An Empirical Investigation into Teacher-Student Interactional Silence in College Translation Classroom

Abstract

Effective teacher-student interaction is crucial for cultivating students' language competence, critical thinking, and intercultural communication skills in college English classrooms. However, the phenomenon of interactional silence has become a significant obstacle to teaching quality and student development. This study employs a mixed-methods approach, including classroom observation, questionnaire surveys, and semi-structured interviews, to analyze the current status, influencing factors, and countermeasures of classroom silence. Data analysis reveals that silence is primarily shaped by student-related factors (e.g., language anxiety, low motivation), teacher-related factors (e.g., monotonous questioning strategies, inadequate feedback), and environmental factors (e.g., large class size, oppressive atmosphere). Multiple regression analysis further indicates that language comprehension barriers, neglect of language skill development, and utilitarian attitudes toward exams are significant predictors of silence. Based on these findings, strategies such as fostering a relaxed classroom climate, optimizing questioning techniques, and addressing individual differences are proposed to enhance interaction. The study contributes to both theoretical understandings of classroom dynamics and practical teaching improvements.

Headnote

Abstract

Effective teacher-student interaction is crucial for cultivating students' language competence, critical thinking, and intercultural communication skills in college English classrooms. However, the phenomenon of interactional silence has become a significant obstacle to teaching quality and student development. This study employs a mixed-methods approach, including classroom observation, questionnaire surveys, and semi-structured interviews, to analyze the current status, influencing factors, and countermeasures of classroom silence. Data analysis reveals that silence is primarily shaped by student-related factors (e.g., language anxiety, low motivation), teacher-related factors (e.g., monotonous questioning strategies, inadequate feedback), and environmental factors (e.g., large class size, oppressive atmosphere). Multiple regression analysis further indicates that language comprehension barriers, neglect of language skill development, and utilitarian attitudes toward exams are significant predictors of silence. Based on these findings, strategies such as fostering a relaxed classroom climate, optimizing questioning techniques, and addressing individual differences are proposed to enhance interaction. The study contributes to both theoretical understandings of classroom dynamics and practical teaching improvements.

Keywords

Classroom silence; Teacher-student interaction; College English; Empirical study

1. Introduction

In the era of globalization, college English education faces increasing demands to cultivate students' comprehensive language abilities. Teacher-student interaction, as a core component of language learning, plays a vital role in promoting active knowledge construction (Smit et al., 2022; Djedid, 2022). However, empirical observations and prior studies indicate a widespread phenomenon of interactional silence in Chinese university English classrooms, where students frequently avoid responding to teachers' questions or participating in discussions (Bahar et al., 2022; Tenglet, 2023). This silence not only hinders language skill development but also reflects deeper issues in teaching methodologies and learner psychology.

While existing research has explored silence in K-12 settings, fewer studies focus on college English classrooms, particularly among English major students (Hanna, 2021; Taylor, 2022). Most quantitative studies overlook qualitative insights into the complex dynamics of silence. This study aims to bridge this gap by investigating silence in translation classes of English majors, combining quantitative data with in-depth interviews to uncover its multi- dimensional causes. The findings will contribute theoretically by expanding the application of the Interaction Hypothesis and Cognitive Theory in higher education contexts. Practically, the study offers evidence-based suggestions for teachers to adjust their teaching strategies, thereby improving classroom engagement and student outcomes.

2. Literature Review

2.1 Conceptualizing Classroom Silence

Classroom silence is a complex nonverbal behavior encompassing both passive avoidance and active reflection (Sulzer, 2022). In Chinese contexts, it often stems from cultural norms of modesty and "face-saving", as well as psychological factors like anxiety and low self-efficacy (Maher & King, 2022). Studies distinguish between "negative silence" (unproductive avoidance) and "positive silence" (constructive thinking), but the former dominates college English classrooms (Jia et al., 2022).

Factors influencing silence include student-related factors, teacher-related factors, and environmental factors. Student characteristics such as language proficiency, personality, and motivation impact participation. For instance, introverted students and those with high language anxiety tend to remain silent. Utilitarian learning goals (e.g., exam preparation) often overshadow intrinsic motivation, reducing engagement. Moreover, teachers' questioning strategies and feedback styles are critical. Monotonous questions (e.g., closed-ended questions) and insufficient wait time discourage participation. Negative feedback or public error-correction can also induce embarrassment and silence. Large class sizes and oppressive atmospheres also limit individual attention and create conformity pressure. Cultural factors, such as respect for teacher authority and collective norms, further suppress spontaneous interaction (Tilbe & Gai, 2024).

2.2 Interaction Hypothesis

The Interaction Hypothesis (Long, 1983) highlights that meaningful language interaction serves as the core mechanism for second language acquisition, achieved through "comprehensible input" and meaning negotiation. In translation classrooms, this theory is manifested as a collaborative sense-making process around translational decisions, such as the treatment of culturally loaded terms, considerations of syntactic equivalence, and discussions on register appropriateness. However, insufficient classroom interaction, characterized by teacher monologues, limited feedback, or infrequent student inquiries, deprives learners of opportunities to refine their translational hypotheses. This often leads to "strategic silence" (Smit et al., 2022), where students avoid interaction to prevent exposing knowledge gaps, thereby disrupting the critical "output-feedback-revision" cycle essential for developing translational competence. To foster effective interaction, classrooms need to incorporate metalinguistic discourse to help students explicitly understand translation norms and strategies.

Bandura's self-efficacy theory (1977) further suggests that students' lack of confidence in translational choices creates a vicious cycle: avoiding interaction to escape evaluation reduces opportunities for competence building. Bruner's scaffolding approach, such as using checklists, think-aloud modeling, or peer review, enhances self-efficacy by breaking down translation skills into learnable steps.

The interplay between the Interaction Hypothesis and other theories is critical: high cognitive load diminishes motivation for interaction, while insufficient interaction hinders the development of metacognitive strategies. For example, unstructured tasks (e.g., translating poetry without guidance) may cause cognitive overload and low self-efficacy, leading to student withdrawal. Effective instruction that gradually releases responsibility and provides structured support can mitigate these issues. Collectively, these theories frame interactional silence as a multifaceted response to inadequate meaning negotiation and unregulated cognitive processes, underscoring the need for interventions that address both interaction quality and cognitive support.

3. Research Methodology

3.1 Participants

The study involved two groups of participants. For the classroom observation, 32 junior English major students specializing in translation were selected. These students had maintained an academic relationship with their mentor, a young teacher born in the 1990s with four years' teaching experience. The classroom had long been characterized by a harmonious and active atmosphere with frequent teacher-student interaction. The observed course, Tourism Translation, centered on practical training using real materials like scenic spot publicity, tourism news, food descriptions, and tourism map annotations. For the questionnaire survey, 80 English major students ranging from freshmen to seniors were targeted, and 72 valid questionnaires were ultimately obtained. In the semi-structured interviews, six students selected from the observation cohort were interviewed. The author was already familiar with the interviewees' personalities and learning status, and all interviews were conducted via WeChat voice calls, each lasting about 15 minutes.

3.2 Research Methods

To comprehensively investigate the characteristics, causes, and effects of silence in college English classrooms, a combination of research methods was employed. Classroom observation was carried out in a natural classroom environment without interfering with normal teaching procedures, focusing on documenting the teacher-student interaction patterns and instances of silence during the Tourism Translation course. The questionnaire survey was distributed online through the Questionnaire STAR software, aiming to collect quantitative data on the frequency, causes, and impacts of silence across different grade levels. The semi-structured interviews adopted the method of purposeful sampling to explore qualitative insights into silence, including emotional factors, cultural influences, and classroom dynamics. By integrating both in-class (observation) and out-of-class (questionnaires/interviews) data collection, a multidimensional understanding of the silence phenomenon was ensured.

3.3 Data Collection and Analysis

Data collection was carried out using a multi-dimensional approach to gain a comprehensive understanding of classroom silence. For classroom observation, four sessions were conducted in the tourism translation courses taught by the same instructor in two English major classes. During these observations, detailed records were made regarding the classroom environment, the teacher's instructional strategies, and students' participation behaviors, capturing both verbal and non-verbal interactions.

Regarding the questionnaire survey, after screening out invalid responses, data from 72 valid questionnaires were retained for analysis. These questionnaires provided quantitative insights into the frequency, causes, and impacts of classroom silence among English majors at different grade levels. Additionally, interview recordings from six students were fully transcribed. These transcripts offered in-depth qualitative perspectives, shedding light on the current state of classroom silence, its influencing factors, and potential countermeasures.

In the data analysis stage, SPSSAU software was employed to process the questionnaire data. Descriptive statistical analyses, including means, standard deviations, and percentage of agreement, were calculated to summarize the quantitative information and identify trends. For the interview data, a thematic analysis approach was adopted. The transcripts were first translated and then systematically reviewed to extract emerging themes. This process helped to uncover factors that were not addressed in the questionnaire, such as students' psychological barriers and cultural influences on participation.

4. Results and Discussion

4.1 Results from the Questionnaire Survey

The questionnaire survey demonstrated strong psychometric properties, which provide a solid foundation for the reliability and validity of the study's measurements. The Cronbach's a coefficient was as high as 0.916, indicating an excellent internal consistency among the items. Moreover, the structural dimensions of the questionnaire were validated, with a KMO value of 0.729, suggesting a good sampling adequacy for factor analysis.

Regarding student perceptions, the survey revealed that 64.47% of students agreed that they could participate in tasks confidently, indicating a certain level of situational engagement. However, 36.84% of students disagreed with statements related to task initiation, which reflects the variability in students' self-efficacy. Some students may lack the confidence to start tasks on their own, which may impact their learning progress and performance.

Classroom performance data emphasized the importance of structured guidelines. Specifically, 71.5% of students reported feeling nervous when it was their turn to speak, suggesting that clear instructions and support are necessary to help students overcome anxiety and perform better in class. On the other hand, when dealing with unstructured tasks, 63.84% of students agree with the presence of ambiguous questions, highlighting the issue of cognitive overload. Without clear structures and guidelines, students may struggle to organize their thoughts and allocate cognitive resources effectively, leading to increased mental burden and decreased performance.

In terms of feedback, there was a consensus among students, with at least 61.84% of students agreeing with Items related to positive feedback from teachers as well as classmates. This result is consistent with Long's interaction hypothesis, which emphasizes the role of feedback in promoting language learning and interaction. Adequate feedback can help students identify their strengths and weaknesses, adjust their learning strategies, and improve their language proficiency. However, when faced with ambiguous tasks, students showed weak participation, with at least 15% of students disagreeing with related statements. This confirmed that silence served as a coping mechanism for students, which is closely related to both cognitive and interactional deficits. In situations where tasks lack clarity, students may feel uncertain about how to proceed, leading to a lack of active participation and communication.

4.2 Results from the Semi-structured Interview

The semi-structured interviews delved into the current state of teacher-student interaction, explored factors influencing student participation, and investigated measures to enhance effective interactions. Insights from the interviews can be summarized as follows:

Responses to the question "How do you usually participate in classroom activities in English class?" revealed that the main forms of classroom interaction include teacher questioning, students volunteering or being randomly selected to answer, and group discussions. Notably, more outgoing students provided objective descriptions of these interaction forms, while introverted students often prefaced their answers with personal perspectives. For example, the former simply stated the interaction methods, whereas the latter were more likely to mention their own reluctance to speak, indicating that extroverted and introverted students have different views on "classroom activities." Extroverts tend to regard interaction casually, while introverts approach it with caution.

Reasons for Participation or Silence: Regarding the question "What do you think are the reasons for your active participation or silence in class?", outgoing students associated active participation with the desire to showcase knowledge and gain a sense of accomplishment. Silence was often due to unfamiliarity with knowledge points or the influence of the classroom atmosphere. Introverted students, on the other hand, were less likely to participate actively, mainly because of their personality traits and fear of embarrassment. For instance, some introverted students admitted they avoided volunteering for fear of giving the wrong answers.

When asked "What is your psychological reaction when the teacher asks a question?", students' responses varied. Those who felt confident about answering were more relaxed, while others, especially introverted students or those unsure of the answer, experienced nervousness. Many introverted students expressed a strong hope that they would not be called on and would focus on guessing the teacher's choice, while more outgoing students were generally less fearful of being selected.

In summary, classroom participation and students' psychological activities are context-dependent. Although insufficient knowledge, lack of preparation, and disinterest in learning contribute to student silence, personality traits play a significant role. Introverted students are highly resistant to being called on due to a lack of confidence and uncertainty about answers, while extroverted students' silence is more often due to not knowing the answer objectively. This indicates that the overall quality of teacher-student interaction in the classroom is closely related to the proportion of students with different personality types.

4.3 Results from the Observation

The observational data offered valuable insights into the dynamics of classroom interactions. The data revealed that teacher-dominated discourse was a prominent feature in the observed classes. Named questioning and whole-class interactions accounted for 73.19% of the total discourse, significantly restricting opportunities for students to initiate discussions. Student-initiated discourse only made up 10.82% of the overall interactions, and alarmingly, it then decreased sequentially. This rigid, teacher-centric model aligns with the findings of Smit et al. (2022), who noted that such an approach often fosters a silent classroom environment where students are less likely to actively participate. However, the second class presented a contrasting scenario, with student-initiated answers constituting 40.23°/ of the discourse. This outcome demonstrated the effectiveness of dialogic design principles proposed by Long (1983), which emphasize creating an interactive and inclusive classroom atmosphere that encourages student engagement. Teacher proximity to students during classes also played a crucial role in the interaction process. On average, 79.60% of teacher proximity was concentrated at the front of the classroom. This front-dominated positioning had several negative consequences. The front-dominated stance limited the teacher's ability to offer timely and effective feedback, thereby weakening the essential input-output-feedback cycle. As a result, students received less support in processing information and improving their performance. Moreover, this teaching style increased extraneous cognitive load, as students had to struggle to bridge the gap between the teacher's position and their own learning needs. Group discussions, which are essential for promoting collaborative learning and cognitive development, were sparse, occurring only 9.52% of the time. In the third and fourth classes, students had minimal agency, further indicating a lack of cognitive support. This lack of support led to an amplification of student silence, as students felt less empowered and less equipped to engage with the learning material. In contrast, the second class, with a higher teacher proximity percentage of 32.81%, showed a positive correlation with student engagement. This finding strongly suggests that increased teacher proximity can effectively support interaction and enhance student participation in the classroom. 5. Conclusion This study explores teacher-student interactional silence in college translation classrooms, revealing it as a complex issue influenced by cognitive challenges, interaction patterns, and classroom environment, factors particularly relevant to the bilingual and cross-cultural nature of translation tasks. Through surveys, interviews, and observations, the research shows that silence arises from multiple causes: complex translation tasks (e.g., handling cultural differences or sentence structures) overwhelm students' ability to process information, leading to avoidance; introverted students tend to stay silent due to low confidence or fear of making mistakes; and teacher-dominated classrooms (with one-way questioning and limited teacher-student proximity) restrict meaningful dialogue, making it hard for students to receive timely feedback to improve their strategies. These findings highlight that silence is not a single behavior but a combined response to task difficulty, personal confidence, and classroom atmosphere. To address these issues, the study proposes practical strategies based on student-centered learning and scaffolded instruction. First, teachers can foster a supportive environment by increasing interaction during group work, moving among students to offer immediate, personalized feedback, like suggesting better translations for idiomatic expressions. Second, tiered tasks inspired by Vygotsky's theory can be designed. Start with basic vocabulary and grammar translations, then progress to complex cultural adaptations, such as translating traditional poems. This step-by-step approach builds student confidence. Third, guided questions can reduce student pressure. Begin with simple questions like "How do you understand this sentence?" to encourage participation, then move on to more advanced ones to deepen critical thinking. Finally, linking translation tasks to real-life scenarios, like business contracts or tourism guides, enhances learning relevance and motivation, helping students master practical skills and understand translation's professional applications. While this research offers new insights for translation teaching, its findings are limited to translation majors at one university, thus reducing generalizability. Future studies could expand to different translation contexts (e.g., literary, technical) and use long-term designs to observe the effects of interventions over time. Ultimately, the study calls for educators to prioritize interactive classroom designs. By fostering supportive environments and structured tasks, teachers can help students actively engage in translation discussions, refine their skills through feedback, and develop stronger translation competence and cross-cultural communication abilities. References

Bahar, O. P., & Slamet, S. (2022). Exploring teacher power use and student silence in an EFL classroom: Evidence from Indonesia. Journal of Education and Instruction, 12(2), 157-165.

Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84(2), 191-215.

Djedid, S. (2022). Silent students with voices: An exploration of students' silence in an Algerian EFL setting. Canterbury, UK: Canterbury Christ Church University.

Hanna, A. (2021). Silence at school: Uses and experiences of silence in pedagogy at a secondary school. British Educational Research

Journal, 47(5), 1158-1176.

Jia, Y., et al. (2022). Negative silence in the classroom: A cross-sectional study of undergraduate nursing students. Nurse Education Today, 109,12-30.

Long, M. H. (1983). Native speaker/non-native speaker conversation and negotiation of comprehensible input. Applied Linguistics, 4(2), 126-141.

Maher, K., & Jim, K. (2023). Language anxiety and learner silence in the classroom from a cognitive-behavioral perspective. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 43, 105-111.

Smit, N, et al. (2022). The complex dynamics of adaptive teaching: Observing teacher-student interaction in the language classroom. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 60(1), 23-40.

Sulzer, M. A. (2022). Silence as absence, silence as presence: A discourse analysis of English language arts teachers' descriptions of classroom silences. Linguistics and Education, 68, 1-10.

Taylor, L. (2022). Silence as political and pedagogical: Reading classroom silence through neoliberal and humanizing lenses. Linguistics and Education, 68, 20-33.

Tenglet, E. (2023). Quiet in class? Exploring discourses on verbal participation. Educational Research, 65(2), 230-247.

Tilbe, Y. T., & Gai, X. (2024). Teacher-related factors associated with teacher-child interaction quality in preschool education. International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy, 18(1), 1-20.