Why Is Asians Silent in Class

Why is Asians Silent in Class?
: Silence is Virtue

College in United States, especially in N.Y.C, is very fascinated place for learning. People called N.Y.C as cultural melting spot. More than one hundred cultures and various people are making one big culture, as well as in college. Some people said that class in N.Y.C seems like U.N association, because people from six continents gather together and study. Although it is totally joking, it is not unavailable to see like that way by people who live out of U.S. However, among the group of the students in a class, some students seemed that they are not fit in the class well—it is Asians. Unlike Americans, Asians are known to be silent and apprehensive when it comes to class participation. Jun Liu studies this situation and enumerates the possible reasons as to why Asian students prefer silence. “Silence is open to interpretation, its meaning, its structure, and its functions are culture-laden.” Its interpretation is also culturally defined. (Liu, 189-190) That is why people with an “expressive culture” such as those from the United States, are constantly seeking possible opportunities geared towards self-expression. While people who grew up in a country with a “receptive culture,” such as China, feels less need to display themselves to others (Liu, 190). An example would be the Japanese, “who seem to hold words in lower esteem than do other members of other cultures.” In Japan and many other Asian countries, "the emphasis is on listening rather than speaking, on intuition rather than explanation, on synthesis over analysis” (Liu, 191). In American classes, silence is usually viewed as “absence” or lack of communication. However, in an Asian classroom setting, silence is expected and encouraged as a sign of respect for their teachers and classmates. Due to the generally large class sizes, teachers usually prefer that students do their inquiries or discuss issues after class so that the entire class period can be devoted to a well-organized lecture (Liu, 191). Silence in classrooms is totally acceptable in Asian cultures. It is sometimes taken as a sign of appreciation for high-quality questions, as the answers to these questions might take some time to think about. Silence during lectures may also indicate students ' attentive listening and active thinking. But in the American culture, it may well be interpreted as the result of a boring or uninteresting class in (Liu, 192). In Liu’s study, many of the students revealed that their silence inside the classroom sometimes meant showing respect for teachers and classmates, especially when there are a lot of students in class, and it sometimes meant agreement and harmony with others ' opinions (192). Other Asian students in the study also maintained silence when they did not understand their teachers or could not follow the lecture, because they knew that someone in class would speak up, explain or ask the same questions they had in mind. (Liu, 192) In this way their silence would serve as an opportunity for others ' participation, in which questions and issues shared by those students who were silent are answered and addressed. Therefore, to some Asian students, being silent in class is better than speaking up, (Liu, 193) especially since they are also afraid of saying the wrong answer, being laughed at for giving the wrong answer, being scolded by the teacher, or being labeled as a show-off. Another important factor when it comes to silence is power. “In many mainstream classes such as content courses in U.S universities, Asian students are in the minority, and their minority status extends beyond the classroom.” Due to their minority status, Asian students would use silence in their respective class as a shield for self-protection through invisibility, or as a way of belonging, to show their conformity and harmony with the majority, a behavior rooted in Asian culture. (Liu, 193) Therefore, it is possible that most of the reasons why Asians are silent in class are culturally related, for in Asia, speaking up is also sometimes given a different or double meaning by the listeners, causing fear for Asian students to express themselves.

Works Cited
Liu, Jun. Asian Students’ Classroom Communication Patterns in U.S. Universities: An Emic Perspective. Westport, CT: Ablex, 2001. 30 Oct. 2009 http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=8o7NAz- EybgC&pg=PA193&lpg=PA193&dq=why+asians+are+silent+in+class&source=bl&ots=N61MriWlND&sig=ng3NQfSaSJfK4NJgMI69dTKU23I&hl=en&ei=t37xSpeZGYSOkQXr1YSZBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CBoQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=why%20asians%20are%20silent%20in%20class&f=false.
Macionis, John. Society: the basics. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. 30 Oct. 2009
The observation took place between Oct. 26(Monday) and Oct. 30(Friday).
“The number of participation” includes both questions and answers that instructor asked.
Each class has up to 35 of students.
Following is Asian students in classes.
|Mon |4 |
|Tue |2 |
|Wed |2 |
|Thu |4 |
|Fri |3 |

[pic]

Cited: Macionis, John. Society: the basics. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. 30 Oct. 2009 The observation took place between Oct