System 28 (2000) 435446

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Asian students' reticence revisited

Xiaotang Cheng *
Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, People's Republic of China Received 15 June 1999; received in revised form 27 December 1999; accepted 10 January 2000

Abstract Recent ESL/EFL literature has frequently reported that Asian (especially East Asian) students of English as a second/foreign language are reticent and passive learners. Cultural attributes of Asian societies are often cited as the main causes for such alleged behaviour of reticence and passivity. Based on counter evidence against these allegations, this article argues that it is a dangerous over-generalisation to say Asian students are reticent and passive learners. Results from existing research show that many Asian students do have a strong desire to participate in classroom activities. The article also argues that if some Asian students are indeed observed to be quieter than expected in certain circumstances, the causes are situation specic rather than culturally pre-set. These situation-specic causes could be the dierences between teaching methodologies and the lack of required foreign language prociency. Interpretations based on cultural attributes should not be considered as an easier diagnosis for all problems arising in ESL/EFL practices. # 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Asian students; ESL/EFL learners; Learner behaviour; Culture

1. Introduction In recent ESL/EFL literature, Asian (especially East Asian) learners of English as a foreign/second language have been arguably reported as reticent and passive learners. The most common allegations are that these students are reluctant to participate in classroom discourse; they are unwilling to give responses; they do not ask questions; and they are passive and over-dependent on the teacher (Jones et al., 1993; Braddock et al., 1995; Cortazzi and Jin, 1996; Tsui, 1996). Although some researchers (e.g. Littlewood and Liu, 1996) have challenged these allegations, more interested researchers have chosen to explore the causes behind such alleged
* Tel.: +86-10-62205487; fax: +86-10-62209393. E-mail address: cheng_xiaotang@yahoo.com (X. Cheng). 0346-251X/00/$ - see front matter # 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S0346-251X(00)00015-4

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reticence and passivity. By resorting to sociocultural interpretations of the Asian societies, many researchers (e.g. Flowerdew and Miller, 1995; Ferris and Tagg, 1996; Turner and Hiraga, 1996) conclude that reticent and passive behaviour results from certain cultural attributes of Asian societies. In this paper I will rst argue that the notion that Asian students of English are reticent and passive learners is an overgeneralisation. Then I will argue that, in the circumstances where behaviour of reticence and passivity is indeed observed, situation specic factors such as teaching methodologies and language prociency level rather than cultural attributes are to blame. Please note that the signicance of this argumentation lies in the assumption that active participation is very important in language learning. 2. Asian students' alleged reticence and passivity In the past two or three decades, as English is increasingly becoming an international language, Asian countries and regions, notably China, Japan, and South Korea have undertaken reform in the teaching of English as a foreign or second language, which in turn has generated more and more research interest in ESL/EFL practices in these countries and regions (Cortazzi and Jin, 1996; LoCastro, 1996; Li, 1998; Park and Oxford, 1998; Littlewood, 1999). Unfortunately, one of the recent reported ndings is that more often than not Asian learners of English are generally reticent and passive learners (Jones et al., 1993; Braddock et al., 1995; Flowerdew and Miller, 1995; Cortazzi and Jin, 1996; Ferris and Tagg, 1996; Turner and Hiraga, 1996; Tsui, 1996; Jones, 1999). Braddock et al. (1995, cited in Jones, 1999) conducted a substantial survey at Macquarie University in Sydney. One of their ndings was that 60% of the sta respondents viewed Asian students, who constitute the vast majority of international students on campus, as quiet and inactive in class and reported much better communication with Australian, American, and European students. Cortazzi and Jin (1996) asked 15 highly experienced Western teachers of English working in Chinese universities about the strong and weak points of Chinese students' learning styles. The results show that on the positive side, Chinese students were diligent, persistent, thorough and friendly; they were very good at memorising; and they had a strong desire to learn English well. On the negative side, however, these Western teachers reported that Chinese students were not active in class; they were unwilling to work in groups; they preferred whole-class work or individual work (to group-work or pair-work); and they were shy and passive. In a study that investigated college and university professors' view of ESL students' diculties with academic listening and speaking tasks, Ferris and Tagg (1996) found that a number of Western professors believed ESL students need to overcome cultural inhibition or shyness about speaking up in class, to learn to ask and answer questions eectively, and to communicate more with native speakers of English or less with speakers of their own language. Twelve professors specically mentioned Asian students as having cultural dierences which inhibited their oral participation in class and their willingness and ability to ask questions.

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In another study of the notion of culture in foreign language university lectures in Hong Kong, Flowerdew and Miller (1995) reported that lecturers, especially expatriate lecturers, were frustrated with students' reluctance to give their opinions, even when asked. They speculated that the negative attitude to participation may have something to do with the local and academic cultures that students operate in. In a detailed survey of teachers' attitudes to the competence of non-nativeEnglish-speaking (NNS) students in all faculties at the University of Canberra, 66% of respondents registered concern that NNS students, especially those from Asia, tend to be markedly more reticent in tutorials than their native-English-speaking (NS) counterparts (Jones et al., 1993, cited in Jones, 1999). In Turner and Hiraga's (1996, cited in Liu and Littlewood, 1997) study of the eect of dierent cultural assumptions on academic tutorials, it was found that Japanese students in Britain appeared passive and unwilling to engage in dialectic and analytic discourse in tutorials. Turner and Hiraga suggest that Japanese academic culture, which values the demonstration rather than transformation of knowledge, could be the cause of students' passive behaviour. Tsui (1996) asked ESL teachers working in secondary schools in Hong Kong to reect on their own teaching and identify a specic problem that might form the basis for classroom action research. Over 70% of a group of 38 teachers identied getting more student oral response as one of their major problems. These teachers described their students as ``passive'', ``quiet'', ``shy'', ``unwilling to speak English'' and so forth. Apart from these ndings from empirical studies, other researchers have voiced their speculations about Asian learners' characteristics based on their studies of sociocultural aspects of Asian societies. For example, Littlewood (1999) predicts that East Asian students will be concerned to maintain harmony within their groups. They may therefore be reluctant to engage in argumentative discussion, in which opposing ideas are confronted and examined critically in order to test and clarify them. Therefore, in open classroom, Littlewood concludes that East Asian students will be reluctant to ``stand out'' by expressing their views or raising questions, particularly if this might be perceived as expressing public disagreement. Biggs (1996, p. 47) summarises some Western misperceptions of the so-called Confucian-heritage cultures, one of which is that ``overseas Asian students typically take a low prole, rarely asking questions or volunteering answers, let alone making public observations or criticisms of course contentF F F''. 3. Evidence against the allegations Language learning is an extremely complex process, which is further complicated by the learners' individual dierences and their dierent social, political and cultural background. As Tudor (1998, p. 319) puts it, ``the reality of language teaching [and learning] emerges from a dynamic interaction of [individual and sociocultural] rationalities, a process which is unique to each classroom and which can rarely be predicted in advance''. It is reasonable to say that it is extremely dicult (if possible

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at all) to identify a shared learning behaviour of a number of groups of people who range over a wide geographical and cultural landscape. Therefore, I argue that the idea of Asian ESL/EFL learners' reticence and passivity is largely a groundless myth rather than a universal truth. My instinctive distrust of the myth primarily derives from my 10 years' teaching experiences in China, the numerous class observations that I have made at all levels of English language teaching (ELT) in China, and my discussions with colleagues from around the world. Among the students that I have taught or observed, some are indeed reticent and passive, but many are extremely active and even aggressive. My teaching experiences and my observations have convinced me that Asian students (at least Chinese students) are not culturally predisposed to be reticent and passive in language learning. In order to testify whether my teaching experiences and my observations are exceptions, I conducted an informal survey about other teachers' attitudes towards Asian learners' alleged reticence and passivity. With a neutral tone, I posted the allegations mentioned above on TESL-L (a world-wide e-mail discussion forum for teachers of English as a second language) and asked for colleagues' reactions. Within a few days, I received enthusiastic feedback. Eight out of 10 replies challenged the stereotypes set up against Asian learners. Some of the teachers were so strongly against the allegations that they even gave detailed descriptions of the classes they have taught, where students gave no sign of reticence and passivity at all. Littlewood and Liu (1996) conducted two large-scale surveys of university teachers and students in Hong Kong. The researchers found that students gave no evidence of reluctance to adopt active speech roles in the classroom. On the contrary, students in Hong Kong welcomed opportunities (at least in their English classes) for active participation at secondary as well as tertiary levels. For example, the data show that ``group discussion'' ranked rst in the order of preference of twelve English lesson activities in Forms 6 and 7. This strong desire for active participation contrasts sharply with the passive role that students are said to adopt. This is also supported by Littlewood's (1999) report that in his discussions which he conducted in China, he found students were generally critical of their teachers for not raising enough points for discussion in class. Results of Spratt's (1999) study also indicate that students in Hong Kong have a positive attitude towards classroom participation. Since the primary aim of Spratt's study was to compare learners' preferred activities with teachers' perceptions of what those preferences were, the research results do reveal what activities students like most. Among 48 classroom activities, the mean scores for 20 activities were above 4.00 (including 4.00, estimated from graph) on a 16 Likert scale. This means students like these 20 activities. Among these 20 activities, 12 are related to classroom participation: 1. Taking part in discussions. 2. Taking part in language games. 3. Working in small groups.

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4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

Listening to others using English in class. Talking to classmates in English in class. Listening to classmates giving oral presentations. Classmates giving me oral/written feedback in class. Doing practical tasks, e.g. survey, oral presentations. Working in pairs. Interacting in English with classmates in class. Giving group presentations. Taking part in role-plays.

Park and Oxford (1998) have reported on an experimental English Village Course program for college students in Korea. The aim of the program was to compensate for the students' lack of exposure to communicative English during their regular (academic) terms. The program was successful in providing a steady supply of interesting and challenging opportunities for participants to take part in natural English communication. Students attending the program were very active and revealed great willingness to participate in the various activities provided. The success of this program tells us that when a suitable environment is available, most learners can be active and participative. Thein (1994) has reported another success story of an intensive English program conducted at the Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand. The participants in the program, who came from dierent Asian countries, had previously been accustomed to the traditional teacher-centred teaching and learning style. It was feared that they would not benet from the learner-centred teaching and learning style which the program adhered. However, after a few initial dicult days, the participants began to interact with everyone in the class, participate in discussions, ask questions, respond to others, and put forward their own views. They exercised considerable initiative in class. So, on the one hand, teachers and professors complain that Asian ESL/EFL students are reticent and passive in class and reluctant to participate in group discussions. On the other hand, reports about students' preferences and behaviour indicate that they do like group discussions, they do want to take active roles in class, and they do want to cooperate with the teacher. If both the professors and the students are telling the truth, there are two possibilities to account for this paradox. One possibility is that the professors' and teachers' complaints originated from their impression of a small number of Asian students who are indeed reticent and passive in class. From the evidence cited earlier, it is reasonable to infer that Asian ESL/EFL students (maybe students throughout the world) are on a continuum from ``very active'' to ``very passive''. Some students are very active, some are very passive, and some are in between. Perhaps the proportion of the ``very passive'' ones among Asian students is larger than the proportion of their Western counterparts. And please bear in mind that the impression of reticence and passivity does not have to be made only when the professors have seen all Asian students are quiet in the class. Please also note that in the allegations cited above, the impression of Asian students' reticence and passivity is expressed by ``some teachers'', ``a number of professors'' or

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``66% professors'' rather than all teachers or professors. There is a Chinese saying albeit vulgar, that a tiny grain of rat faeces spoils a whole pot of porridge, meaning a tiny bad part of a thing leaves an impression that the whole thing is bad. The other possibility is that Asian students say that they like to take an active role in class but, in reality, some of them are unable to do so due to various reasons. Obviously the two possibilities co-exist in ESL/EFL reality. As to what proportion of Asian students are ``very passive'' and whether this proportion is substantially larger than that of their Western counterparts, more extensive empirical research will suce for an answer, especially if the researchers use more eective research methods (such as class observations) rather than questionnaires tapping professors' impressions, which are often inuenced by hearsay stories. The rest of this paper will focus on the question: why are some Asian ESL/EFL students unable to take an active role in the classroom though they may have a strong desire to do so? 4. Questionable interpretations of the reticent and passive behaviour When interpreting Chinese students' alleged passive learning behaviour, Cortazzi and Jin (1996) attribute much of the cause to the unique Chinese culture of learning, which is deeply rooted in Chinese traditional values about education since Confucius. The Confucian inuences have been frequently cited in the literature as the main cause of the perceived reticence of not only Chinese students but also students in other Asian countries. It is believed that in Confucian times (and a long time after that period) there was great respect from the pupils for the knowledgeable teacher. Passivity and reticence were indications of respect for the teacher. It was not only acceptable but also desirable for students to listen to and obey the teacher. Challenging the teacher by asking questions was not believed to be an accepted practice. ``F F Fconsciousness and recognition of teacher authority has been a signicant aspect of Chinese traditional values since Confucius and a strong element in Chinese approaches to learning.'' (Cortazzi and Jin, 1996, p. 179). This seemingly strong argument is, however, a distortion of the Confucian doctrine. Confucius did advocate respect for knowledge and knowledgeable persons. And nobody can see anything wrong with this deserved respect. However, respecting knowledge and knowledgeable teachers does not mean students should be compliant and passive to the teacher. This is manifested in Confucius's well-known saying: ``shi bu bi xian yu di zi; di zi bu bi bu ru shi'', which means ``the teacher does not always have to be more knowledgeable than the pupil; and the pupil is not necessarily always less learned than the teacher''. Confucius had another saying which is known to virtually every household in China ``san ren xing, bi you wo shi'', meaning ``among any three persons, there must be one who can be my teacher''. Obviously Confucius was not in favour of the idea that the pupils should blindly accept whatever the teacher imparts. Besides, the traditional Chinese education values ``challenging'' greatly. One motto frequently recommended for Chinese students is ``Qin xue hao wen'', meaning ``(a good student should) study hard and always be ready to ask questions''. Liu and Littlewood (1997) expressed a similar view by analysing the

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Chinese term for ``knowledge''. In Chinese, the term for ``knowledge'' is made up of two characters. One is xue (to learn) and the other is wen (to ask). This means that the action of enquiring and questioning is central to the quest for knowledge. So respect for teachers does not seem to be a major cause for some Asian students' reticence in class, and the notion that Asian students are not inclined to challenge the teacher's authority is largely an illusion. Stephens (1997) conducted a small scale survey of Chinese students in the UK. A substantial part of the results are against Cortazzi and Jin's (1996) interpretations. Inhibition caused by cultural dierences between the East and the West is also often cited as the cause of Asian students' reticence. It is argued that Asian cultures generally value collectivism and discourage individual self-expression, creativity, and critical thinking; whereas Western culture displays the opposite characteristics (see Kubota, 1999, for more discussion). However, these perceptions must be taken with caution. If cultural dierences between the East and the West cause inhibition for Asian students, does it mean all Asian countries have the same type of culture, which typically causes inhibition? Or does it mean Asian countries do have dierent cultures, but these dierent cultures coincidentally all cause inhibition for language learners? The answer to neither of these two questions is armative. Another factor that is often cited as a cause of the perceived reticence and passivity is anxiety or fear of making mistakes. And this anxiety factor is also allegedly related to certain aspects of Eastern culture, such as the desire to be right and perfect and fear of losing face (Liu and Littlewood, 1997; Jones, 1999). It is true that a high degree of anxiety is likely to have a debilitating eect on second language learning (Ellis, 1994). However, there is no evidence that learners' degree of anxiety is related to their local culture. When analysing the causes behind Hong Kong students' anxiety in the classroom, Tsui (1996) concludes that the degree of anxiety in the language classroom largely depends on the teacher's strategies (e.g. questioning techniques). Successful strategies minimise language learning anxiety and unsuccessful strategies exacerbate language learning anxiety. No one would deny the existence of perceived cultural dierences in various aspects of human experiences. However, attributing some Asian language learners' reticence and passivity to their cultural attributes is groundless and detrimental to cross-culture studies. As Stephens (1997, p. 123) puts it, ``in seeking cultural explanations for miscommunication between Chinese students and their tutors in the UK, there is a danger of overlooking what gaps may exist in students' language prociency and experience, and at the same time resorting to over-generalisations about culture which have a surface appeal, but which are not supported by strong research evidence.'' 5. More plausible interpretations Having read the earlier arguments against the cultural interpretations of some Asian students' reticent and passive behaviour, the reader might ask, ``What then are the causes for the reticence that has been observed?'' My general contention is

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that the causes are situation specic, though methodological dierences and language prociency are the two most common causes. As previously mentioned, language learning is an extremely complex process. Any particular observed behaviour may be caused by a combination of many factors. When behaviour of reticence and passivity is observed in class, it may result from unsuitable methodology, lack of required language prociency, irrelevant or even oensive topics, lack of rapport between the teacher and the students, lack of motivation, and even students' mood on a particular day. Of course, these factors are interrelated. For example, an unsuitable methodology usually causes demotivation. It is unrealistic and, more importantly, beyond the scope of this article to discuss all these causes. Therefore, I will focus on the two most common factors: unsuitable methodologies and lack of language prociency. Dierent language teaching methodologies entail dierent learners' roles in the classroom. In a teacher-centred teaching and learning environment, the learners are doomed to reticence and passivity. If learners have had a long learning experience in such an environment, they are likely to develop reticent and passive behaviour. Let us look at an ELT classroom example from Japan. In a review of English language education in Japan, LoCastro (1996) describes some Japanese ELT classrooms as follows: F F F there are on average 47 students per class, sitting in six rows with individual desks and chairs, facing the front of the room where the teacher stands or sits on the raised podium. In junior and senior high schools, the teacher may use a microphone, although this practice is more common in the cram schools and universities where the classes may have one hundred or more students (p. 49) F F F an overwhelming proportion of class time is composed of teacher talkF F F The teacher asks a question, apparently addressing it to a student, but then answers it, makes an assessment or comment on the answer, and then gives an acknowledgement in the form of a common listener response such as ``hai, so desu'' (yes, that is so) (p. 52). Whatever rationale is behind this practice, the result is that such a rigid format and solemn atmosphere obviously do not encourage students to speak freely. What makes it worse is that the pattern of classroom interaction does not give students a chance to speak at all. The teacher plays all the roles in the ``pseudo-interaction''. And of course the teacher may well say that ``the students are reluctant to speak so I simply give them the answer.'' With a less teacher-centred method, the classes are very likely to be completely dierent. This is supported by the class observations that I have made in China. Every year, I supervise 68 pre-service EFL teachers doing teaching practice in secondary schools. Although the students are of quite similar background, their behaviour in dierent classes diers greatly because the practice teachers are experimenting with dierent methods. When methods of a learner-centred nature are adopted, the classes tend to be much more active. This is supported by accounts

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from other teachers. The following is a Western teacher's (Mary Rebscher, personal e-mail communication) account of a class she taught in Korea: [I] completed pre-skill activities (e.g., brainstorming and suggesting appropriate vocabulary that might be used, setting schemata), a main activity that ts the performance level of the students (giving a well-designed intermediate-level activity to intermediate-level students), and then post-activity exercises (e.g. debrieng, summarising). The students were involved and enthusiastic. It was hard for me to get them to quiet down and pull together as a whole class at the end of the activity. Before Rebscher went to Korea, her teacher and colleagues had given her some well-intentioned advice about ELT in Korea. So she read information of all sorts on Confucianism and Buddhism in order to understand her students' behaviours better. However, as Rebscher explains, ``passing on the stereotypes was more impeding than helpful''. What really helped her was not her preoccupations about Korean students but her eort to select a more eective method for her class. Of course, if students have studied in a quiet environment for a relatively long time, the tendency to remain reticent and passive will be greater. This is why some Asian students studying in Western universities are likely to give the impression of being reticent and passive because in the West, class discussion and interaction are taken for granted. However, these approaches may be new and even strange to Asian students. They may not see any point in taking part in discussions at all. Even if they do see the point and have a strong desire to participate, they may not be ready yet, partly because they are not used to the new teaching style and partly because they are unsure about the Western style discourse conventions such as the rules of turn-taking and the use of non-verbal language. Western professors, who do not bother to nd out why these students are quiet, usually jump to the conclusion that the reticence is due to students' reluctance and passivity. However, the problem is not conned to students who go abroad to study. Home students also experience the same problem when methodological conicts arise. For example, in China most Western teachers are asked to teach speaking and listening classes, because that is where they are believed to be able to contribute most. And these teachers are generally happy with the students' participation in class because most students have a strong motivation to experience authentic English with their Western teachers. However, occasionally Western teachers are also asked to teach reading and writing. Without knowing how reading and writing lessons are conducted by Chinese teachers, the Western teachers naturally follow the Western way of teaching, which involves a lot of discussion work. Typically it is here where conicts arise. For most Chinese students, reading is the most important part of their English course, the aims of which are to expand vocabulary, consolidate grammar (at elementary level), increase knowledge and hopefully develop eective reading strategies and fast reading speed. Discussions do not seem to t in reading lessons. Consequently Western teachers teaching reading and writing lessons are very likely to experience students' reluctance to participate in class discussion.

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Pair-work and group-work, which are presumably eective class techniques, are often used in Western style teaching, but many (not all!) Asian students still do not know what they are and how they work. Without any orientation or brieng about these activity formats, some Western teachers tend to impose them on students without knowing whether students wish to be involved in pair-work or group-work. However, ``obliging people to do otherwise could appear to be an infringement of personal liberty and choice, and it is hard to see how this can t in with any attempt to genuinely humanise the classroom'' (Hyde, 1993, p. 347). The consequence of this imposition is obvious. The students will remain quiet, either as an indication of not knowing what to do or as a resistance to the teaching method. To summarise, any teacher, Western or Eastern, who plans to use methodologies which inevitably involve students' participation must make sure that the students are familiar with and accept such methodologies. Otherwise, methodological orientation or adaptation should be made in advance. Before I move on, I would like to point out that not all ELT classrooms in Asian countries are like the Japanese one cited. Even in Japan, positive changes are taking place (LoCastro, 1996). The second most common factor that leads to reticence in ESL/EFL classes is students' lack of required language prociency. Tsui (1996) reports that most teachers (in her study) attributed student reticence to low English prociency. This is especially true when students have paid too much attention to the development of receptive skills and too little attention to that of productive skills, such as oral communicative ability. When Asian ESL/EFL students with poor oral communicative ability study at Western universities, they are more likely to be quiet. As Jones (1999, p. 257) points out, ``beyond doubt, language diculty is a signicant factor in inhibiting eective communication between NNS students and their NS teachers and counterpart''. Most Asian ESL/EFL students who seek study opportunities in Western universities have to take TOEFL, GRE, IELTS or other equivalent language tests. However, a high score on any of these tests does not necessarily mean the test takers' overall English prociency has reached the level that the score is supposed to indicate. In China, TOEFL takers spend hundreds of hours doing simulated tests to develop test-taking strategies rather than improving their real language skills. The practice cassettes for listening comprehension are invariably taped with standard American English. The speech and accent are manipulated closest to the real tests. No doubt, these students can obtain high scores, but their language prociency, especially their oral communicative skills, is far from what is required for their intended academic studies. Mason (1995, cited in Ferris and Tagg, 1996) claims that students with TOEFL scores high enough for admission to most US university programs (550600) may not be linguistically procient enough for the academic listening tasks confronting them. Naturally we can make an inference that if Asian students have fewer problems with language, both in perception and production, they are more likely to take active roles in class. This is supported by Stephens's (1997) report that Chinese students participate freely and independently in discussion where they understand the language that is being used, and where the ground rules for the expression of ideas

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are made clear. Providing necessary support and allowing learners the opportunity to plan before they produce may also encourage greater learner participation in the language classroom.

6. Conclusion In this article, I have argued that allegations of reticence and passivity set up against Asian ESL/EFL learners are over-generalisations. A close look at the researches from which these allegations originate tells us that the allegations are largely based on the impressions of a small number of teachers or professors registered in small scale surveys, many of which were conducted outside Asian countries. Therefore, it is not surprising that counter evidence is not dicult to nd as I have done in Section 3 of this paper. However, it is relatively easier to establish whether or not Asian students are reticent and passive learners than to explain why some Asian learners have indeed been observed to be quieter than expected. In this article I have argued that the inuences of cultural attributes have been exaggerated as the hidden causes of perceived reticence and passivity. I have also argued that when behaviour of reticence and passivity is indeed perceived, the causes are situation specic, though I have elaborated more on the two most common causes: unsuitable methodologies and lack of required language prociency. Other common factors and solutions to the problem in question still await further research. Acknowledgements The author of this paper would like to thank the anonymous reviewer for providing insightful revising suggestions.

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