Use of conversational silence by Malaysian science and non-science undergraduate students in academic discourse
In the last few decades, there has been a renewed interest in the study of silence as a linguistic tool used by humans for communication purposes. Many past researchers on the use of silence, however, concentrated on studying silence in the classroom context. Few studies, if at all available, are...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2017
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| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/68469/1/FBMK%202018%2010%20IR.pdf http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/68469/ |
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| Summary: | In the last few decades, there has been a renewed interest in the study of silence as a
linguistic tool used by humans for communication purposes. Many past researchers
on the use of silence, however, concentrated on studying silence in the classroom
context. Few studies, if at all available, are on conversational silence in academic
discourse. Still, there is paucity of research on the effect of task types or students’ field
of study on the use of conversational silence. This study sought to investigate the
perceptions of Malaysian undergraduates on the use of conversational silence in
academic discourse. It examined its use by two distinct groups of Malaysian students
- science and non-science - in their academic interactions. It also determined the extent
to which different academic task types affect the use of conversational silence by the
two groups. In addition, it explored how culture plays a role in the use of
conversational silence, and identified factors that contribute to its use by the groups.
Multiple instruments such as observations, focus group interviews, focus group
discussions and video/audio recordings were used as tools for data collection. The
study was underpinned by Sacks, Shegloff and Jefferson’s (1974) Turn-taking theory,
and Austin (1967) and Seale’s (1969) Speech Act Theory. Conversation analysis
using Drew and Heritage (1992) transcription notations and content analysis were used
to analyze the data. The conversation analysis mainly concentrated on the analysis of
types of silence – gap, lapse, pause, interruption and overlap during conversation,
while content analysis was used to analyze the interview data. Content analysis,
therefore, has helped determine how culture plays a role in the use of silence, and
explore factors which influence the use of silence.
The overall result of the focus group interview indicated that the use of silence depends
on the context, situation, and the participants involved. The result of the use of silence
in academic discourse tended to indicate that both science and non-science participants
of this study were similar in their use of silence, probably due to the similarity of their
socio-cultural background. The findings suggest that where students share similar
socio-cultural upbringing, their use of silence tends to be similar irrespective of their
field of study. The nature of academic activity, however, may affect their use of
silence. Future studies may consider the use of silence in ‘authentic’ academic
situations such as during seminars or workshops, and among students at various levels
of education. |
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