LINGUIST List 15.1290

Fri Apr 23 2004

Diss: Applied Ling: Nakane: 'Silence...'

Editor for this issue: Takako Matsui <takolinguistlist.org>

Directory

i.nakane, Silence in Japanese-Australian Classroom Interaction

Message 1: Silence in Japanese-Australian Classroom Interaction

Date: Fri, 23 Apr 2004 00:02:09 -0400 (EDT)
From: i.nakane <i.nakaneunsw.edu.au>
Subject: Silence in Japanese-Australian Classroom Interaction

Institution: University of Sydney Program: Department of Linguistics Dissertation Status: Completed Degree Date: 2003

Author: Ikuko Nakane

Dissertation Title: Silence in Japanese-Australian Classroom Interaction: perceptions and performance

Linguistic Field: Applied Linguistics, Discourse Analysis, Pragmatics

Dissertation Director 1: Ingrid Piller Dissertation Director 2: Jane Simpson Dissertation Director 3: Barbara Mullock

Dissertation Abstract:

This thesis examines silence as attributed to and performed by Japanese students in Australian university classrooms. It attempts to elucidate processes in which silence can be used and created in intercultural communication in the classroom. The data, which was collected in Australia and Japan, include interviews, a questionnaire and survey data, classroom observation and video-recorded classroom interactions. There are three case studies which make up a substantial part of the thesis and provide detailed analyses of classroom interactions. The analysis draws on the frameworks of the ethnography of communication and conversation analysis. Micro- and macro- perspectives are combined to investigate how perceptions and performances interact to construct silence in the cross-cultural encounters in these classrooms. The findings are integrated into a model of silence in Japanese-Australian classroom interaction, which takes into account psychological, linguistic and cognitive factors on three levels of social organisation: individual, interactive and sociocultural.