The document describes a study conducted to understand the reasons students remain silent in class and potential solutions. A survey of students and teachers found the primary reasons were linguistic problems and lack of confidence. The researcher then tested different techniques in class, such as more preparation time, assigning roles in group work, and using proximity/eye contact. While most techniques improved participation, two shy students remained largely silent and uncomfortable when singled out. The researcher was only able to solve the problem for 94.4% of students, with more work needed for the two quietest.

2.  How do students experience silence and
its subversion in the classroom?
 What are the underlying reasons of
keeping silent and what can be the
possible solutions relevant to my research
question?”
 How can I know whether a student is
keeping silent as a political stand or as a
result of shyness?

3.  Bartholomae and Petrosky (1993) defend
„college students want to believe they
can strike out in their own. (Teachers
patience and forgiving)
 James Berlin (1991) posits the value of
making students aware of the
competing discourses that influence who
they are, in the hope of encouraging
students‟ “resistance” to such cultural
codes.

4.  at a public university‟s law department
where I work in an EFL context.
 two lecturers one to teach and one to
observe; 5 lecturers who were directed
to take part in the survey.
 36 upper-intermediate students in distinct
two classes at all.

6.  in order to find out the reasons of keeping
silent, I conducted a survey of Seiko
Harumi, who is a researcher in Japan, to
both the students and the teachers.
 The survey included two sections. Part I of
the survey sought general background
information on previous learning and
teaching experience. Part II of the survey
dealt with the reasons for remaining silent.
36 students and 5 teachers were asked to
complete the survey.
First of all in order to find out the reasons of keeping silent, I conducted a survey of Seiko Harumi, who is a researcher in Japan, to both the s

7. Teacher’s interpretation N: (5) %
Linguistic problems
- Student doesn’t know the answer
- Student doesn’t understand
60
40
Problems with time
- Student thinking how to answer 40
Psychological problems
- Shyness
- Boredom
- Cultural reasons
40
40
20
Depends on the situation 20

8. Students’reasons N: 36 (%)
Linguistic problems
- Problems with vocabulary
- Problems with expressing myself in English
- Problems with comprehension and listening
- Doubts about accuracy of grammar
11.11
44.4
5.5
2.7
Problems with time
- Lack of time to answer
2.7
2.7
Psychological problems
- Lack of confidence, nervousness; shyness
- Feel desperately in a hurry
- Because of my level of the target language
- Because of tense atmosphere
- Lack confidence in my own idea
- I whisper sth in my mind
- Lack of confidence in pronunciation
- I tend to depend on others
13.8
5.5
13.8
2.7
25
2.7
13.8
11.11
Problem with turn taking
- Was not given chance to speak out; turns were not allocated
- Missed timing (others speak before I do; teachers move on to other students; difficulty in claiming turn)
- Teacher did not notice my soft voice
2.7
5.5

9.  Surveys suggest two problems in
common;
› Linguistic problems
› Lack of confidence

10.  Preparing an observation form

11. Observation Form
Period: 1 2 3
Day of week: _______ Date: _______ Start: _______ End: _______
Observer: _Hülya Fidan ______ _ Level: Upper-intermediate
Name of the student (+) : active
( - ) : not interacting-initiated the interaction?-the recipient ?Who involved in inter.?
1.Funda
2.Sinan
3.Esra
4. …
adapted from the study of Teaching Exceptional Children, Vol. 41, No.2, pp 6-
13. Copyright 2008

12.  changed the style of the activities and used
more engaging topics in discussions.
 I also gave more preparation time before
whole class discussion. The groups received 7
to 8 minutes to discuss first.
› 83.33% were observed to attend the group
discussion however only 16.6 % accepted to share
their ideas with the whole class, the rest rejected
to speak out and kept their silence.

13.  employ roles to each individual in the group such
as;
› the leader responsible for engaging the others to talk,
› the presenter who will share the group‟s ideas to the
class later,
› the note-taker who will take notes during the activity,
According to the tally sheet used, the percentages
changed as such; 100% initiated to talk by
attempting to take part in the discussion whereas
only the ones who were responsible to share ideas
with the class (22.22%) did so.
Accordingly, we still can‟t be quite sure whether the
others who are significantly silent will speak out in
class or not no matter they spoke in group activity.

14.  specific roles to the ones who are defined
and specified significantly as silent students.
› The percentages did not change, but according
to my observation, two students who are
recognizably silent kept short talking and hurried in
order to pass the turn on to the next student at
once.

15.  I decided to use some techniques such as
smiling, proximity(moving closer to the
speaker), and making eye contact with the
students in order to make sure that those two
students would feel more comfortable.
› The percentages kept the same, but the
techniques did not work, rather caused those two
students to feel more uncomfortable;
› As the teacher kept eye contact they hurried
more and when the teacher went closer, the
students stopped by saying that „That‟s all!‟.

16.  As seen, the problem seems to have been
solved 94.4%, however for the rest of the class
which comprises of 2 out of 36 students still
remains unsolved.
 However, given the chance of speaking and
acting in a group within a time limit, most of
the students did not reject sharing ideas.
 As far as confidence-building is
concerned, nominating individual students to
speak is another effective technique so that
learners can enter and continue the flow of
discussion or conversation with confidence.