teaching and learning approaches, and this to a certain extent, has challenged the conventional role of the teacher and the teacherÁstudent relationship The open-door policy, the increase of international educational exchanges, and the current marketisation of Chinese higher education have brought about an influx of Western pedagogies and educational values that have re-positioned the role of the teacher and student in China Many MG students, accordingly, have developed their own different values and beliefs that reflect the changes taking place in the society and in education For example, Shi’s (2006) recent research on Chinese middle-school students’ English learning demonstrates that although the hierarchical structure in the Chinese society brings teachers respect automatically for their authoritative position, 98% of 17-year-old Year-10 students in her study, while loving teachers, ‘love truth more’ (p 131) Her findings show ‘the majority of them would not follow teachers’ ideas blindly, but would ask their teachers after class’ and ‘some confident students would inquire immediately in the class’ (p 131) Grimshaw’s (2007) participants consolidate Shi’s findings, pointing out how many Chinese students reacted when they were not satisfied with their teachers’ lectures in a Chinese university, as evident in their silent protest or strategic non-participation Deconstructing silence, challenging ‘collectivism’, ‘face’ and the ‘Chinese culture of learning’ Research conducted about China and/or Chinese students often places a great emphasis on the important role Confucian values play in Chinese culture and education (Ballard & Clanchy, 1997; Cheng, 2000; Hue, 2007; Jones, 1999; Leng, 2005; Wen & Clement, 2003) ‘The Chinese culture’ referred to in many of these Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education Downloaded by [Monash University Library] at 14:31 21 November 2012 studies tends to suggest that Confucian values continue to have the same dominant effect on Chinese education as in the past However, as indicated in recent studies about Chinese educational reform and values (Ha, McPherron, & Que, 2011; Jin & Cortazzi, 2011; Louie, 2005; Ryan & Louie, 2007; Shi, 2006), it is questionable whether the traditional Confucian values and beliefs embedded in education still have currency in contemporary China given China’s internationalisation of education policies and its increasing contacts with Western cultures The following sections, therefore, revisit the supposedly dominant values underlying the Chinese classroom, namely collectivism, face and the Chinese culture of learning, as often discussed in most studies conducted about Chinese education Collectivism and face Chinese society is most often seen as a typically collectivist one (Wen & Clement, 2003), and thus the group rather than the individual is the basic unit in society (Hsu, 1981 cited in Leung, 1996) In most Chinese classrooms, as many studies have indicated, issues about the group are more valued than those about individuals, where private questions are not encouraged during class hours as this is seen as wasting other students’ time (Liu, 2002; Zhou, Knoke, & Sakamoto, 2005) Answering questions is also discouraged as this is usually regarded as a way to show off and dwarf others (Schoenhals, 1994) ‘Face’ is another concern in the way students are expected to behave in Chinese classrooms There is a popular Chinese expression that ‘a man needs face as a tree needs its bark’ (Hue, 2007, p 41) In order not to lose ‘face’, questions such as ‘How will others think? What will others evaluate?’ or ‘How will others respond?’ (Hue, 2007, p 20) are usually considered before an interaction between a Chinese person and others occurs (Wen & Clement, 2003) If the answers are negative, their performances are likely to be influenced According to these studies and others, such as that by Jin and Cortazzi (2006), the concern about ‘face’ tends to cause many Chinese students to sit quietly in classrooms However, with the discussion presented earlier about the MG in China, there is no guarantee that ‘face’ still affects students in this generation in the same traditional manner A significant question raised by Rastall (2006) is that if learning is taking place in non-Chinese contexts, will ‘face’ still govern Chinese students’ behaviour? The Chinese culture of learning The notion of a ‘culture of learning’ is used: to describe taken-for-granted frameworks of expectations, attitudes, values and beliefs about how to teach or learn successfully and about how to use talk in interaction, among other aspects of learning (Cortazzi & Jin, 2006, p 9) As such: a culture of learning frames what teachers and students expect to happen in classrooms and how participants interpret the format of classroom instruction, the language of teaching and learning, and how interaction should be accomplished as part of the social construction of an educational discourse system (Cortazzi & Jin, 2006, p 9) Downloaded by [Monash University Library] at 14:31 21 November 2012 P.L Ha and B Li The Chinese culture of learning views teachers as the authority in Chinese classrooms and as the only source of knowledge, in which ‘the teacher’s words were always truths and truths were to be parroted and memorized but not to be questioned’ (Ting, 1987, cited in Wen & Clement, 2003, p 22) Yu (1984, cited in Wen & Clement, 2003) offers the following description of the traditional way of knowledge transmission informed by the Chinese culture of learning: ‘providing background knowledge, explaining passages and contexts, giving answers to controversial questions, [and] lecturing on the subject’ (p 22), stating that these still remain dominant in most Chinese classrooms In talking about the Chinese culture of learning, however, there is a tendency to treat ‘Chinese culture’ as being static and unchanged over times Carroll and Ryan (2005), Chan and Rao (2010), Grimshaw (2007), Gu and Maley (2008), Gu and Schweisfurth (2006), Jin and Cortazzi (2011), Louie (2005) and Ryan and Slethaug (2010), among others, have criticised this tendency So a question arises, what if the values and beliefs held by students in current China are different from the traditional ones? What implications then are to be offered to our understanding of ‘the contemporary Chinese culture of learning’ and Chinese students’ in-class silence? The study: Nicole, Monica, Stephanie and Jack The data reported in this article are part of a bigger project consisting of multiple small projects focusing on different aspects of international students’ experiences in English-speaking countries What is presented in this article is a particular focus on a group of Chinese MG students’ perceptions of their in-class silence and that of their peers, and is based on the data collected through individual semi-structured in-depth interviews and follow-up one-to-one conversations from a qualitative case study research conducted with four students They were asked to talk about their in-class experience and give reasons for when, why, how and to what extent they and other classmates may appear silent in both Chinese and Australian classrooms They were also asked to give different meanings to their own silence and that of their peers All these participants were born in 1980s, followed their education from primary to undergraduate levels in Mainland China, and were enrolled in postgraduate courses in an Education Faculty at an Australian university at the time of the data collection The participants, Nicole, Monica, Stephanie and Jack (their preferred pseudonyms), were in their early 20s Lily, the co-author of this article, also kept diaries and wrote reflections on her interpretations of in-class silence and the value clashes she experienced as an MG member, and how that might contribute to her reading of silence We acknowledge that this participant sample is limited in its scope in that all five participants, including Lily, come from one-child families in urban areas of China We argue, however, that these findings challenge existing approaches to studying ‘the Chinese learner’ and offer valuable insights into understanding perceived reasons for why many Chinese students tend to keep silent in Western classrooms These findings also suggest silence as pedagogy in which teachers can draw on students’ enactment of their interpretations of silence to promote learning in contexts where silence/ reticence tends to dominate Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education Downloaded by [Monash University Library] at 14:31 21 November 2012 Deconstructing silence: the language barrier motivates rather than hinders speaking In investigating the participants’ own experiences of in-class silence, this study asked questions related to how their English proficiencies may influence their in-class participation in Australian classrooms While it is evident that the language barrier to some extent impacted these participants’ communication in class, it is also clear that they had a very high expectation of what level of proficiency they wished to acquire in order to communicate at ease in English For example, Monica and Jack hoped to speak English ‘like native speakers’ and ‘as good as I speak Chinese’ As such, they reported wanting to further improve their English to achieve those ‘idealised’ proficiencies None of the participants stated that the language barrier was decisive in their choice and/or confidence to speak up or to remain silent Nicole and Monica even indicated that their low language ability was actually a positive factor in encouraging their oral participation As they reported, every time they thought of the reasons why they came to Australia to study, they would force themselves to participate orally, believing that speaking would help them to improve their English So in contradiction to the findings shown in other studies that one of the obvious reasons for Chinese students not to speak up in Western classrooms is the language barrier (e.g Wang, 2010; Zhou et al., 2005), the Chinese students in this study saw the language barrier as a factor that motivated them to speak more This finding shows that a language barrier could motivate some non-nativeEnglish-speaking students to speak up rather than hinder them from participating orally Seeing a language barrier from this perspective suggests that researchers and educators should explore other factors than language that may cause/encourage many Chinese international students to keep silent in Australian classes Deconstructing silence: what happened in their classrooms in China? We are expected to speak up in class but we choose to keep silent In contrast to what most of the studies on Chinese education reviewed above have argued, the participants in this study all reported that when they studied in China they were expected to break silence in classrooms and that teacherÁstudent communication was encouraged For instance, Nicole stated that ‘Teachers ask us to participate in the first lesson each semester’, while Monica noted that teachers in China ‘would encourage us to speak up in classrooms, sometimes were even very angry when there were no students raising hands to answer teacher’s questions’ Furthermore, in order to encourage students’ participation, all the participants reported that their teachers made efforts to help students break their silence These efforts to encourage students to speak, however, were not necessarily appreciated by students as they were seen to be forced and formulaic Take, for instance, what Jack said: Some teachers obliged us to say something in classrooms, gave us credit in the final assessment, in that situation, I would speak up, but just for the credits, as it was important for my final marks But I don’t like that way, feeling that I am forced to do, not from my own willingness 8 P.L Ha and B Li It is in this setting in which students are forced to speak that the issue of silence emerges What is clear from the responses of the participants in this study is that they often choose to be silent to protest at being forced to speak Downloaded by [Monash University Library] at 14:31 21 November 2012 We don’t speak because we don’t like the class atmosphere and because our voices are not valued The participants described their classrooms in China as being ‘serious’, ‘boring and full of many rules’ conditions that discouraged them from actively participating They also reported that because so much content was taught in one lesson, little time was available for students’ questions or discussions Students were aware of this, and resented questions asked by classmates whom they felt unnecessarily took up class time Nicole, for instance, referred to other students’ reactions whenever a classmate raised a question in class: ‘If the question a student asks is a common one, then the others would show nothing, otherwise, the others would something, such as giving off sighs, knocking the desks, to show their resentment for wasting their time’ This created a negative atmosphere that discouraged students’ oral participation, according to the participants Adding to this negative atmosphere was a sense that the individual ideas and opinions of students were not valued because any question asked by teachers usually allowed only one standard answer that teachers were looking for Therefore, in these students’ eyes, speaking up in class in this context was not an expression of their ideas, but a repetition of what the teachers had said or an offering of the standard answers available in the reference books or test papers As such, oral participation was not seen as an important part of learning, according to the participants So silence, in this sense, could be considered as a choice too We don’t speak because we don’t want others to know what we know In addition to the factors above which contributed to creating a negative environment in the classroom, which led students to be silent, the participants also referred to the high-pressured assessment system as a reason for the potential existence of a competitive and unsupportive atmosphere in their classrooms in China that leads students to remain silent Stephanie directly pointed out that there existed a fierce competitive atmosphere that outsiders often did not see beneath the harmonious relationship: My classmates worked hard on their own, and never wanted to share knowledge with others They only wanted to get knowledge from others, not share with others what they know, because everyone wanted to well in examinations and had an opportunity to further their education in a good school In classrooms, when we were asked a question, in fact everyone knew the answer, but we just kept silent very selfish In Stephanie’s view, many Chinese students’ unwillingness to orally participate in class was borne out of the fear that sharing knowledge would result in giving advantages to one’s competitors for the limited educational resources Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education We don’t speak because we don’t want to be isolated by peers Downloaded by [Monash University Library] at 14:31 21 November 2012 Such a competitive atmosphere, according to the participants, thus led students to avoid voluntary participation It also created an environment where those who did actively participate were looked down upon Monica and Nicole noted that those who actively participated in classrooms were likely to be isolated by their peers In particular, the participants pointed out that speaking in class was seen by many students as a sign of gaining a teacher’s favour; and as such those who spoke in class would be seen as opportunistic and were, as a result, isolated by their classmates Jack said: Those who actively participated in class would have other agendas I know I shouldn’t surmise others’ intentions, maybe they just wanted to speak up But at that time, I did think that perhaps they wanted to develop a good relationship with teachers, or to leave a good impression on teachers by means of showing off how much knowledge they had Monica further confirmed Jack’s point, saying: In Chinese students’ eyes, teachers had the right to mark students, there were some called impression points So if a student was active in classrooms, he/she would be regarded as having an intention to leave a good impression on teachers in order to get extra points, or other benefits, such as the honour, or reference to key schools I think that some students’ active participation aimed to draw teachers’ attention, so as to make others be ignored And in exams, he/she could get extra credits This sucked, as it broke the rule of fairness We don’t speak because we care about face in China Face was also a concern that the participants referred to, and this finding confirms past research on Chinese education, in which many students wanted to avoid being laughed at or humiliated by the others when they attempted to orally respond to teachers’ questions It can be seen that in the concern of face, it is not only the ‘self-face’, but also the consideration of the ‘other-face’, both of which prevented these participants from speaking up in their Chinese classrooms Silence as both respect and protest The participants also reported if they viewed their teachers as ‘bad’ and ‘inefficient’ teachers, they would show silence as a form of resistance This confirms Grimshaw’s (2007) findings that many students in China nowadays not conform to the image of being students who not dare to show their critical attitudes and evaluative judgements to their teachers, as is often shown in many studies on Chinese learners But the point here is that these participants still wanted to show their attitudes and protest in a respectful manner, and hence silence was the best choice As elaborated by Jack, when the Internet tends to challenge the teacher’s authority status in China, silence seems to be a strategically respectful way to ignore teachers in class: 10 P.L Ha and B Li Now there was a website called Google, it could give you anything you want So I didn’t respect or admire teachers anymore [as the source of knowledge] I listened to them just because they were teachers, as this was the accepted way to that I would not protest them publicly, but what I could was to ignore them in class, and silence is the one So silence in these cases meant both respect and protest Downloaded by [Monash University Library] at 14:31 21 November 2012 Why many Chinese students still tend to keep silent in the Australian classrooms? The participants reported that they had been aware of the expectation to contribute to class participation They acknowledged all the positive factors that encouraged them to speak up and communicate with others in their Australian classrooms They all referred to ‘the relaxing or supportive environment’ to illustrate the difference they felt when they compared Australian with Chinese classrooms The environment in Australia was created by ‘teachers who were passionate in teaching and liked to give you encouragement’ (Stephanie), and ‘were good at producing a lively and happy atmosphere by telling jokes or showing facial expressions’ (Monica) Stephanie also used the word ‘peaceful’ to emphasise that Australian classrooms were not as competitive as those in China Monica and Nicole observed that a negative classroom atmosphere was not often the case in Australia and students’ oral participation was given willingly They agreed that the encouraging atmosphere provided a safe and supportive environment for students’ oral participation in classrooms These participants also confirmed that topics discussed in their Australian classrooms were more general and likely to intrigue students’ interest to answer Despite all the positive points the participants described above, they acknowledged that they still tended to keep silent in their Australian classroom So the question remains what are the reasons for this phenomena and how should their silence be read? Silence as choice and right The participants agreed that Chinese students were a silent group in most Australian classes Statements, such as ‘Chinese students are silent in classrooms’ (Jack), ‘most of them are silent’ (Nicole), ‘Chinese students sit quietly in classrooms, they sit as far as possible away from the teacher’ (Stephanie), or ‘Chinese students don’t have the habit to speak up in classrooms’ (Monica), were mentioned again and again during the interviews Nevertheless, the participants did not see in-class silence as a problem, for them silence could be ‘a habit, a learning style and a way of thinking’, and hence should be seen as appropriate and legitimate As such, ‘they [academics and other classmates] don’t have the right to make judgments of Chinese students’ silence’ Even in situations in which in-class silence may influence Chinese students’ learning negatively, the participants proposed that teachers in Western countries should not criticise them but instead provide an alternative and let them compare and make the most suitable choices for themselves Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education 11 I am in Australia; I don’t want to badmouth my own country, so silence In addition, Jack felt that Australian teachers preferred to ask questions about policies or politics, which would never draw his attention He admitted he seldom cared about policies or politics, as these were things he could not change: Downloaded by [Monash University Library] at 14:31 21 November 2012 Like the change of the Assessment System in China, you know how important it was for us But the government just changed it, and what we could do, complain? Yes But we didn’t have that time and energy, what we could was to accept that So we didn’t have opinions on policy or politics, don’t ask us how we view these We have no opinions, if there are, besides complaints, there are still complaints Considering I am in Australia, I don’t want to badmouth my own country Jack, therefore, said he preferred to sit quietly in the classroom when discussions were on these topics Silence as ‘face’ doesn’t matter much here in Australian classrooms The data provide interesting findings, suggesting shifts in meanings associated with the notion of ‘face’ that has been believed to be very important among Chinese people wherever they are The participants, instead, reported they were not bothered by the concept of ‘face’ when they were in Australian classrooms One participant explained that it was the English language that allowed her to disregard ‘face’, which is a must in the Chinese society When the participants spoke English in the Australian classrooms they felt their identity as Chinese students no longer existed; nor did the cultural constraints, such as ‘face’ That they did not have many Chinese classmates in Australian classrooms and that their relationship with other classmates tended to be ‘loose’ reduced the need to care for ‘face’ or to worry about losing face They agreed that ‘face’ did not influence their in-class silence, unless there were many Chinese students in the same class with them What did affect their desire to speak up in class was, to some extent, their concern about their English language proficiency which was understandably (according to them) not as good as the educated native speaker fluency Nevertheless, these students demonstrated that when ‘face’ was not their concern, whether or not they wanted to speak up came down to mostly their choice and right Furthermore, from the participants’ viewpoint, ‘teachers in Australia are not authoritarian’, and anyone could pose questions to teachers or challenge whatever they said They also expressed there was a lack of feeling of attachment between students and teachers Therefore, the participants did not see ‘face’ as being as significant as it was in China Likewise, they did not feel bothered much by the presence of other non-Chinese classmates in their classrooms as to whether or not their silence or oral participation would be judged against the Chinese concept of ‘face’ Interpreting silence The data presented above offer a fresh view on studies about ‘the Chinese student’ in contemporary China, confirming the need to engage with the complexities and sophistication of such a diverse group of Chinese students, whose voices should be Downloaded by [Monash University Library] at 14:31 21 November 2012 12 P.L Ha and B Li heard, and whose values, resistance and experiences should also be understood from their perspectives A small group of students of the MG is taken as an example, as demonstrated in this article The interpretations below not intend to generalise ‘the Chinese learner’ to show that they are different from their counterparts Instead, they aim to demonstrate how a small group of 1980s-born postgraduate students from China experienced and interpreted their own and their peers’ in-class silence in the context of contemporary China and Australia to understand other possible meanings underlying silence and the use of silence The findings from this group offer a novel approach to silence that further supports Bao’s (forthcoming) work on silence as pedagogy, which we will elaborate later in this article The findings reveal that students in China in certain settings are expected to speak up in class, and for these MG participants, in-class oral participation was not something new to them or particular to the Australian classrooms What underlies the use of silence, for these participants, goes beyond language barrier issues and cross-cultural factors Silence as seen in this inquiry is about choice, right and resistance While these students expressed different reasons for their tendency to keep silence in Chinese and Australian classrooms, what they reported implies that they are aware of their choice and not ashamed of it None of them saw the in-class silence as a ‘problem’ that needs to be ‘corrected’ or ‘remedied’ In contrast with the view that silence is a disadvantage as discussed in the beginning of the article, which equals passivity and uncritical thinking in students’ learning, these participants not endorse that talking is a necessary element of students’ thinking; rather these two processes are different Silence as a means of resistance among these MG participants raises many aspects that need to be considered: the changing nature of the teacherÁstudent relationship, the teaching and learning environment, the transnational learning space between China and Australia, the role of the English language and the Internet and the emotional aspect of each individual toward all these The data confirm that regardless of the continued authoritative role of teachers in China, students show their resistance through different means, including silence Due to the Internet, in some cases teachers seem to have lost their role as the source of knowledge Á which in the past won them others’ respect and admiration However, the participants confirmed that they would still show respect to teachers; and even when they disliked a teacher, they would not show their emotion publicly, but showed it through silence Á a silent protest Their silent expressions in these cases should not be interpreted as being ‘passive’ and ‘obedient’ In terms of how the teaching and learning environment may have influenced these students’ in-class behaviour, the data indicate that the notion of collectivism among Chinese students carries many complexities that are often overlooked What lies behind a seemingly harmonious Chinese classroom may also embed a fierce silent competition among students The fierce competition resulting from the highpressured and result-driven assessments led to the prominence of ‘I’ instead of ‘We’, which in one participant’s opinion produced selfishness related to sharing knowledge Instead of seeing other classmates’ oral contributions as an incentive for all to study better, the unhealthy competition viewed others as an impediment in making progress, which implies that one’s success is others’ failures Doing better than others in examinations seems to be seen as the only goal of many Chinese students’ learning Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education 13 Downloaded by [Monash University Library] at 14:31 21 November 2012 The participants’ in-class silence also resulted from the shifting meaning of ‘face’ between China and Australia Their silence appeared to be a response to the absence of the Chinese concept of ‘face’ in the Australian context The participants offered multiple perspectives of ‘face’, showing how fluid, adaptable and ‘rebellious’ the concept could be This again challenges many stereotypes made about ‘the Chinese learner’ from both the deficit and surplus models These students’ in-class silence, in many cases, should be legitimised, acknowledged, and respected as choice and right Importantly, their feelings, emotion, attitudes, resistance, resentment and even rebuttal acts behind their silence could be viewed as individuals exercising their will, instead of a representation of ‘the Chinese learner’ as either the ‘deficit’ or the ‘surplus’ Pedagogical implications These above interpretations of silence and the findings offer important pedagogical implications, arguing for the need to optimise silence as pedagogy in teaching, learning and research In doing so, silence as pedagogy takes into consideration factors that constitute student learning diversity and what is considered effective classroom participation First, the findings and interpretations of silence question the status quo of current pedagogy that favours talk, and links talk to thinking and learning, while seeing silence as the shadow of talk and non-participation (Bao, forthcoming; Ha, 2011) In particular, Bao argues that pedagogical approaches have been largely informed by a well-sustained talk-biased research interest which points to the notion that only talk can enhance learning Likewise, the pedagogical approaches often make teachers fearful of and impatient about silent moments and quiet students, thus potentially leading to negative and misinformed reactions among both teachers and learners where silence is present (Ha, 2011) Second, as forcefully argued by Bao (2002, forthcoming), silence can be pedagogised in ways that are as effective, meaningful and complex as talk As shown in this study, viewing silence as resistance, choice and right among students could mean a symbol of reluctance to being the centre of attention (Nakane, 2007), to poor classroom management (Kato, 2010) and to unsuitable methodology and pedagogy (Cutrone, 2009; Marchand, 2010), as well as to uninteresting and irrelevant learning contents (Kurihara, 2006) These multiple connotations associated with the use of silence demonstrate that silence should not be seen as being static and uniform, but instead as being fluid with multilayered meanings and values that are shaped and reshaped by factors including power relations, generational difference, sociocultural educational values and norms, learning and teaching space, the role of technology and processes of internationalisation of education Teachers, accordingly, could adjust their pedagogies to accommodate these uses of silence Third, silent moments/events reported by the participants, which include quiet resistance, selective attention, strategic competition, choice, right, modification of learning behaviour and enriching reciprocal classroom discourse, are also important signifiers of meaningful pedagogy, when silence in many circumstances says as much or even more than talk This corresponds to Bao’s (forthcoming) main argument that silence, which in many cases is seen as private speech, needs to be fully acknowledged as a valid foundation on which to build learning and facilitate teaching Downloaded by [Monash University Library] at 14:31 21 November 2012 14 P.L Ha and B Li Fourth, as such, creative pedagogy should make use of this reality as a new development in education, in which both tendencies to move beyond silence into talk and to refrain from talk to withdraw into silence in learning and research should be acknowledged as being equally flawed; as these tendencies attempt to modify one’s learning style to compromise for a shared behaviour Likewise, this urges teachers to revisit the usual negative stereotypes associated with silence in which silence has not been given recognition as a useful learning mechanism Most importantly, the major advantage of silence is that it embraces what the individual can actually see and hear in a natural social context rather than having to linger on a verbal situation to abuse meaning and to violate certain expected norms of respect, which is evident in the many examples in both the Australian and Chinese learning settings of the participants of this study The article concludes by highlighting the argument from Bao (forthcoming) in which he incorporates the work of Ha (2011), Freire (1972) and Briskin (2000) to put forward his approach to silence as pedagogy which also confirms and consolidates the findings and the arguments discussed in this study: Silence as pedagogy should develop new ways to exploit types and uses of silence, assess silence, and increase sensitivity to the relationship between silence and talk Teachers’ neglect of students’ silence may amount to an oppressive act, debated by Freire (1972) as culture of silence In the classroom where power dynamics about speaking and silence is produced and where the greater amount of space is claimed by talkative students who assert their voice excessively, the reinforcement and misunderstanding of silence ignorantly erases students’ agency References Ballard, B., & Clanchy, J (1984) Study abroad: A manual for Asian students Malaysia: Longman Ballard, B., & Clanchy, J (1997) Teaching international students: A brief guide for lecturers and supervisors Deakin, ACT: IDP Education Australia Bao, D (2002) Understanding reticence: Action research in Vietnam (Unpublished PhD dissertation) Leeds Metropolitan University, UK Bao, D (forthcoming) Understanding silence and reticence: Non-participation in second language acquisition London: Continuum Briskin, L (2000) The challenge of classroom silence Core, 10(1), 6Á7 Retrieved from http:// pi.library.yorku.ca/ojs/index.php/core/article/view/2706/1911 Carroll, J., & Ryan, R (Eds.) 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