English-language teachers in Japan often complain about being met by a wall of silence when they ask students to talk in class.
But until now there has been little, if any, academic research into the reasons why Japanese pupils are particularly afflicted by a reluctance to speak in a second language.
Japanese students are often unresponsive due to a multitude of factors, including psychology, culture and teaching methods.
I think that many teachers speak too much and give students little opportunity to practice their English among themselves. Considerable time is spent translating English text into Japanese.
Indeed, Japanese students feel unease when the teacher stop speaking and the classroom fall silent.
I think culture can lay the foundation or backdrop to explain some of this silence. Many Japanese learners are socialized into being aware of people around them and are taught to consider other people. This causes people to monitor themselves.
A large portion of the classroom time is spent either with the teacher talking or the entire class in silence, reading, writing or listening to audio devices.
Of course, in some cases, the silence is because the students genuinely do not understand the teacher.
Students know they would get a pass simply by attending some first year compulsory English lessons at university.
There is no reason for them to talk. Talking would be risky. Sitting quiet is the sensible option.
By the time they reach university, many people are already socialized into keeping quiet because junior high and high schools do not sufficiently value the skill of being able to speak English.
Traditional teaching styles left students “disengaged,” and often they are only required to give a one word reply.
Teachers should encourage task based activities in groups and pairs and allow time at the start of lessons for a general chat.
The instructor must ensure their use of language is appropriate to the level of the class and not spend so much time correcting errors.
They should also shake up the composition of groups and seating arrangements in class to prevent cliques from developing.
Silence is due to students being afraid of making errors and placing great importance on achieving the same level of accuracy as a native speaker. They are also unfamiliar with conversational activities.
Bye bye 