Learning in Silence: Understanding the Roots among English Silent Learners

Learning in Silence: Understanding the Roots among English Silent Learners

Flordelice G. Pedrera¹, Ana Helena R. Lovitos²

¹Instructor, Kolehiyo ng Pantukan, Pantukan, Davao de Oro, Philippines

²University of Mindanao-Davao Davao City, Philippines

DOI: https://doi.org/10.51584/IJRIAS.2025.1005000123

Received: 13 May 2025; Accepted: 21 May 2025; Published: 24 June 2025

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to determine students’ perspective in learning English as a second language (ESL) while in silent mode. Additionally, the study explored how silent students describe their experiences upon acquiring knowledge of the language. It was established in various literatures that some instructors perceived students’ silence as disengagement. The study was conducted using a qualitative, phenomenological in-depth interview and focus group discussion methodologies. The study samples consisted of 17 silent students in an English class. Data were collected using audiotaping of interviews and field notes. Ten major themes emerged from the analysis of the data. The themes were: silence means simply concentrating; silence is brought about by self-consciousness and insecurity; silence in class does not always mean mindlessness; silence as learning style; silence in class is owed to one’s personality;  being silent in an English class will hardly help in learning the language; being silent is alright as there are other ways to supplement learning of English; learning English needs more conscious effort and resolve to learn than simply being silent; and one can never learn English by just studying and being silent. The data suggest that students in silent mode cannot therefore be assumed to have no learning.

Keywords: education, English classroom, learners, silent mode, phenomenology, Philippines

INTRODUCTION

The wrong notion about participation leads teachers to take control of students’ participation during class discussions (Meyer, 2009). As a consequence, some researches put effort on student’s learning in different methods. However, it is stated also that the assumption about oral participation is limited only, because learning can occur from different factors, so student’s level of learning also varies. Some students resort to being silent while learning. This practice is often seen as disengagement.

In recent studies, it was found out that students participate orally while others remain in silent mode, and still engaged by other means. There are tendencies that instructors will misinterpret students’ silence as disengagement while they were learning through their silence. The silence may in the form of listening, jotting notes, or analyzing what is presented during class (Meyer, 2009). Additionally, students have a choice whether to participate or to remain silent, it differs from student to student, even class to class (Meyer, 2007). However, participation grades encourage students to orally participate, but most still remain silent (Fritschner, 2000). In addition, Reda (2009) also added that there are tendencies that silent students do not learn from any discussions, along with those who participate.

There are various ways to handle language learning, however, Mamhot, Martin and Masagya (2013) found that among the 40 EFL respondents who were analyzed in their anxiety towards learning the second language, they answered how negative feedback affects their overall performance in speaking the second language. The results showed that Filipinos tend to have high anxiety in terms of learning English as a second language that results to low self-esteem that might affect their linguistic competence and possibly result to students’ silence in class.

A study on the immigrant Chinese eighth graders analyses silence in classroom form two standpoints; of cultural insider and classroom insider. They cited causes of silence among learners, and divide it into themes “silence as a result of being shy,” “silence as a result of not having the correct answers,” “silence as a result of unfamiliarity with talking to learn,” and “silence as a result of a lack of confidence in speaking the English language” (Hu & Fell-Eisenkraft, 2003).  In connection to this, a study between Australian exchange students in Japan and their Japanese counterparts in Australia Kato (2010) reports they contribute to different styles of participation. Both parties are observed to have different behavior in a class. Furthermore, they have exchange of perception of their styles in participation. Australians consider Japanese’ silence as “immature” because they do not express their opinions, while Japanese students consider Australian students’ verbosity as “immature” for the reason of their direct expressions towards their emotions.

Student’s learning in an English class is more than those students who speak for it needs critical thinking and reasoning too. Some instructors fail to recognize this due to the belief that oral participation is vital for learning. I have seen how students’ silence serves as a learning stratagem in class and is reflected narrowly upon students’ cognitive domain that denotes even more than what comes out when speaking in class. This study implicates students’ perception upon student’s silence and understanding its’ roots.

In detail, this qualitative study aimed to answer these questions:

1. What are the perspectives of students who are silent in an English class?
2. What insights can the classroom learners share to their peers?

Theoretical Lens

This phenomenological study is anchored on the theory of Krashen’s Affective Filter Hypothesis (1981) which represents Krashen’s view that a number of ‘affective variables can take part as facilitating variable in learning the second language. These variables include: motivation, self-confidence, and anxiety. Motivation pertains to learners with high drive generally to develop their linguistic competence. While self-confidence refers to the learners’ positive self-image and being able to deliver the speech clearly. Having low anxiety appears advantageous and may give an edge towards learners, whether it be personal perspective or in a classroom setting. Nevertheless, having low motivation and low self-esteem and anxiety can only elicit negative learning convention and only triggers “mental block” which will not help the learner acquire the information, only making the learning stop. This means it hinders the language acquisition.

In addition, this study is also supported by Gardner in his “Multiple intelligence”, which states that students can learn in various fields based on their intelligence. It tackles “intrapersonal” as an ability to understand one’s own feelings and motivations. This gives way to students’ different learning styles which allow a wider range of students to successfully participate in classroom setting (Gardner, 1983). This implies students’ ability to adopt with their own learning capacity and intelligence in learning the second language.

In addition, “legitimate peripheral learning theory” of Lave and Wenger (1991) used as a conceptual tool that explains the learning environment as an ubiquitous social practice. This is another style of students coping with which is through process. Students tend to start from low-risk tasks that are necessary and further to the goals of the community, that may lead to students’ silence in class. This theory implies how students take their time to adjust on their own learning environment in order to learn the second language.

METHOD

In order to capture the diverse array of experiences and practices of the participants, a qualitative research process is considered appropriate for this study rather than quantitative approach because more than the statistics of  learning in silence, I became interested in providing deeper human understanding related to students who are learning in silence and who look at the individual experiences in a classroom setting using silence as a learning behavior. Creswell (2012) stated that qualitative research is used in order to empower individuals to share their stories, hear their voices, and minimize the power relationships that often exist between a researcher and the participants in a study. He added that qualitative research is used to know the complex, detailed understanding of the issue.  The purpose is not simply predicting what could happen in the future but rather digging the depths of the situation and the purpose it brought to an individual and understanding better their current situation.

According to Huemer (2003) phenomenology is a method of inquiry that was developed and popularized by Edmund Husseri in 1900’s. Phenomenology is a qualitative research methodology. It was inspired by the branch of philosophy which focuses on human consciousness. In the study of Lin (2013), phenomenology is the reflective analyses of life-world experiences.

Finally, phenomenological approach was used in this study based on the principle elucidated by Trotman (2006) who accentuated the fact that phenomenological approaches are ideal in considering a phenomenon to be anything that emerges itself to someone, as such, is giving significance in an existing silent learning phenomena in the course of educating our second language learners. This approach was employed to respond to the general purpose of the study.

RELATED LITERATURE

Students’ silence in a class is often assumed as related to their oral participation, and reflected as inattentive and has least comprehension. For example when a student always raises his hand and answers questions does it always mean the answers are evidently correct? Answers are processed and thoroughly reflected, perhaps the reason why learning is most often silent, in the form of active listening or cognitive engagement, rather than oral.

Schultz (2009) also emphasizes the depths of students’ silence and giving compromises to teachers’ perceptions about it. Instead of castigating students about their silence, they should understand that their silence could also mean they are taking time to pause and reflect, or realizing what they heard, or might be finding the right time to speak with reason. Some students might come from different values or social formation, or having trouble at home, making silence as their way of respect. Possibilities are limitless and silence can mean in various ways which is why this study is relevant to all language learners in silent mode.

The readings on related topics under this study will present further substantial materials that are very much related and deemed helpful in understanding the phenomenon about learning in silence, if it is really possible and various factors influencing it.  The present study stands on examining silence of students in a broader aspect of learning.

Silent Mode

Silence in nature is symbolic, silence is inherently ambiguous. If we are going to witness for instance a wedding proposal, a woman’s silence can be interpreted as a means of acceptance by one person, but a rejection for others (Nakane, 2011). In a recent research, according to Zuo (2002) silence is commonly characterized by its multideterminism which means that its presence does not mean anything; rather, it is the multiplicity of physical, psychological, linguistic, stylistic and interactive factors.

In the field of linguistics, the role of silence has long been disregarded by many. For the longest time, it was believed that silence only makes an individual not noticed, making the other person to be ignored. Silence was then defined as absence of speech or as “periods of non-speech or non-vocalization in conversation” (Zuo, 2002).

Many scholars argued that the definition of silence be in further research is to guarantee its true communicative value. Granger (2004) successfully illustrates that in the educational setting there is indeed “something of significance” in silence. In addition, Jaworski (2009) stated that silence is provocatively a means of social and communicative ways, since “it only takes one person to produce speech, but it takes the cooperation of all to produce silence.”

English Classroom Learners in Silence

To clarify misconceptions, foreign language classroom as an example, according to him, when a student is silent and only spends time listening to the teacher and other students in the class, it does not mean that there is no occurrence of learning that took place. He explained that silence can be another way of gaining knowledge or a state of idle ignorance or unlearning. Thus, we need to accept that there are forms of learning that happens in silence than with speech, Jaworski (2009).

Furthermore, Litner (2008) reminds us “to remember that universities are not natural, homogenous, neutral sites”. There are many non-traditional students, this calls for challenge in bringing awareness to the multiple experiences of silence. Glenn (2004) also warns that “silence is too often read as simple passivity in situations where it has actually taken on an expressive power.” Still others noted that “some cultures silence…can be viewed as a sign of complex thought” (Bosacki, 2005).

Learning in Silence

Contemplative silence as integral to learning. He added that in any field of knowledge or language if there is no inclusion of silence, it is marked inadequate. He expounds the essence of silence as the source of discourse and critical thinking and getting focused on the topic, for without it, critical thinking may lead into empty words and only the pretension to know (Caranfa, 2006).

In a classroom setting, the teacher and student learn to acquire the virtue of silence as a prerequisite for learning (Caranfa, 2006). He also suggested that teachers must acknowledge what we can obtain upon listening, which makes students silent. Although this contends, many assumptions about pedagogy may be disadvantageous. Caranfa (2004) urged educators to find ways in inculcating silence in pedagogical practices so our discourse will not result in merely empty words. More specifically, he posited that through this method of learning, from the usual means of discourse (knowing) to silence (unknowing), students will understand the boldness of information rather than for the purpose of exploitation, profitability, and utility. He believed that in this stratagem, students will contain the spirit, which means the “unspeakable source of being that cannot be taken up by human discourse and knowledge. He suggested educators introduce silence in the classroom in a way of listening, so students will not only think logically but also feel the whole of the things.

In addition, pauses benefit both speaker and listener. Without pauses, listeners have great difficulty in keeping up with ongoing talk and interpreting it correctly, Nakane (2007). silence can help provide feedback among learners by showing whether they both understood the content or there is a need to supply more information in order to be understood. For example, in a classroom a teacher’s approach to silence can also be used as an interactive device, giving students a chance to present feedback; it can also help provide students rightful support while learning such as, repeating questions, changing orders of words that will make the content less complicated and be understood, Nakamura (2004).

Silence and Class Engagement

Students vary in their classroom engagement, while they remain silent they can also listen to the teacher, take down notes, and write through their assigned tasks (Meyer, 2009). Li Li (2005) posited that silence has educational benefits. Some instructors might overlook class engagement of students because they thought of silence as an indication of disinterest or lack of learning. Thus, students’ silence could level up the uncertainties of instructors. However, it should be noted that silence and talk should not be seen as binary opposites. Li Li explained that another perception of silence is that it complements speech. Additionally, silence and speech is a continuum of human communication.

In connection to this, a study between Australian exchange students in Japan and their Japanese counterparts in Australia, Kato (2010) reports they contribute to different styles of participation. Both parties are observed to have different behavior in a class. Furthermore, they have exchange of perception of their styles in participation. Australians consider Japanese’ silence as “immature” because they do not express their opinions, while Japanese students consider Australian students’ verbosity as “immature” for the reason of their direct expressions towards their emotions.

In addition, silent engagement can be used amongst individuals to attain educational goals.  For instance, the use of silence in the community and in classroom can be both meaningful and helpful in achieving their desired goal contextually and spiritually. In the community, they practice silence in order to attain the desired achievement for human spirit.  While on the other hand, in the educational contexts, when children encounter problems and personal conflict, they are told to be silent and reflect what they did. In silent mode, it can help the truth to come out, Meyer (2009).

Furthermore, common teachers would instruct and promote speech making to their students rather than encouraging them for silence. Instructors add “participation” as criterion in class engagement.  As instructors continue to promote speech making, they frequently fail to recognize the essence of silent interaction between teacher and students, specifically students revealing their human desires, interests, and power relationships. As a consequence, although students are able to compel in their oral participation in classroom settings, they are still not bound to listen to students’ inner voices and reality which makes their expectation fail, Li Li (2005).

Moreover, silence, in the context of conversation can convey interactive function. Pauses help the interlocutor not to get interrupted, because it means the message is not yet done. Silence can help social interactions and can be a stratagem to identify adjustments and accommodate information from the speaker. Silence also allows learners to manage their emotional state, can be used as an emphasis, or a device for resistance and turn avoidance, Lemak (2012).

Silence and Cognition          

One of the foreseen role of silence, as explored by many researchers, is the cognitive function. It has been explored by looking in its “within-turn” silence. When an individual hesitates during the conversation, this is what he called “within-turn silence”, Nakamura (2004).  In addition to that, within-turn silence in between verbalization mean the speaker’s lexical decision-making process and his/her choice of words. In the recent time, he posited that within-turn silences can be used in phrasal planning and analysis before the actual utterances, Zuo (2002).

Silence is often recognized as speech error, which is incorrect. Silence is an indicative persuasion of cognitive activity. Saville-Troike (2006) stated that silence reveals mental search process, codability of and discourse-organizational considerations, as the speaker tries to gather an event from the past memory.  Additionally, Zuo (2002) agreed that silence is a very important indicator of mental cognition of speech production in verbalization. In the basic stream of speech, it allows syntactic planning, reflects some super-ordinate, semantic planning operations. Nakamura (2004) regard silence as vital in spontaneous speech; it reflects words within high unpredictability, with hesitations usually hinders the speech process which actually the speaker has in mind. In short, the more difficult and unpredictable the word, the greater the hesitation.

Metacognitive practices increase students’ abilities to transfer or adapt their learning to new contexts and tasks (Bransford, Brown & Cocking, 2000). They tend to analyze what the subject matter is about; they also realize about the task and concepts to be performed with their capability to suit in the different learning situations. Pintrich (2002) asserts that students chose a strategy for learning, thinking, or problem solving that resembles them. Students must “know about” these strategies, not just practice them. Zohar and David (2009) clarify the “conscious meta-strategic level of Higher Order Thinking”. Some students are withdrawn by their own belief of silence and learning. Balas (2000) emphasized that silence does not mean no learning.

Additionally, students are able to engage cognitively in silence (Meyer, 2007; Meyer & Hunt, 2004); they prefer it rather than participating. It is reflected upon when students listen to the discussion rather than commenting orally. However, not all are enjoying this strategy or perceived it to be meaningful in learning. Yet there are students who prefer listening, though silence does not really mean they are not mentally engaging at all.

Moreover, many of the cognitive silences were language related. These include an indication of cognitive activity and mobilization of mental resources when the speaker encounters linguistic difficulties. The pause, which is not under the speaker’s control, means “I forget” or “I don’t know how to use it, how to continue.” This instance that causes silence of students is their way of communicating with themselves because they cannot find the words, they are confused how to phrase, connect, or transfer it. Consequently, this took extra time and created silence. Participants of his study also believed that silences have a cognitive function, Lemak (2012) .

Instead of being passive silence and extended pauses after being asked a question is actually a time being involved in cognitive activity. Second language learners need a longer time to cognitively process the information which will include the analysis of linguistic deficiencies in English grammar or vocabulary. Learners needed more time to organize their thoughts before participating (King, 2011).

Silence and Language Anxiety

Language learning is a specifically complicated anxiety brought by our own belief, customs, and self-image which primarily is experienced in the process of learning (Meyer, 2009). In the global context, this is found to be rampant already (Marwan, 2008). Language anxiety is usually reported to have adverse effects on learning the second language, this includes silence (Wu, 2010).

Additionally, Van Dyne, Ang and Botero (2003) asserted that there are factors that motivates learners to be silent, it can be because of fertility, pro-social intent, or language anxiety. Anxiety allows learners to hold back because of fear to be contradicted and be in the pace of an endless conflict. Kostiuk (2012) as cited in the results of his study, Silence: The reasons why people may not communicate, wherein he stated that in a newsroom setting, if a person was afraid of something, common wisdom among newsroom members was that he or she should hide from the thing or use some technique to neutralize it.  Truth was not seen as something one should convey to that thing which was the cause of it, fear. Every staffer listed “fear” as a first or major component as to why they might be silent.  Maybe speakers couched the idea as “a mean boss,” or “people don’t want to lose their jobs,” or “I might not get promoted,” but the root concept seemed to be fear. Language anxiety is a general feeling that one perceives while learning a second language. Naturally, this anxiety can affect communication and cause silence.

Students are reportedly afraid of being negatively evaluated or corrected in a harsh manner when learning a second language. Many of them report, in fact, that they consider themselves able to speak the foreign language pretty well, but when they know they are being graded, they mess up, it adds pressure. Most frequent concern in learning a second language is students’ anxiety most specially in speaking. Learners would assume the possibility of being embarrassed in speaking English, they do not realize that their classmates also feel the same discomfort when learning foreign language class, Occhipinti (2009).

In a study conducted by Prentice and Kramer (2006), they found out that students experienced “dialectical tensions between their desire to participate and their desire to remain silent”, the felt confusion as to whether to take part on the discussion or simply remain silent. They found several factors that affect students’ insight upon participation, such as classmates, instructor, and students’ own personality and self-image. Students feel that instructor’s correction to their answer will make them rather be silent in class and sometimes they feel pressure from another student. 

Silence and Teaching Style

Instructors and students appeal to various meanings of silence. There are times wherein silence could mean anger, shyness, or being contemplative. Silence could mean many things inside the classroom, whether intentional or unintentional, it is comprehensible to different interpretations (Li Li, 2005). This difficulty may be associated with teacher’s personal apprehension or may underestimate level of education about using silence during graduate training, raising questions about how teachers use silence in the classroom and how they learn about using silence (Ollin, 2008).

In American and European instructors, they are accustomed of thinking of classroom as conversational communities and devalue silence. This is observable in their discourse which in educational polices and professional teacher education programs, they tend to promote high premium on talking, teaching and learning and equate classroom participation with talking (Ollin, 2008). Thus, Li (2001) points out that instead of teachers forcing students to perform verbal participation, a reflective teacher should be more careful on catering students’ need, and be more attentive on the silent interaction of students in a classroom setting, which would help reveal their inner thoughts. Moreover, functions of silence may include stimulating and promoting students’ self-exploration and self-directed learning.

Moreover,  silence is a multifaceted intervention that is driven by varied intentions and can leave different impacts depending on time and students’ need, Ollins (2008). Teachers’ perspective upon silence in the classroom are the following: to help guide during problem-solving activities, to help them reflect, to obtain authority, to control students, and guide them in expressing their emotions. In addition, teachers thought that as time goes by in teaching, silence becomes more dependable as a strategy and that they are more confident in using it. Its effectiveness is better when there is already a positive bond between student and teacher. They pointed out how to utilize silence in their raw experience in teaching rather than during the training, Vassilopoulos and Konstantinidis (2012) .

In closing, the above readings pointed out the reasons given by some people on the perspective of learning in silence. Students specific behavior upon silence were viewed upon different factors, its usage, and its various causes and functions. Studies above presents several practical, pedagogical, theoretical implications to the second language learners and language instructors related to learning in silence. In a classroom setting, where students vary on their learning behavior, teachers should give practical response, not authoritative, but ways that would ensure he/she caters the needs of students’ learning. There are several factors of students’ silence. This could both mean in a positive and negative aspects of learning. The above reading and studies thus, provided the impetus and direction for undertaking this phenomenological inquiry.

RESULTS

Major Themes and Core Ideas on the Perspectives of Students Who are Silent in an English Class

Major Themes and Core Ideas on Insights that Participants Can Share with their Peers on being Silent in an English Class

Implications For Practice

Based on the results upon understanding the silent students’ perspective, the following implications for practice are offered:

Silence Means Simply Concentrating. Upon learning the second language, teachers may understand the perspective of students on the subject matter, misinterpreted by silence it may be instead understood as listening and concentrating. Some students prefer a silent environment and peaceful ambiance in order to grasp the lesson. Thus, teachers may apply variation in their strategy such as written activities or quizzes while allowing learners to be silent in order to focus. Zuo (2002) agreed that silence is a very important indicator of mental cognition of speech production in verbalization.

Silence is Brought About by Self-consciousness and Insecurity. Language anxiety is usually reported to have adverse effects on learning the second language, this includes silence (Wu, 2010). As part of building rapport and friendly environment in the classroom, teachers can help ease the anxiety among the students for it generates learning effectively. Teachers can explore other engagement styles in which they can come to appreciate the ways many students cognitively engage in specific classes. Students’ comfort during classroom discussions has been shown to be associated with concomitant increases in oral participation (Dallimore, Hertenstein, & Platt, 2006).

Silence in Class Does Not Always Mean Mindlessness. It is generated upon silent students’ responses that if one is silent, it does not mean they are stupid or they do not learn at all. At some point, more often silent learners get higher scores in English. From learner’s point of view, it can be taken how instructors could never underestimate silent students; thus, more often instructors can use varied strategies that help them to voluntarily speak up, such as timely and relevant questions. Some other students are specifically comfortable by being nicely invited to speak up in the class, rather than voluntarily raising their hand.

Silence as Learning Style. The guidelines, exercises, and speech activities that instructors provide may appeal or not appeal to students depending on their preferences for auditory, visual, or kinesthetic learning Hirschy and Wilson (2002).  Therefore, when it comes to learning the second language visual learners tend to focus on what they observe, thus preferring not to speak up. It must be noted that in the current curriculum performance tasks are highly advocated creating tension from among students who are uncomfortable with speaking. Learning can be versatile and so as the criteria of assessment that is being implemented.

Silence in Class is Owed to One’s Personality. The indicators for introverted behavior were interpreted as negative, which includes: reserved, quiet, lethargic, passive, compliant, and unadventurous (Zelenski et al., 2012). The contradicting behavior between extraversion and introversion affect the perspective of students in the classroom. Mainly for introverts who are comfortable in silence, who speaks when there is a need to, and whose behavior is more reserved will surely never excel in oral recitation activities. Moreover, Sviniki and McKeachie (2011) recommended a silence for 5-30 seconds for better results during class discussion. This strategy will help generate time and opportunity for silent students to better think of the discussions’ whereabouts.

Being Silent in an English Class Will Not Help in Learning the Language. The emergence of graded oral recitation also gives students motivation to push their best and be able to develop language proficiency. Silent students also perceive themselves to be able to speak and use the language in a daily basis. Being able to communicate fluently and express themselves are but the things that learners of the second language desire. In addition, Prentice (2005) stated that student’s participation encourages learners’ engagement in the process of developing higher order thinking skills and helps create a friendlier environment.

Being Silent is Alright as there are Other Ways to Supplement Learning of English. There are many ways in learning English, even students in class that are silent can learn through actively observing in native speakers’ conversation, including imitating their diction, accent, and pronunciation through English videos. The utilization of technology can assist the teacher’s role upon learning the second language by showing English films and listening to English video clips help learners build more familiarity to the language.

Learning English Needs More Conscious Effort. Learning the second language can come in different factors and one of those is the conscious self who seeks to learn. Aside from that learners also seek for belongingness and an environment that pays encouragement and inspiration to get things all packed up. It takes one’s own hand and others to make the learning process work effectively. Learners learn the most where they are most comfortable with.

One Must Practice English to Learn. It may be taken into account that one cannot learn without doing. Thus, learning the language requires consistency in practice in order to develop proficiency. Teachers in the new curriculum for high school implement bigger percentage for performance tasks which will give opportunities to students into practical speaking engagements. Allowing students to take full and active part in the speaking and listening process, generating relevant experiences rather than theoretical.

Silence Means They are Analyzing the Information. There are students who prefer silence just to find out what the message is all about and to comprehend the information extensively. Teachers play a bigger role in understanding silence, that instead of punishing, they will consider pauses or silence as the opportunity for them to grasp the discussion. Schultz (2009) also emphasizes the depths of students’ silence and giving compromises to teachers’ perceptions about it. Instead of castigating students about their silence, they should understand that their silence could also mean they are taking time to pause and reflect, realizing what they heard, or might be finding the right time to speak with reason. Some students might come from different values or social formation, or having trouble at home, making silence as their way of respect. In addition, Caranfa (2006) expounds the essence of silence as the source of discourse and critical thinking and getting focused on the topic, for without it, critical thinking may lead into empty words and only the pretension to know.

CONCLUSION

The following are emphasized in this study:

First, viewed perspective among silent students in an English class was silence as simply a way of focusing the lesson, self-consciousness, own learning style, and personality. Most common notion is that silence means not learning, but these silent students asserted also that their silence does not mean mindlessness.

Second, in terms of what silent students can share to their peers, most responses adhere to being held responsible in learning not just in silence but in other means of learning like being involved and using other resources that could possibly improve one’s skill in the second language.

Third, some silent students also share the importance of self-drive and motivation from the environment in order to improve oneself. Teachers, classmates, and peers are also important factors to consider in learning but as well as one’s drive and resourcefulness to help oneself in improving. Students nowadays may resort to different platforms of technology in order to learn. Therefore, their effort to learn is unlimited which explains better on their self- motivation.

Finally, learning the second language can be acquired when you are willing and interested to learn more. Silent students in an English class cannot be underrated for there are complexities in the mind that one cannot utterly express by voicing it out right away, some take time to process and analyze.

RECOMMENDATION

This study is limited to few second language learners in Tagum City, Davao, Del Norte; the following are the implications for future researches.

The findings of this study are ungeneralizable beyond 17 participants; future research may be conducted for second language learners in another group of participants to affirm the findings. Future research may be conducted in the perspective of second language learners in another part of the region for comparison based on the ideas and issues related to it.

This study was done merely for the second language learner. Further research can be done to explore the same phenomena among second language learners in the other parts of the country.

REFERENCES

1. Balas, A. (2000). Using participation to assess students’ knowledge. College Teaching 48, 122
2. Bosacki, S.L. (2005). The culture of classroom silence. New York, NY: Peter Lang.
3. Bransford, D., Brown A.L., & Cocking R. R. (2000). How            people    learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.
4. Caranfa, A. (2004). Silence as the Foundation of Learning. Educational Theory, Journal of Philosophy of Education, 54, 2.
5. Caranfa, A. (2006). Voices of silence in pedagogy: Art, writing and self- Journal of Philosophy of Education, 40,1.
6. Creswell, J. W. (2012) Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research (4^th). Boston, MA: Pearson.
7. Dallimore, E. J., Hertenstein, J. H. & Platt, M. B. (2006). Non-voluntary class participation in graduate discussion courses: Effects of grading and cold calling. Journal of Management Education, 30, 354-377.
8. Fritschner, L. M. (2000). Inside the undergraduate college classroom: Faculty and students differ on the meaning of student participation. The Journal of Higher Education, 71, 342-362.
9. Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of Mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic Books.
10. Glenn, C. (2004). Unspoken: A rhetoric of silence. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois   University Press.
11. Granger, C. A. (2004). Silence in second language learning: A psychoanalytic reading. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
12. Hirschy, A. S., & Wilson, M. E. (2002). The sociology of the classroom and its influence on studen Peabody Journal of Education, 77, 85-100.
13. Hu, Y. & Fell-Eisenkraft, S. (2003). Immigrant Chinese students’ use of silence in the language arts classroom: Perceptions, Reflections, and Actions. Teaching and Learning, 17(2), 55-65
14. Huemer, M. (2003) The Philosophical Forum, 34(2). 141–152.
15. Jaworski, A. (2009). Sociolinguistics: Critical Concepts in Linguistics. 1–6. London: Routledge.
16. Kato, M. (2010). Silence as Participation: The Case of Japanese students’, The Journal of Multiculturalism in Education, 6(2), 1-18.
17. King, J.E. (2011). Silence in the Second Language Classroom. University of Nottingham. Retrieved from http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/13498/1/555328.pdf on May 10,2019.
18. Kostiuk, D. (2012). Silence: The Reasons Why People May Not Communicate at the University of Missouri.
19. Krashen, S. D. (1981) Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. Oxford Pergamon Press.
20. Lave, J. & Wenger E. (1991). Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation Learning in Doing: Social, Cognitive and Computational Perspectives Learning in doing. Cambridge University Press.
21. Lemak, A. (2012), Silence, Intercultural Conversation, And Miscommunication Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto
22. Li, H. (2001). Silences and silencing silences. In philosophy of education studies yearbook. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press.
23. Lin, C.-Y. (2013). Blog-Assisted Learning in the ESL Writing Classroom: A Phenomenological Analysis. Educational Technology & Society, 16(3), 130–139
24. Li, H. (2005). Rethinking silencing silences. In M. Boler (Ed.), Democratic dialogue in education: Troubling speech, disturbing silence. 69-86.        New York: Peter Lang.
25. Litner, B. (2008). Present but absent. In B. Warland (Ed.), Silences in teaching and learning: Conversations whenever had. Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education and 3M Canada, 47-51.
26. Mamhot A.M., Martin M.H., & Masagya E.(2013). A comparative study on the language anxiety of ESL and EFL learners. Philippine ESL Journal, 10, 200- 230.
27. Marwan, A. (2008). The exploration of factors triggering foreign language anxiety: Learners’ voice. TEFLIN Journal, 19(2).
28. Meyer, K. R. (2007). Student engagement in the classroom: An examination of student silence and participation. Paper presented at the meeting of the National Communication Association, Chicago, IL.
29. Meyer, K. R. (2009). Student classroom participation: Exploring student definitions of, motivations for, and recommendations regarding participation. Paper presented at the meeting of the National Communication Association, Chicago, IL.
30. Meyer, K. R. & Hunt, S. K. (2004). Rethinking evaluation strategies for student participation. Paper presented at the meeting of the Central States Communication Association, Cleveland.
31. Nakamura, I. (2004). Understanding a learner’s responses: Uses of silence in teacher-student dialogues. JALT 2003 at Shizouka Conference Proceedings, 79-86.
32. Nakane, I. (2007). Silence in intercultural communication: perceptions and performance.   Philadelphia: J. Benjamins Pub. Co.
33. Nakane, I. (2011). The Role of Silence in Interpreted Police Interviews. Journal of Pragmatics, 43. 2317- 2330.
34. Occhipinti A. (2009). Foreign language anxiety in in-class speaking activities: Two learning contexts in University of Oslo, Norway.
35. Ollin, R. (2008). Silent pedagogy and rethinking classroom practice: Structuring teaching through silence rather than talk. Cambridge Journal of     Education 38(2).
36. Pintrich, P.R. (2002). The role of metacognitive knowledge in learning, teaching, and assessing. Theory into Practice, 41(4).219-225.
37. Prentice, C. M. (2005, April). Dialectical tensions that influence class participation in the university Paper presented at the meeting of the Central          States Communication Association, Kansas             City, MO.
38. Prentice, C. M., & Kramer, M. W. (2006). Dialectical tensions in the classroom: Managing tensions through Southern Communication Journal, 71, 339-361.
39. Reda, M.M. (2009). Between speaking and silence. New York: State University of New York Press.
40. Saville-Troike, M. (2006). Silence: Cultural aspects. In Keith Brown (ed.), Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics Boston: Elsevier.
41. Schultz, K. (2009): Teachers should rethink meaning of student silence. Teachers College Press, University of Michigan
42. Sviniki M. & McKeachie, W.J. (2011). McKeachi’s Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research and Theory for College and University Teachers. (13^th. Ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
43. Trotman, D. (2006). Looking for sparks: A phenomenological study of educational practice and the imaginative lifeworld in primary schools. Teaching Education, 16(1), 61-72.
44. Van Dyne, L., Ang, S. & Botero I.C. (2003). Conceptualizing employee silence and employee voice as multidimensional constructs. Journal of Management Studies, 40(6), 1359-1392.
45. Vassilopoulos S. & Konstanindis G. (2012). Teacher use of silence in elementary education. Journal of Teaching and Learning, 2012, 8(1).
46. Wu, K. (2010). The relationship between language learners’ anxiety and learning strategy in the CLT classrooms. International Education Studies 3(1).
47. Zelenski, J. M., Santoro, M. S., & Whelan, D. C. (2012). Would introverts be better off if they acted more like extraverts? Exploring emotional and cognitive consequences of counter- dispositional    Emotion,2(2), 290-303. doi:10.1037/a0025169
48. Zohar, A., & David, A.B. (2009). Paving a clear path in a thick forest: a conceptual analysis of a metacognitive component. Metacognition Learning, 4, 177-195.
49. Zuo, Y. (2002). The golden silence: Pragmatic study on silence in dyadic English conversation. Muenchen: LINCOM Europa.