Abstract
While learner silence in the classroom has recently become a topic of interest for teachers and researchers alike, the emotional effect of silence on classroom participants themselves remains largely understudied. Moreover, most studies of student silence in the classroom have primarily focused on its interplay in second language acquisition and L2 development (King in Silence in the second language classroom. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstroke, 2013; Nakane in Silence in Intercultural Communication. John Benjamins, Amsterdam, 2007). Of equal importance, however, is silence’s effect on the emotions and development of teachers themselves. An individual learner’s silence can have numerous emotional charges, and, because emotions are contextually and socially constructed, they can shift the emotional mood within the classroom more generally and affect the emotions of the teacher. When learner silence is not appropriately managed, the subsequent classroom environment can add to the emotional labour of teaching (King in New Directions in Language Learning Psychology. Springer, Dordrecht, pp. 97–112, 2016), and, in turn, affect teacher performance by disrupting teacher identity. This chapter will discuss three forms of this affective silence and examine how each form’s role enters into an ecological relationship between student and teacher emotions. After a brief review of recent literature on learner silence and the problems it poses for teacher identity, we apply the concept of emotional regulation to the negative effects of learner silence and offer productive emotional regulation strategies for educators.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Acheson, K., Taylor, J., & Luna, K. (2016). The burnout spiral: The emotion labor of five rural U.S. foreign language teachers. The Modern Language Journal, 100(2), 522–537.
Agyekum, K. (2002). The communicative role of silence in Akan. Pragmatics, 12(1), 31–52.
Basso, K. (1990). ‘To give up on words’: Silence in Western Apache culture. In D. Carbaugh (Ed.), Cultural communication and intercultural contact (pp. 303–320). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Brown, P., & Levinson, S. (1987). Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Chang, M.-L., & Davis, H. A. (2009). Understanding the role of teacher appraisals in shaping the dynamics of their relationships with students: Deconstructing teachers’ judgments of disruptive behaviour/students. In P. A. Schutz & M. Zembylas (Eds.), Advances in teacher emotion research: The impact on teachers’ lives (pp. 95–127). New York: Springer.
Denzin, N. (1984). On understanding emotion. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Frenzel, A. C., Goetz, T., Stephens, E. J., & Jacob, B. (2009). Antecedents and effects of teachers’ emotional experiences: An integrated perspective and empirical test. In P. A. Schutz & M. Zembylas (Eds.), Advances in teacher emotion research: The impact on teachers’ lives (pp. 129–152). New York: Springer.
Gilmore, P. (1985). Silence and sulking: Emotional displays in the classroom. In D. Tannen & M. Saville-Troike (Eds.), Perspectives on silence (pp. 139–162). Norwood, N.J.: Ablex.
Gorsuch, G. (1998). Yakudoku EFL instruction in two Japanese high school classrooms: An exploratory study. JALT Journal, 20(1), 6–32.
Grandey, A. A. (2000). Emotional regulation in the workplace: A new way to conceptualize emotional labor. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 5(1), 95–110.
Gregersen, T. (2007). Breaking the code of silence: A study of teachers’ nonverbal decoding accuracy of foreign language anxiety. Language Teaching Research, 11(2), 209–221.
Gross, T. T. (1998). Antecedent- and response-focused emotion regulation: Divergent consequences for experience, expression and physiology. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 224–237.
Hargreaves, A. (2000). Mixed emotions: Teachers’ perceptions of their interactions with students. Teaching and Teacher Education, 16, 811–826.
Harumi, S. (2011). Classroom silence: Voices from Japanese EFL learners. ELTJ, 65(3), 260–269.
Hino, N. (1988). Yakudoku: Japan’s dominant tradition in foreign language learning. JALT Journal, 10, 45–53.
Hochschild, A. R. (1983). The managed heart: The commercialization of human feeling. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Hochschild, A. R. (1990). Ideology and emotional management: A perspective and path for future research. In T. D. Kemper (Ed.), Research agendas on the sociology of emotions (pp. 117–142). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Ingram, J., & Elliott, V. (2014). Turn taking and ‘wait time’ in classroom interactions. Journal of Pragmatics, 62, 1–12.
Isenbarger, L., & Zembylas, M. (2006). The emotional labour of caring in teaching. Teaching and Teacher Education, 22(1), 120–134.
Jaworski, A., & Sachdev, I. (1998). Beliefs about silence in the classroom. Language and Education, 12(4), 273–292.
Jiang, J., Vauras, M., Volet, S., & Wang, Y. (2016). Teachers’ emotions and emotion regulation strategies: Self- and students’ perceptions. Teaching and Teacher Education, 54, 22–31.
King, J. (2013). Silence in the second language classroom. Basingstroke: Palgrave Macmillan.
King, J. (2014). Fear of the true self: Social anxiety and the silent behaviour of Japanese learners of English. In K. Csizér & M. Magid (Eds.), The impact of self-concept on language learning (pp. 232–249). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
King, J. (2015a). The dynamic interplay between context and the language learner. Basingstroke: Palgrave Macmillan.
King, J. (2015b). Classroom silence and the dynamic interplay between context and the language learner: A stimulated recall study. In J. King (Ed.), the dynamic interplay between context and the language learner (pp. 127–150). Basingstroke: Palgrave Macmillan.
King, J. (2016). “It’s time, put on the smile, it’s time!”: The emotional labour of second language teaching within a Japanese university. In C. Gkonou, D. Tatzl, & S. Mercer (Eds.), New directions in language learning psychology (pp. 97–112). Dordrecht: Springer.
King, J., & Ng, K.-Y. S. (2018). Teacher emotions and the emotional labour of second language teaching. In S. Mercer & A. Kostoulas (Eds.), Language teacher psychology (pp. 141–157). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
King, J., & Smith, L. (2017). Social anxiety and silence in Japan’s tertiary foreign language classrooms. In C. Gkonou, M. Daubney, & J.-M. Dewaele (Eds.), New insights into language anxiety: Theory, research and educational implications (pp. 92–110). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Kurzon, D. (1998). Discourse of silence. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Kyriacou, C. (2001). Teacher stress: Directions for future research. Educational Review, 53(1), 27–35.
Larsen-Freeman, D. (1997). Chaos/complexity science and second language acquisition. Applied Linguistics, 18(2), 141–65.
Larsen-Freeman, D. (2007). On the complementarity of chaos/complexity theory and dynamic systems theory in understanding the second language acquisition process. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 10, 35–37.
Lebra, T. (1976). Japanese patterns of behavior. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
Li, H. (2001). Silences and silencing silences. In Philosophy of Education Studies yearbook. Champaign: University of Illinois.
Long, M. H. (1996). The role of the linguistic environment in second language acquisition. In W. C. Ritchie & T. K. Bhatia (Eds.), Second language acquisition: Vol. II. Handbook of language acquisition (pp. 413–468). New York: Academic Press.
Losey, K. M. (1997). Listen to the Silences: Mexican American interaction in the composition classroom and community. Norwood, N.J.: Ablex.
McVeigh, B. J. (2002). Japanese higher education as myth. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe.
Nakane, I. (2007). Silence in intercultural communication. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Näring, G., Briët, M., & Brouwers, A. (2006). Beyond demand-control: Emotional labour and symptoms of burnout in teachers. Work & Stress, 20(4), 303–315.
Näring, G., Vlerick, P., & Van de Ven, B. (2012). Emotion work and emotional exhaustion in teachers: The job and individual perspective. Educational Studies, 38(1), 63–72.
Op’t Eyende, P., & Turner, J. (2006). Focusing on the complexity of emotion issues in academic learning: A dynamical component systems approach. Educational Psychology Review, 18, 361–376.
Pavlenko, A. (2005). Emotions and multilingualism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Philips, S. U. (1976). Some sources of cultural variability in the regulation of talk. Language in Society, 5(1), 81–95.
Prior, M. (2015). Emotion and discourse in L2 narrative research. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Reda, M. M. (2009). Between speaking and silence: A study of quiet students. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Rowe, M. (1974). Pausing phenomena: Influence on the quality of instruction. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 3(3), 203–224.
Shrum, J. L. (1985). Wait-time and the use of target or native languages. Foreign Language Annals, 18(4), 305–314.
Sifianou, M. (1997). Silence and politeness. In A. Jaworski (Ed.), Silence: Interdisciplinary perspectives (pp. 63–84). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Sinclair, J., & Coulthard, M. (1975). Towards an analysis of discourse. Oxford University Press.
Smith, L., & King, J. (2017). A dynamic systems approach to wait time in the second language classroom. System, 68, 1–14.
Sutton, R., & Wheatley, K. (2003). Teachers’ emotions and teaching: A review of the literature and directions for future research. Educational Psychology Review, 15(4), 327–358.
Sutton, R. (2004). Emotional regulation goals and strategies of teachers. Social Psychology of Education, 7(4), 379–398.
Swain, M. (2005). The output hypothesis: Theory and research. In E. Hinkel (Ed.), Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning (pp. 471–483). New York: Routledge.
Tsang, K. K. (2011). Emotional labor of teaching. Educational Research, 2(8), 1312–1316.
Tsui, A. (2001). Classroom interaction. In R. Carter & D. Nunan (Eds.), The Cambridge guide to teaching English to speakers of other languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Watts, R. (1997). Silence and the acquisition of status in verbal interactions. In A. Jaworski (Ed.), Silence: Interdisciplinary perspectives (pp. 87–115). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Yashima, T., Ikeda, M., & Nakahira, S. (2015). Talk and silence in an EFL context: Interplay of learners and context. In J. King (Ed.), The dynamic interplay between context and the language learner (pp. 104–126). Basingstroke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Zammuner, V. L., & Galli, C. (2005). Wellbeing: Causes and consequences of emotion regulation in work settings. International Review of Psychiatry, 17(5), 355–364.
Zembylas, M. (2007). Emotional ecology: The intersection of emotional knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge in teaching. Teaching and Teacher Education, 23(4), 355–367.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Smith, L., King, J. (2018). Silence in the Foreign Language Classroom: The Emotional Challenges for L2 Teachers. In: Martínez Agudo, J. (eds) Emotions in Second Language Teaching. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75438-3_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75438-3_18
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-75437-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-75438-3
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)