“Silence-inclusive pedagogy” in the International student English classroom

Let’s start with the theory around silence-inclusive pedagogy. Bao (2023) states, 

A choice to be silent is seen as productive and enables agency over learning.  Though discussion is still highly valued, the tutor needs to respond positively if students choose to work in silence with the same outcome.’  

So, if this is the case, why are we asking students to discuss a task if they can complete it in silence?  Does it really matter if they do choose to be silent?  What if we strategically build in silence between the talk rather than just responding negatively to silence when it happens?  

Where does my interest in this idea come from?

I am a practice-informed thinker and so, when faced with international students who come to me in the mindset of ‘I can’t speak in English, won’t speak in English and generally don’t speak in English’, I decided I need to be more than just frustrated by this.  I need to stop filling in the silence with talk that is not always purposeful, talk which in fact demonstrates my discomfort with the silent void.

The value we place on verbalisation in western academia has led me to consider the effect a colonised curriculum has had on our expectations of learners and the possibilities that silence can bring when embraced in the classroom. 

By the end of the academic year, students on the International Foundation Programme need to be able to demonstrate that they can speak spontaneously and fluently in interactions with native speakers so that they can participate in seminars and tutorials when they progress.  Some of the students I teach struggle to even say they do not understand what I am saying (which is ironic as this could count as spontaneous interaction).  It is my job to enable them to feel safe to speak in an English Language workshop, but that often feels like an uphill struggle if they are not confident to participate fully.

What do my current students say about silence?

• It is respect for the right of others to talk.  
• It is a fear of mistakes and how that might make them look in the eyes of their peers and tutor, and the related idea that if they are always prepared to speak then they might be thought of as showing off.
• It is just not having the words in English (even though they might be in their head) and this is a threat to identity; a feeling that they are much more articulate in their own language.
• It is not contributing if they don’t think they have anything of value to say.  
• It is just needing more time to process input before talk.
• It is thinking there is one right answer and they just don’t know it.

So, what am I actually doing?

1. Planning for silence.  Asking myself what activities we are going to do and whether they are tasks that students might legitimately choose to do in silence with the same outcome.  Asking myself how I feel about that and what drives my desire for discussion.
2. Asking the students to tell me how they would naturally approach a task.  Do they need silence before talk?  Do they need more silence than I usually give them?  
3. Asking students to define silence, to agree or disagree with statements such as:  silence is creative, silence is part of conversation.  Unsurprisingly I have only tried this with a group of can speak, want to speak, do speak students.  They really want to explore the idea of silence in conversation.  More anon.
4. Keeping a reflective diary of what I notice about silence in the classroom.  Reminding myself that silence is not always disengagement or lack of proficiency, fighting my own assumptions and my reflective diary helps me keep this on my radar.
5. Talking to students about the impact of their silence.  I have a slide that goes up whilst they are working with phrases like “I am stuck”. “Please can you come and help me.”  They need this permission.
6. I now say “This is your thinking time, this is silent time but then I will ask you to contribute and you can only say pass once.”  

This is nothing new, but I am trying to understand student silence, to be less frustrated, and to be more silent myself.  I am sharing my respect for silence such that value is placed not just on verbalisation. 

Next time let’s talk live translation tools.

In a future post I’ll explore the use of live translation tools, which are being used more openly across the University. These tools allow for the avoidance of talk and I’ll look more at how to acknowledge such silent strategies without blocking the path to verbalisation. 

Reference

Bao, D. (2023) Silence in English Language Pedagogy. CUP