rethinking silence in the classroom: chinese students’ experiences of sharing indigenous knowledge

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Rethinking silence in the classroom:Chinese students’ experiences ofsharing indigenous knowledgeYanqiu Rachel Zhou a , Della Knoke a & Izumi Sakamoto aa Faculty of Social Work , University of Toronto , Ontario, CanadaPublished online: 20 Feb 2007.

To cite this article: Yanqiu Rachel Zhou , Della Knoke & Izumi Sakamoto (2005) Rethinking silencein the classroom: Chinese students’ experiences of sharing indigenous knowledge, InternationalJournal of Inclusive Education, 9:3, 287-311, DOI: 10.1080/13603110500075180

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International Journal of Inclusive EducationVol. 9, No. 3, July–September 2005, pp. 287–311

ISSN 1360–3116 (print)/ISSN 1464–5173 (online)/05/030287–25© 2005 Taylor & Francis Group LtdDOI: 10.1080/13603110500075180

Rethinking silence in the classroom: Chinese students’ experiences of sharing indigenous knowledgeYanqiu Rachel Zhou*, Della Knoke and Izumi SakamotoFaculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, Ontario, CanadaTaylor and Francis LtdTIED107501.sgm10.1080/13603110500075180International Journal of Inclusive Education1360-3116 (print)/1464-5173 (online)Original Article2005Taylor & Francis Ltd00000000002005YanqiuRachel ZhouFaculty of Social WorkUniversity of Toronto246 Bloor Street WestOntarioM5S 1A1Canada(416) 929-8971(416) [email protected]

Recent research has documented silence/reticence among East-Asian international students,including Chinese students, in Western/English classrooms. Students’ communication competenceand cultural differences from the mainstream Euro-American society have been identified as twoprimary barriers to participation. Placing emphasis on individual characteristics of Chinesestudents, however, without considering aspects of the educational context with which those charac-teristics interact, may over-simplify and distort the mechanism underlying their silence in the class-room. Based on a qualitative study of Chinese students’ experience of sharing indigenous knowledgein classroom settings of Canadian academic institutions, it is argued that the pursuit of diversity inthe classroom may be compromised by classroom interactions, through which, for instance, thedynamics and quality of the knowledge exchange of students from different socio-cultural back-grounds may be adversely affected. Within this conceptual framework, the concepts ‘silence’,‘culture difference’ and ‘indigenous knowledge’ are re-examined; the concepts ‘reciprocal culturalfamiliarity’ and ‘inclusive knowledge sharing’ are advocated.

… [W]hen I did participate, mostly because I was required to. … Students took turns topresent something and that is your topic. You have to say something but even then I didn’tfeel that good because it seems … they didn’t feel that interested, … like they couldn’tfollow my ideas, follow my perspective. And so it seems difficult to communicate. I thinkthat is not just because of the language, it seems we see the same thing in different ways.

(Chinese student in this study)

Introduction

The process of globalization brings more and more non-English-speaking studentsaround the world to the English-speaking educational contexts such as the US,

*Corresponding author. Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, 246 Bloor Street West,Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A1. Email: [email protected]

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288 Y. R. Zhou et al.

Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Britain. The number of international studentsfrom Mainland China to North America has increased steadily in recent years. In theUnited States, for instance, there were nearly 65,000 Mainland Chinese students inhigher education in the year 2002–03, making them 11% of all international studentsand the second largest international student group behind India (IIE Network, 2003).At the University of Toronto, one of the largest universities in Canada, the largestproportion of international students comes from Mainland China, accounting to 18%of all international students from 141 countries/regions in the year 2002–03 (Interna-tional Students Centre, 2003).

Given the differences in political, historical, geographical, linguistic, and culturalbackgrounds of Chinese students and their peers in the Western/English settings, themarked difference in these students’ in-class behaviours has caught the attention ofresearchers, especially those interested in ESL/EFL (i.e. English as the secondlanguage/English as a foreign language) education and of cross-cultural pedagogies.Specifically, recent research has documented reticence and silence among East-Asianstudents, including Chinese students, in English-speaking classrooms (e.g. Jin &Cortazzi, 1993; Flowerdew & Miller, 1995; Turner & Hiraga, 1996; Liu & Little-wood, 1997; Jackson, 2002; Liu, 2002; Holmes, 2004). In current ESL/EFLliterature, East-Asian students have been largely depicted as passive recipients andquiet learners, appearing reluctant to adopt active roles in classroom discussion. Intheir study of Japanese students in Britain, for instance, Turner & Hiraga, (1996)found that students were unwilling to engage in dialectic and analytic discourse intutorials. In his study of Chinese students in a New Zealand university businessschool, Holmes (2004) found these students were not prepared for the dialogic natureof classroom communication, which created difficulties in their listening, understand-ing and interacting.

The myth of ‘passive’ East-Asian students and their apparent silence was initiallyexplained by two primary factors: language communication competence and culturaldifferences from the mainstream Euro-American societies. The communicationbarrier refers to East-Asian students’ English proficiency for academic listening andoral presentation, which is also cited as ‘foreign language classroom anxiety’ (e.g.Bailey, 1983, cited in Jackson 2002) or ‘second language anxiety’ (e.g. Foss & Reitzel,1991). In her study of Chinese students in an English-medium undergraduate busi-ness course in Hong Kong, for instance, Jackson (2002) found that these studentswere commonly concerned about their ability to express their thoughts in English.Their low proficiency in English has been associated with reduced confidence in theability to participate orally in classroom discussion (Liu & Littlewood, 1997; Jackson,2002). However, little research has been conducted on how such language-basedinhibition may be compounded by other contextual elements, such as teaching meth-odologies, classroom interactions as well as these students’ cultural understanding of‘appropriate participation’, in the classroom.

Confucian Heritage Culture (CHC)1 has been frequently cited by many research-ers for explaining East-Asian international students’ apparent passivity and reticencein the classroom (e.g. Flowerdew & Miller, 1995; Turner & Hiraga, 1996; Spizzica,

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Chinese students’ experiences of sharing indigenous knowledge 289

1997). Influenced by the Confucian values, for instance, Chinese students werecharacterized as generally quiet in class and less likely to question or challenge theirteachers (Bond, 1999, cited in Chan 1999). Remaining silent is one strategy used byChinese students to avoid the awkwardness associated with disagreement and, thus,maintain harmonious relationships with others (Ho & Crookall, 1995; Jackson,2002). Carson & Nelson (1996) found that Chinese international students engagedin extensive self-monitoring to avoid criticizing or disagreeing with the work andperspectives of their peers. Educated by the Confucian pedagogies, Chinese studentspreferred didactic and teacher-centred style of teaching and would show great respectfor the wisdom and knowledge of their teachers (Cortazzi & Jin, 1996; Kirkbride &Tang 1999, cited in Chan 1999). Liu & Littlewood (1997) found most Chinesestudents were accustomed to minimal speaking opportunities at school, where ‘listento teacher’ has been their most frequent classroom experience. As well, thesestudents’ perceptions about acceptable behaviours in the classroom were influencedby the cultural meanings of appropriate participation. Consistent with Confucian‘maxims of modesty’, for instance, Chinese students prefer less frequent participationand brief responses in class so as to avoid dominating the discussion and to avoidbeing labelled as a ‘show-off’ by their Chinese peers (Liu & Littlewood, 1997;Jackson, 2002). Among East-Asian students but not their American classmates,active listening is more likely than jumping into discussion to be perceived as anappropriate way of participating (Jackson, 2002).

Cheng (2000), however, argued that there is a distortion of the Confucian doctrineused for explaining East-Asian students’ reticence because some of its contentswere under-represented while the others were over-presented. For instance, someConfucius’s well-known sayings that are in favour of students’ questioning and chal-lenging the teacher (e.g. ‘shi bu bi xian yu di zi; di zi bu bi bu ru shi’ [the teacher is notnecessarily more knowledgeable than the student; and the student is not necessarilyless learned than the teacher] and ‘qin xue hao wen’ [a good student should study hardand always be ready to ask questions]) have been rarely cited in the current discourseson ‘passive’ East-Asian students (Liu & Littlewood, 1997; Cheng, 2000). Meanwhile,using CHC as an overarching explanation for any observed or actual behaviouraltraits (including these students’ silence in the classrooms) has been criticized as ‘thebiggest cliché’ about East-Asian students (e.g. Liu & Littlewood, 1997, p. 374). Theimagined homogenous and timeless Asia is a very problematic discourse, not only forunderstanding Confucian cultures but also for understanding East-Asian interna-tional students’ diverse experiences in the Western/English classrooms (Cheng, 2000;Wong, 2004). By exploring the distinctive values of the Confucian pedagogies,Watkins & Biggs (1996, 2001) argued that the CHC students and their learning styleswere commonly misunderstood by Westerners, primarily because they were earlierexamined under a Eurocentric gaze that rarely take the contexts of Confucian peda-gogies into account. Placing emphasis on cultural differences or cultural attributes ofChinese students, without considering aspects of the educational context, may over-simplify and distort the mechanisms underlying silence/reticence of these students intheir classrooms.

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A context-oriented analysis of students’ cross-cultural experiences is advocated bya number of authors (e.g. Volet & Renshaw, 1996; Volet, 1999; Cheng, 2000; Kubota& Lehner, 2004; Wong, 2004). Volet (1999), for instance, stresses the significance ofmutual individual-context dynamic interactions for students’ learning acrosscultures. In their study of Chinese students in an Australian university, Volet &Renshaw (1996) found these students, like their Australian peers, were able to adaptin the new educational context in order to fulfil the academic requirements. Thisviewpoint is supported by a number of additional studies in which Chinese students,despite their previous educational and cultural backgrounds, were found to havestrong desires to participate in classroom activities and preference for student-centredstyle of teaching (e.g. Liu & Littlewood, 1997; Cheng, 2000; Wong, 2004). Cheng(2000) sharply pointed out that it is dangerous to over-generalize East-Asianstudents’ reticence and passivity, the causes of which are situation specific rather thanculturally predetermined. Kubota & Lehner (2004) further suggest that researchersexamine individuals in context rather than as members of a cultural group. Takinginto consideration the specific educational contexts in which students’ silence/reti-cence occurs allows the contribution of a wide range of elements beyond ‘culturaldifference’ to surface, such as teaching styles/methodologies, classroom interactions,power dynamics in the classroom, knowledge sharing or exchange, subjective dimen-sions of students’ classroom experiences, and interactions of various contextualelements.

In their study of classroom experiences of international students in the UnitedStates, for instance, Beykont & Daiute (2002) found that these students werecomfortable participating when they perceived the professor to be supportive andwilling to use his/her authority to the direct the discussion in ways that ensured equityin participation. Jenkins (2000) also found that teachers’ misunderstanding or misin-terpretation of Chinese students’ culture-related behaviours/reactions may reinforcetheir silence and isolation in the educational settings. Several studies indicate possibleimpacts or consequence of students’ (especially minority students’) school-relatedexperiences and perceptions. For instance, minority students’ perceptions of alien-ation and racial tension in academic environments influence the extent to which theyexperience a sense of belonging in academic institutions (Nora & Cabrera, 1996;Hurtado & Carter, 1997). As well, reticence to engage in classroom discourse mayshape minority students’ sense of belonging in the classroom and may contribute toa sense of ‘social exclusion’ in educational settings, since their perspectives are notrepresented in classroom discussion (Wotherspoon, 2000).

The limited state of current knowledge regarding the cross-cultural classroomexperiences of Chinese students (i.e. not only the Chinese L2 students) and thepotential impact of classroom contexts motivated further inquiry. Specifically,there has been little study of Chinese international students’2 experiences of shar-ing knowledge (including indigenous knowledge) in the Western/English class-rooms, hindering our ability to appreciate the influence of classroom dynamics(e.g. difference in language, culture, educational backgrounds, and knowledge)and a broad range of contextual elements (e.g. teaching methodologies, class-size,

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study disciplines, and classroom interactions) in relation to their silence/reticence.The influences of different knowledge systems (e.g. indigenous knowledge andWestern knowledge) on peoples’ experiences in larger educational contexts (e.g.the academy) have been critically discussed by several authors (e.g. Dei, 2000a, b;Tuhwai Smith, 2002). However, little attention is paid to how different knowledgeare perceived and experienced by international students in the Western/Englishclassroom settings and the influence of these factors on students’ willingness toshare indigenous perspectives. Given the increasing number of internationalstudents from Mainland China in North America and other Western/English coun-tries (IIE Network, 2003), it is important to understand how their differences insocio-cultural and linguistic backgrounds interact with aspects of the Western/English educational contexts to shape their learning experiences. Therefore, wedesigned a study to explore Chinese international students’ experiences of sharingknowledge (including indigenous knowledge) in the classroom of Canadianacademic institutions, and sought specifically to better understand how Chinesestudents’ experiences of sharing indigenous knowledge were related to their overallexperiences in the classroom.

Based on the main themes emergent in our data analysis, this paper represents apreliminary dissemination of the study findings. Following the methods section, find-ings of the study are presented in three parts. The first part presents classroomdynamics influencing Chinese students’ classroom participation in general. Thissection also serves to provide a context for understanding the indigenous knowledgesharing experiences, discussed in the second section. Finally, we direct our discussionto strategies that may facilitate the co-construction of learning environments thatfoster inclusive knowledge sharing. Within this framework, key concepts such assilence, culture difference and indigenous knowledge are critically examined andalternative terms are advocated.

Methods

This phenomenological study3 focuses on exploring the meaning of lived experiencesas phenomena. The data was collected through individual face-to-face interviewswith 10 students. Eligible participants included individuals from Mainland China whocame to Canada to acquire graduate education in the last five years. This target groupwas selected for two primary reasons. First, Mainland Chinese students, comparedwith other Chinese student subgroups (e.g. Taiwanese and Hong Kong students),come from an educational setting influenced little by Western pedagogy (Rui, 1997).Second, the relatively smaller size of graduate as compared to undergraduate classesprovides students more opportunity to participate in classroom discussion. Suchclassrooms may provide relatively rich information about students’ participation orknowledge sharing, which is the focus of our proposed study.

Participants in this study were recruited through multiple Chinese studentnetworks in Toronto (including Chinese student associations, list-serves, and websites) and through snowball sampling based on personal referral.

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The qualitative in-depth interviews were guided by a semi-structured interviewguide, with open-ended questions and as few prompts as possible to elicit richdescriptions of experiences. The interview guide included several general prompts toensure that the interview maintained a general focus and that major themes of interestwere explored. Specifically, we asked our informants questions about their personalexperiences of sharing knowledge (including Chinese/indigenous knowledge) inclassroom settings, perceptions regarding classroom interactions, their understandingof indigenous knowledge, the influence of experiences on their self-perceptions, andstrategies to facilitate more discussion of indigenous knowledge in the classroomsetting. For example, participants were asked ‘Can you tell me about some of yourexperiences of sharing knowledge (including Chinese/indigenous knowledge) in theclassroom?’, ‘How do you understand your experiences of sharing knowledge in theclassroom?’ and ‘How have your classroom experiences influenced your willingnessto share Chinese/ indigenous knowledge?’ The specific phrasing of interviewquestions varied slightly across participants depending upon the interview contexts.Each interview lasted for approximately 90 minutes. At the end of each interview, thebackground information of participants was collected.

Participants were interviewed in English or Mandarin, based upon each partici-pant’s expressed preference. With permission from the participants, the interviewswere audiotaped and transcribed. The Mandarin interviews were transcribed andtranslated verbatim in English by the fist author, a native Mandarin speaker, so thatthey could be understood by all members of the research team. The transcribed datawere coded and analysed using N-Vivo, a computer software program for qualitativedata analysis. Emerging themes were discussed among the researchers for consistencyand refinement. Initially, the researchers’ past or present experiences as (interna-tional) graduate students were bracketed (Caelli, 2001) so that the themes wereallowed to emerge from the data. Next, to examine the credibility and confirmabilityof emerging themes (e.g. Drisko, 1997), the preliminary findings of this study werepresented and reviewed by all participants and were further discussed by four partic-ipants who wished to participate in a focus group. This member checking providedone means of increasing trustworthiness by ensuring that participants’ experienceshave been appropriately represented.

Five female and five male students participated in this study. The age range ofparticipants was 25 to 39 with an average of 29.9 years of age. Seven participants weresingle or not living with a spouse/partner.

In the background questionnaire, eight participants reported participating in socialactivities ‘often’. The majority of participants indicated that their friends in Canadawere Chinese or Asian and that Chinese was the language spoken outside of class-room settings.

All students completed their undergraduate education in Mainland China. Threeparticipants lived/studied in another English speaking country, for a period rangingfrom 1 month to 2.5 years, before coming to Canada. The length of time participantsresided in Canada ranged from half a year to five years, with an average of 2.5 years.In terms of their current studies, three participants had recently completed their

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graduate studies (i.e. two Master’s and one PhD), while the others were dividedamong Master’s (3/10) and Ph.D. (4/10) programs. Given that the current literaturehas found that East-Asian/Chinese students’ classroom participation is often relatedto students’ self-perceptions about their own English proficiency (e.g. Liu & Little-wood, 1997; Jackson, 2002), participants were asked to assess their overall level ofEnglish proficiency on a six-point Likert scale [i.e. very poor (1), poor (2), fair (3),intermediate (4), very good (5), and excellent (6)]. Four participants from SocialScience and one from Medicine considered their English language abilities to be ‘verygood’ (5), and the other five participants from Science or Engineering identified theirEnglish level to be ‘intermediate’ (3).

Self-reported silence/reticence of Chinese students in the classroom: a contextual understanding

Min (pseudonym), a participant of this study, was a second-year PhD student major-ing in Computer Science at a Canadian university. He reported that he, as well asother Chinese fellow students in his class, was ‘sort of silent’ in the classroom, seldomasking questions or joining class discussion voluntarily. When asked how his profes-sors and peer students would respond to his silence in class, Min said, ‘I don’t thinkthey know me. … I mean, I sat in that class, they wouldn’t remember there was sucha person there’. Commenting that his participation in Canada was not as active as thatwhen he was doing his Master’s program in China, Min hoped that he would feelmore motivated to join class discussion in future.

As Min did, Chinese students in this study commonly reported minimal classparticipation4, especially in their earlier years of studying in Canadian academicinstitutions, unless called upon personally to respond to a question or required to doa presentation. Several students described their role in the class as ‘listener’ or‘bystander’, unable to engage actively in class discussions. However, such ‘passivity’and reticence in class was far from what Chinese students desired. In fact, they wereoften upset and frustrated by the fact that they could not participate more in class. Arange of negative feelings associated with Chinese students’ low levels of participationwere reported in this study, including anxiety, frustration, depression, isolation, infe-riority and loss of confidence. As a student described, for instance, ‘I felt pretty badbecause I don’t feel like I am part of the class. I felt I was being left out… I didn’tthink I am competent enough’. Another student said: ‘I kind of feel myself inferior,feeling I cannot survive here in such an English-speaking environment’. Manystudents were uncomfortable with being solely ‘listeners’ in class, because ‘of courseprofessors would like active students’, ‘I would lose my marks if I did not participate’,or ‘[non-participation] is not good for my confidence and my learning’. Being able tojoin the class dialogue/discussion was viewed very important and helpful by allChinese students in this study, because when you feel that ‘you can contribute to thatdialogue, then you begin to feel good about yourself’.

Despite the desire to participate more in class and the emotional consequencesassociated with their difficulties, what was holding these students back? This study

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suggests that a variety of factors and processes may inhibit students’ inclinations tospontaneously answer or ask questions and to contribute to classroom discussion.Among the most commonly reported inhibitors were poor English language profi-ciency, unfamiliarity with Canadian/Western culture and the content and norms ofCanadian education, perceptions of interpersonal interactions in the classroom, andculturally influenced understanding of aspects related to classroom participation (e.g.the meanings of participation and personal familiarity with peer students in class).Instead of categorizing those aspects as the ‘determinants’ of Chinese students’ class-room participation, we are more interested in exploring how these interlockingaspects/elements played a role in the classroom processes through which Chinesestudents’ silence/reticence was engendered. A closer look at classroom processes andinteractions may enhance our understanding of the ways that various contextualelements including language- and culture-related dynamics interact to influence theclass participation experiences of Chinese students.

Consistent with previous findings, poor English proficiency was identified byChinese students as a primary barrier to participation, particularly in their first yearof study in Canada. They reported difficulty understanding class content, takingnotes, understanding and responding to questions, joining discussions, and so on.For Chinese students, however, their English proficiency often interacted with anumber of aspects of classroom dynamics, such as how professors and peer studentsreacted to their language proficiency and how they perceived themselves as non-native-English speakers. Specifically, ‘feeling nervous’ was a common experience forChinese students when they spoke in class; for instance, a student ‘sweated a lot’when he was doing his first presentation, and several students described that theirhearts were beating rapidly when they participated. These students often felt pres-sured by the possibility that their English might not be understood by others and feltawkward for repeatedly saying ‘I beg your pardon’ in class. A male student in Engi-neering, for instance, always hesitated to join class discussion, worrying that he wouldbe unable to deal with the possible conflicts or misunderstandings occurring during(English) conversations. The challenges of English communication confrontingChinese students were also accompanied by a sense of incompetence. A student said,‘When my other classmates discussed actively, I couldn’t join coz’ I don’t know whatthey were saying. I feel very uncomfortable, feeling I was outside their circle’.Another student, who had previously taught in China, felt she was not like herself anylonger but ‘like a child’, because she ‘couldn’t think that fluently and didn’t know[how to] talk fluently [in English]’. As a result, ‘you begin to lose your confidence’.

As well, many Chinese students expressed concern about how their professors andpeer students would react to their English proficiency, and this appeared to influencetheir decision-making about classroom participation. In a class, for instance, aChinese student asked the instructor for a 2-minute extension so as to finish her(English) in-class essay writing, which would account for a considerable percentageof the final mark. The instructor simply refused her ‘because that will be unfair to theothers’. When telling her experience, this student was still struck by the instructor’sinsensitivity towards international students’ language-related difficulties. She said: ‘I

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think it isn’t right to let people feel bad just because of their language proficiency. …You shouldn’t be evaluating people based on their English skills; [rather,] it is howmuch knowledge and how much ideas they got’. In contrast, some studentscommented that their professors were ‘more patient’ and ‘even nicer’ to them,because the professors were aware that overseas students might have language prob-lems. One student reported that his professor ‘deliberately speaks slowly to us, andhe tries to tell less jokes [because the jokes may include some slang or local/culturalcontents that beyond our reach]’. The understanding and consideration from profes-sors appears to make Chinese students feel safer in a class and in joining class discus-sions, because they often perceived that such professors were ‘willing to communicatewith and help students’. Similarly, the insensitivity to Chinese students’ language-related challenges from peer students may inhibit their classroom participation. As astudent described, ‘[I]t takes a while [for me to express my ideas] and I don’t thinkmost people wait until I finish. Like [after I said] the first couple of sentences and thenI think they just assumed what I was trying to say’. The perceived impatience towardsher English proficiency from her peer students had made it more difficult for her tospeak in class.

Conceptualizing learning English as a process that improves over time, someChinese students may be expected to join class discussion after they have gainedgreater confidence and comfort in class. Yet challenges remained. ‘Having nochance to speak (in class)’ was often reported by Chinese students, despite improvedEnglish proficiency, because they were unable to react as quickly as their native-English-speaking peers did. Though some of them had no difficulty understandingthe class, they felt that a bit more time was required for preparing to speak inEnglish. Once prepared, however, ‘the topic had moved on’. As described by aChinese student, ‘If you responded to it slowly, other students could cut in, andthen you just could not get more chance to say… So after several experiences likethis, finally you might not say anything anymore’.

In addition to language-related barriers, Chinese students’ classroom participationwas also compounded by their unfamiliarity with the Canadian educational context(including pedagogy) as well as the Canadian/Western culture and knowledge base.For instance, Chinese students in our study often reported difficulty in giving presen-tations, participating in discussions, or communicating/interacting with peer studentsand/or professors, largely because they were ‘not familiar with the manner of thingshere’ and thus they didn’t know ‘how to do it’ or ‘what’s the appropriate way to doit’. For instance, a Chinese student who had studied in a Canadian university for overtwo years was still struggling to figure out what is the right timing to interject in classdiscussion: ‘like even when to say something and when to stop, it is still pretty confus-ing’. Similarly, some Chinese students found it difficult to discuss questions withtheir Canadian peer students, because we were ‘not sure to what extent you shoulddiscuss, whether they would like [to be] asked questions in that way, or whether theyhave time to discuss questions with you’. It appeared that most Chinese students inour study would rather step back if they were not sure was about the appropriateforms of interaction. Unfamiliarity with knowledge related to Canadian/Western

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context also contributed to Chinese students’ reluctance to participate. Somestudents reported that the lack of background knowledge/information impeded theirunderstanding of the content discussed, limiting their ability to respond to it. OneChinese student dropped a course because he felt ‘totally lost’ in his first class discus-sion on a recent water crisis in a local city (Walkerton), which he knew little aboutthen. Another also described such a challenge: ‘It took me two months to find outwho Mike Harris [i.e. the previous Premier of Ontario, Canada] is or talk about somenovels [that are] like a necessity for people living in this country and I have no knowl-edge about it at all’. These students wished that they could have had a ‘buffer zone’,which could allow them some time to familiarize with the new educational environ-ment, as soon as they arrived in the Canadian academic institutions where they werestudying. Despite the desires to know more about local educational and socio-culturalcontexts, most students were unable to do so because they were often overwhelmedby their studies in addition to paid employment.

Most Chinese students in this study expressed preference for seminars to lecturesand enjoyed that ‘there are no stone walls between the professors and the students’.However, their understanding of and decision-making about class participation werelargely influenced by their previous cultural and pedagogical experiences in China. Inother words, class participation appeared to hold different meanings for Chinese andCanadian students. Specifically, Chinese students perceived that they took the class‘very seriously’ while their local counterparts seemed to behave casually in class: theylooked relaxed, they cut in the discussions any time, they said whatever they wantedto say, and so on. In contrast, Chinese students tended to consider carefully theirideas/questions and the reactions they might evoke before they spoke out. Forinstance, some Chinese students didn’t ask questions in class because they thought‘it’s our own problem for not understanding the class’, they ‘didn’t want to botherothers’, they worried that their questions ‘could slow down the class schedule, ormight not interest other students’, or they didn’t want to ‘lose face’ in front of otherstudents because of their confusions about the class. The following quotes by twostudents are among many that illustrate this point well:

[I]n China we emphasize…it’s the way I was educated you should have something solidabout this thing until then you speak up. Like you express your ideas in certain… certainlogic or system or whatever, like it should be a mature idea… but here I see some people[just say it] and I like that but I am not brave enough… some people are like [just saying]whatever is in their minds they just ah… I wish I had the courage but I don’t.

(interviewed in English)

In China, when you answer questions, teachers would comment on your answer, like it’sgood or not good… So, as student, you would kind of evaluate your answer before youspeak out. If you didn’t answer right, you wouldn’t be that confident later… But this is nota problem for students here.

(interviewed in Chinese)

Moreover, Chinese students’ personal familiarity with peer students in class was oftenidentified as an important element that could inhibit or facilitate their classroom

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participation. According to students in this study, familiarity with peer students mayincrease trust, motivation and feelings of comfort and safety in the classroom. Sitting‘in a class in which students don’t know each other’ was viewed as a pressure, becauseChinese students might worry how they are perceived by their classmates, influencingdecisions about their class participation. Many students believed that interacting withCanadian peer students outside the classrooms would enhance knowledge of oneanother and increase comfort in communication, indirectly improving their perfor-mance in the classroom. In reality, however, Chinese students often found such after-class interactions were difficult and superficial, primarily because of the lack of recip-rocal socio-cultural familiarity and the language-related barriers. Some students alsoviewed a good relationship with their professors, particularly their supervisors, asimportant. Working with a ‘kind’ and ‘supportive’ supervisor often alleviated anxietyas well as a sense of isolation and increased their self-confidence and sense of safetyin the new educational environment.

Students’ experiences of silence/reticence differed across individuals and classroomcontexts. Their motivation for and the nature of classroom participation appeared tobe influenced by a broad range of other contextual elements, such as size of class, thecomposition of peer students (e.g. if there are other minority or international studentsin class), the content of teaching (e.g. if it sounds familiar or difficult), the professors’teaching methodologies (e.g. lecture- or discussion-oriented), the personality andstyle of professors (e.g. if the professors are approachable or open-minded), and soon. While some students reported that it was the particular class formats thatprovided little opportunity for active class participation, others thought it was theirperceptions of classroom context and dynamics that led them to ‘[choose] not to sayanything’. As well, for some Chinese students, decisions about the extent of involve-ment in small group discussions ‘depend on who you are working with in the group’.As explained by one student: ‘Some people [in the group] are really strong … it lookslike I am not even in the group. And if I got lucky the group is good and I will saymore’.

In this paper, therefore, silence is not merely defined as an individual decision notto speak. Rather, more importantly, it is understood as classroom processes in whichChinese students’ individual characteristics interact with classroom context to engen-der their reluctance to participate, despite opportunity to do so. In other words, tounderstand Chinese students’ silence/reticence in the Canadian classroom, it is moreimportant to examine the conditions or the interactive classroom processes that char-acterize the contexts in which Chinese students make decisions about their participa-tion. With such an understanding, the silence/reticence of Chinese students, as wellas East-Asian students, in the Western/English classroom cannot be reduced tolinear, main effects models of causation in which individual characteristics (e.g.English proficiency and cultural difference) are conceptualized as determinants oftheir classroom performance. Moreover, this kind of main effects model is inadequateto understand why, despite improvements in language and increased familiarity withthe new educational environment over time, reluctance to participate persisted.Reducing Chinese students’ silence to their individual characteristics fails to capture

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the complex interplay of various contextual elements that contribute to their class-room experiences and leaves classroom processes (e.g. interactions between Chinesestudents and their professors as well as peer students) unexamined. To deepen ourcontextual understanding of Chinese students’ silence/reticence and continued silence/reticence in the classroom, we will direct our discussion to another level, that is, thelevel of knowledge sharing. Specifically, in the next section of the paper, we focus ouranalysis on Chinese students’ experiences of sharing indigenous knowledge in theclassroom, paying a closer attention to how the presentation of knowledge differentfrom the dominant Euro-American ones further complicates classroom processes andinteractions that inhibit participation. This examination also provides the impetus tore-examine further the concepts ‘silence’ and ‘cultural difference’.

Indigenous knowledge sharing in the classroom: relational experiences of Chinese students

The working definition of ‘indigenous/Chinese knowledge’ used in this paper refersto an in-depth understanding of indigenous/Chinese realities resulting from one’slong-term residence in China. This concept consists of at least three dimensions. First,as an in-depth understanding of Chinese realities, such knowledge includes informa-tion about Chinese history, culture, tradition, religion, economy, politics, geography,society, and so on. Or, in Chinese students’ word, it can be ‘all things about China’.Second, such knowledge is informed by individuals’ local experiences and/or practicesin China, in which they live their day-to-day lives for a long time and construct themeanings of those experiences vis-à-vis Chinese socio-cultural context. At an empir-ical level, it includes from apparently trivial aspects of routine daily life (e.g. when andhow to eat and to take a shower) to more salient components of personal experience(e.g. previous educational and working experience) in China. At a subjective level,indigenous knowledge may be embodied in ‘subtle things’ such as the meanings ofcertain behaviours (e.g. ‘appropriate’ classroom participation) or a way/logic of ‘order-ing, organizing and thinking of things’. In other words, it can be a distinctive way ofinterpreting, understanding and reacting in interpersonal and social contexts. Third,despite its distinctiveness, the recognition of indigenous/Chinese knowledge is in rela-tion to, not independent of, the existence of other forms of knowledge. In fact, someChinese students in this study reported that they had rarely noticed ‘what is indige-nous/Chinese knowledge’ or thought of defining ‘indigenous/Chinese knowledge’when they were in China, because ‘everything there is a Chinese thing’. Only afterhaving experiences of knowledge encounter or exchange in the new educationalcontext, did some students begin to think in these terms, partly because ‘they [i.e. theirprofessors and peer students] can only speak or discuss from where they come fromand that is pretty different from where I come from’ and ‘it seems we [i.e. Chinesestudents and their professors and peer students] see the same things in different ways’.

In this paper, our understanding of ‘indigenous knowledge’ develops along withChinese students’ narration of their experiences of sharing Chinese knowledge in theCanadian classrooms. This definition of indigenous knowledge is also informed by a

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number of authors (e.g. Dei, 2000a, b; Tuhwai Smith, 2002) who theorized ‘indige-nous knowledge’ in relation to other forms of knowledge, particularly dominant formsof knowledge. By re-reading ‘indigenous’ from a perspective of knowledge operation-alization, for instance, Dei (2000b) argued that ‘indigenous’ signals the power relationsand dynamic embedded in production, interrogation and validation of such knowledge.As a relational construct, according to Dei, indigenous knowledge do not exist ‘outsideof the effects of other knowledge’ (Dei, 2000b, p. 113). Dei (2000b), as well as TuhwaiSmith (2002), viewed the production of indigenous knowledge as a resistance todominant knowledge systems, in that it recognizes that ‘different knowledge arecontested in terms of boundaries and space’ and ‘ruptures normalized categories ofwhat constitutes valid/invalid knowledge’ (Dei, 2000b, p. 113). Though not specificallyaddressing ‘indigenous knowledge’, as well, Kubota & Lehner (2004) also advocatedresearchers giving a scrutiny on the politics of ‘difference’ (e.g. difference in language,culture and knowledge), through which the Other is constructed and exoticized.

To understand Chinese students’ experience of sharing indigenous knowledge inthe classroom setting, again, it is essential to recognize that such experiences were notindependent of the contextual elements influencing their general participation in theclassroom. The addition of the knowledge dimension to the contextual elementscomplicates the pre-existing classroom dynamics and may shape classroom interac-tions. Focusing on the experiences of indigenous knowledge sharing, this sectionseeks to illustrate the more profound influence of classroom processes on Chinesestudents’ silence/reticence. We also examine how such experiences affect Chinesestudents and their responses.

According to Chinese students of this study, the space allocated to sharing indige-nous knowledge coincided with the division of disciplines. Less opportunity for shar-ing indigenous knowledge was identified within Science/Engineering/Medicineclasses, in which Western knowledge were often viewed as the authoritative. Incontrast, more opportunities were provided in classes in the Social Sciences andHumanities, in which the relativism of knowledge was assumed to be somewhataccepted. However, uncertainty regarding the relevance of such knowledge to in-classdiscussion was commonly reported by Chinese students across disciplines andcontributed to their reluctance to share. For instance, a Chinese PhD student inSocial Science found it difficult to ask a ‘proper’ question in class, because she wasnot sure if her professors and peer students could follow her perspective. She said thatshe always hesitated to participate in class discussion before she could articulate andshow to the class the connection between Western theories and Chinese realities.When they finally managed to share their perspectives in class, however, Chinesestudents often found they were confronting other challenges. The perceived indiffer-ence and the lack of interest of peer students and/or professors toward Chineseknowledge were commonly reported by students in this study. One studentcommented that ‘the class doesn’t want to spend time on these kinds of issues’. Whenhis Chinese classmates shared their previous working experiences in China, oneChinese student also felt that his peers were disinterested in discussing his experi-ences further. He described as follows:

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Most Chinese students in our department had worked for years in China before they camehere to study. When we talked about what we did in China, they would feel that is veryincredible or unbelievable. For example, when we talked about a chemical laser instru-ment, they might feel surprised, but it seems that they didn’t want to talk about it more …I just didn’t know why.


As well, some students reported changes in the topic after they spoke, leaving littlespace for them to further explain/explore the issues they raised. For instance, astudent reported the lack of response and impatience from the class:

Like if I say something about my experience back home if the whole class just, there wasnothing to say. Well, I start a bad thing, right? People are not interested at all or theydon’t see the connection, so they just start something else to discuss. … Then theinstructor says okay and the whole class moves on to other stuff, very smoothly for them,I think.


Confronting ‘no response’ in class, this student perceived that ‘no response is worsethan negative response’. She commented: ‘Negative response means that at least theyare listening and they have something to say, and no response is like okay we don’tcare’. Consequently, some Chinese students reported feeling uncomfortable sharingtheir ideas related to China in class. As a Chinese student said, ‘Before they can reallyunderstand what you are saying they just change the topic. … Even just once or twiceyou will just give up because you just feel no need [to] ask for that kind of troublesyourself. You say okay and just give it up’. To figure out why their peer students and/or professors had little interest in what they shared in class, some Chinese studentsalso began to think/rethink of the value of Chinese knowledge and the relationshipbetween different forms of knowledge in this Canadian/Western educational context.Despite their disappointment, some Chinese students commented such lack of inter-est in Chinese knowledge from their Canadian peers and professors ‘understandable’,‘because sometimes the lives are so far away from yours it is hard to have an interest’.As is conveyed by the following two quotes, Chinese students perceived their peersstudents and professors might ‘give up’ knowing more about ‘another world’ becauseit is ‘not important’ or ‘the second-class’.

they try to learn something interesting on this kind of topic, but it is not that easy to get acomplete picture of our society. They just give up because it’s not important. … I just feelthat’s another world, not that much related to their academic life, their career. …So why[they] spend that much time or energy? …They don’t need that.


I feel they [i.e. the professors and/or peer students] are far more interested in Chinese lifehabits such as Chinese food than in our working experiences in China. In terms of tech-nology, I think they think we [i.e. China] belong to the second-class, otherwise why do youcome here to study?


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Nevertheless, some Chinese students in this study tried to explore ‘strategies’ tofacilitate the inclusion of their perspectives in class. For instance, a Chinese studentreported using the uniqueness of Chinese knowledge as the ‘selling point’ of his topicto attract people’s interest in class, though this might not appeal to other Chinesestudents who worried such strategy to getting popular among peers might distort orsacrifice the ‘true’ Chinese realities. As well, some students tried to figure out theconnection between different knowledge and relevance of Chinese knowledge toWestern ones. However, according to some students in this study, such an attemptmight not work well, primarily because their professors and peer students knew littleabout Chinese knowledge. Lack of recognition and familiarity from professors andpeer students for the distinctive knowledge and perspectives brought by Chinesestudents to the classroom made meaningful sharing and discussion of indigenous/Chinese knowledge difficult. As a student described, ‘I feel like cross talking. Youknow I was talking this but they were talking other things so even in the same class inthe same room, we were like in different worlds sometimes. …it is just… very shallowinformation exchange’. The unfamiliarity of peer students and/or professors withChinese society, knowledge and culture also limited their ability to respond to andengage in discussion and thus discouraged Chinese students’ attempt to exchangecross-context/cultural information/knowledge in class. As Chinese students said:

There is nothing to talk about. Backgrounds are different and [we] can only talk somethingvery superficial.


like they couldn’t follow my ideas, follow my perspective. And so it seems difficult tocommunicate. I think that is not just because of the language, it seems we see the samething in different ways.


Moreover, the existing stereotypes and misconception about China and Chinesesociety sometimes impeded the ability of Canadian students and/or professors torespond to Chinese students in culturally sensitive ways. Chinese students wereoften annoyed by the fixed and homogenous characterizations of China and Chinesesociety from their peer students and/or professors. With regard to ‘Chinese culture’,for instance, Chinese students often found their peer students were talking aboutmovies about ‘China’ or foods in China town. When such clichés are very strong,Chinese students may consider efforts to refute or challenge them futile. As astudent said: ‘They may talk something [in class] and they want to you talk aboutChina case. But they already have a very strong mind. If I say something different,different from their expectation, it’s kind of like very unhappy’. As well, overempha-sizing the difference of Chinese students from other students was reported by somestudents, which may have exacerbated their sense of isolation in class. For example,one student described feeling like an ‘entertainer’, being called upon in class toprovide the Chinese perspective, like an ‘exotic’ novelty. She decided to be silent inthat class: ‘Like they are doing a presentation and there is a question especially for

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you since you are the only person who comes from a different background. I don’twant to do that, like just provide something different. I just didn’t feel comfortable’.Some students described the experiences of being viewed as a ‘representative’ of‘Chineseness’ or ‘Chinese perspective’ by their peers students and/or professors:‘[W]hen I do something, people are just saying, wow, do all Chinese do that thing? Ithink that’s [a] dangerous tendency. Everything you do is Chinese’. Such misinter-pretation from peers and professors may also inhibit Chinese students from speak-ing more in class for fear that their sharing may reinforce the essentialization of‘Chineseness’ or ‘Chinese perspective’.

The relative dominance of ‘mainstream perspectives’ in the classroom was identi-fied as an element influencing the indigenous knowledge sharing of Chinese students.Although it was seldom noted among students studying in disciplines such asComputer Science or Engineering, some Chinese students studying in Social Sciencereported that they were among very few ‘non-Western students’ in the host depart-ment or the only people of colour in class. Without the sensitivity of peer studentsand/or professors to the socio-cultural backgrounds of such minority students,Chinese students found it difficult to believe their voices may be heard and theirperspectives presented in the classroom. Thus, they tended to stay ‘silent’ in class.However, the presence of other minority students (i.e. other international students orstudents from other ethnic groups) in the classroom was thought helpful for increas-ing their ‘safety’ to share Chinese knowledge. As well, ‘open-minded’ professors orprofessors with international perspectives were appreciated by Chinese students. Asa student said: ‘I think [some professors] have some helpful insights that culture ispart of your experience, you have to make it meaningful to you. …That’s meaningfulknowledge, it is part of your life’. For Chinese students, however, professors ‘don’thave to know everything in the world’, but they should ‘[not] lose interest in discus-sion [and not] refuse to further communicate with students’. In fact, some Chinesestudents managed to cope with in-class ‘no-response’ situation through sharing theirthoughts with their professors after class.

Chinese students’ experiences of sharing indigenous/Chinese knowledge compli-cated their silence/reticence in the classroom. In addition to various contextualelements that we discussed in the last section, Chinese students’ decisions aboutwhether or not to participate in class discussion was also influenced by the way inwhich their professors and peer students responded to the indigenous/Chinese knowl-edge shared in class, and their subsequent understanding of their knowledge sharingexperiences. While some Chinese students decided ‘to fight to get a chance to speakup’, others decided to give it up. Confronting the unfamiliarity with Chinese societyand the misconception about Chinese culture of professors and peer students, somestudents found it hard to explain to the class ‘how big, how complicated, how diverseChinese society is’. When bridging a Chinese topic with Western theories, a studentalso felt it was difficult to adhere to her Chinese perspective and to her understandingof Chinese realities, because her paper may finally be ‘judged by professors from theirown perspectives’. She said: ‘In the end, like I just wanted to make deadlines, I justtried to finish. When I write, if it is logically right, that’s good. But it is not the reality

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[in China], [after all] those professors are not living in that society’. Consequently,this student started doubting the ‘value’ and ‘relevance’ of Chinese knowledge inCanadian/Western educational contexts. In the focus group discussion of this study,she commented that she felt indigenous/Chinese knowledge is more like a ‘burden’for her. She said:

If you have very rich knowledge and experiences back in China, you came here, theybecame a burden. If we just graduated from university and [immediately] come here, that’smuch easier… But if you have a very-long-time work experience in China, then you havea more fixed way of thinking. You came here, like you [would] have more difficulties, likethe new world and the old world [would collide] more intensively.


To survive in the new educational environment, therefore, some students may acqui-esce to presenting mainstream perspectives in order to fulfil academic requirements(e.g. organizing a paper ‘in a Western logic way’). As a Chinese PhD student joked:‘We are all brainwashed’. Some Chinese students began to question the unequalrelationship between different knowledge in the Canadian/Western educationalcontext. In the focus group discussion, for instance, a student commented, ‘differ-ence [in culture and knowledge] can not be neutral’ and ‘cultural diversity doesn’tmean that every culture has [an] equal status’. Some students asked to criticallyexamine ‘how the university evaluates the international students’ and ‘why, themainstream [system], the local, want us here’. A couple of students recognized thatthe boundaries between different knowledge and cultures already become ‘mixed’and ‘blurring’ in such a global era, but they also commented that the problems/challenges encountering in the process of knowledge exchange in class made themexamine how ‘indigenous/Chinese knowledge’ becomes positioned in relation to theknowledge dominant in Western/English educational context.

Descriptions of these experiences raise important issues about how concepts suchas ‘indigenous knowledge’ and ‘cultural difference’ are constituted. For Chinesestudents, the differences between ‘Chinese/indigenous knowledge’ and Westernknowledge are gradually recognized and defined by Chinese students based on theirpersonal experiences of sharing such knowledge and their understanding of suchexperiences. Within the classroom setting, as suggested in the above-mentionedquotes by Chinese students, the two parties in a knowledge encounter are notassigned equal value. Students’ familiarity with and mastery of certain bodies ofknowledge (e.g. Euro-American knowledge) is granted more credibility and signifi-cance than their familiarity with and mastery of other bodies of knowledge (e.g. indig-enous knowledge). In such a Eurocentric knowledge framework, therefore, aunidirectional perspective of cultural difference or cultural unfamiliarity is empha-sized (i.e. the unfamiliarity of Chinese students with Western culture/knowledge).The effects of reciprocal unfamiliarity are not examined.

To some degree, the perceived devaluation of Chinese knowledge from peerstudents and/or professor resulted in or reinforced these Chinese students’ contin-ued silence/reticence in the classroom and engendered reflection on ‘indigenous

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knowledge’ in relation to the dominant knowledge of the classroom. At this point,both ‘silence/reticence’ and ‘indigenous knowledge’ become relational realities thatare produced among people (including students and professors), rather than by anindividual Chinese student, in the very educational context (i.e. classroom). Asinformed by Dei (2000b), ‘indigenous knowledge’ may be defined as a relationalconstruct, in which Chinese students gradually reflect on and identify the Chineseknowledge in relation to their knowledge sharing experiences in the Canadian/Western classrooms. Despite various constraints, these students’ critical thinkingabout their indigenous knowledge sharing experiences can also be understood as aresistance to the hegemonic knowledge systems and pedagogies in the classrooms. Itquestions the status quo of the asymmetric power relations between differentknowledge and problematizes the Eurocentric discourses of legitimated knowledge(Dei, 2000b; Tuhwai Smith, 2002; Kubota & Lehner, 2004).

However, the complexities of knowledge sharing in class and the unequal powerembedded in different knowledge and cultures have been rarely taken into account bythe current framework of ‘inclusive education’, in which the increasing ranges ofdifferences between students are given primary attention (Leeman & Volman, 2001).Deconstructing classroom silence through the lens of power dynamics, Briskin (1998,2000) argued that the classroom is an active site which reproduces power dynamics(e.g. based on gender, race, class, sexual orientation, ability, and age) about speakingand silence. The findings of our study also suggest that classroom power dynamicsare not only about gender, race, and so on, but also about linguistic and cultural dispar-ity in knowledge production, dissemination and validation. Diversity in knowledge andways of thinking are as integral to inclusive education as diversity in gender, race, orother dimensions of experience. Therefore, developing a broader conceptual andpractical framework of inclusive education and increasing the diversity of contentpresented in the class requires that the complexity of elements that impact knowledgesharing (including indigenous knowledge sharing) be taken into account, rather thanmerely certain characteristics of students. Just as we understand Chinese students’silence/reticence as a relational reality, transforming their silence/reticence and foster-ing an appreciation of diversity in the classroom is not an individual initiative: itrequires the collaboration among students and professors within and without theclassroom settings, not unilateral and unidirectional but multilateral and bidirectionalprocesses.

Co-construction of strategies fostering inclusive knowledge sharing: towards a broader framework

Differences in individual characteristics and specific classroom contexts contributedto diverse classroom experiences. However, our study participants identified somecommon aspects and strategies that facilitated participation and meaningful knowl-edge (including indigenous knowledge) sharing in classroom. These aspects revealpotential for both students and professors, whether Chinese students or otherstudents, to co-construct a more open framework for embracing various forms of

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knowledge in the classroom setting. Only through such an alliance among all individ-uals of classroom interaction/communication, can diverse perspectives and experi-ences be represented.

First, the interest, appreciation, or support shown by peers students and professorswere commonly regarded by Chinese students as responses that encouraged furtherknowledge sharing. ‘Peoples’ willingness to listen’, for instance, was identified as theprimary facilitator of sharing Chinese knowledge by one participant. Such positiveclassroom interactions can also increase the pride of Chinese students in indigenousknowledge and confidence in sharing it. One student described appreciation for herclassmates at the university where she was studying: ‘They showed great curiosity[about] my country, my culture and I myself took great pride in my language, mycountry, my people and my culture’. As well, some students reported that supportfrom their professors facilitated their performance in the classroom. Some professorswere described as better able or more willing than others to support or facilitate suchinteractions, modulating the extent to which students could capitalize on the diversitypresent in their classrooms. For instance, a Chinese student seldom hesitated to askquestions in class because he perceived his the professor ‘encouraging’. The studentsaid: ‘When professor is encouraging you, no matter in what kind of way, you wouldjust feel more and more confident’. The important role of professors as classroomfacilitators was also evident in a study by Beykont & Daiute (2002) on the classroomparticipation of international students (including Chinese students).

As previously noted, some students reported that personal familiarity with peerstudents and professors also increased ‘sense of safety’ and ‘sense of belonging’ inclass and the motivation to participate. These students highlighted the potential valueof interacting with peers and professors to improve their confidence to participate andto enhance their level of comfort in a new culture and educational system. Cross-cultural communication and interpersonal interaction outside of classroom were alsorecognized as effective channels to increase English proficiency, reciprocal familiaritywith and mutual understanding of students and their socio-cultural backgrounds.Despite the potential benefits of such interactions, such after-class social contactsseldom took place between Chinese students and local Canadian students andpredominantly occurred among Chinese students or, to a lesser extent, betweenChinese students and other East-Asian students. Sometimes, the unfamiliarity withpeers and professor may also inhibit Chinese students from seeking help and supportfrom them.

At the same time, students in this study identified a number of programs/activitiesthat facilitated their adjustment and, in turn, their participation in class discussion.For instance, a student reported that she succeeded in doing her first presentation inclass after being trained for the presentation skills in an English language programprovided by the university. Another Chinese student reported working with a localstudent tutor had helped him ‘to catch up with both language and culture’. As well,Chinese students appreciated some activities that provided opportunities for them toget support from other Chinese students and international students. As one Chinesestudent explained, ‘I just feel like it is more comfortable to talk to a group that [has]

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common experiences’. Despite reports of feelings of anxiety and depression, none ofthese students sought formal assistance to deal with negative affective states or diffi-culties they experienced. Students expressed the belief that services such as counsel-ling would be of little benefit partly because it’s ‘useless’ for solving the concreteproblems (e.g. cannot understand the class or cannot participate in class discussion),and they had to ultimately deal with these issues on their own. Instead, Chinesestudents favoured the use of personal networks of Chinese fellow students, friendsand partners for support, because it is ‘easier to communicate’, both linguistically andculturally.

Contrasting opinions exist in the current ESL/EFL literature with regard thepossible institutional interventions toward difficulties confronting internationalstudents in the Western/English higher learning institutions. For instance, someauthors argued for the development of more culturally sensitive programs/pedagogyto suit these students’ culturally based learning styles (e.g. Lewthwaite, 1996; Jones,1999), while others suggested there is no need to adjust the current pedagogiesgiven the flexibility of international students to adapt the new educational contexts(e.g. Wong, 2004). However, the findings of this study illustrate multiple challengesthat go beyond any single explanation or solution for Chinese students’ silences/reticence (e.g. either a culturally based interpretation of silence/reticence or anenthusiastic view of cross-cultural adaptability/transferability). Their needs and theirdifficulties are multidimensional; for instance, they wanted assistance in becomingaccustomed to the new language and culture, to join the classroom dialogues withtheir peers, and to make their voices and perspectives to be heard and understood.In fact, some students in this study wondered if their host departments and universi-ties were aware of the existence of such a student group with various difficulties. Astudent said: ‘[F]or academic I would say I didn’t get much support from anywhere,like from the University or from the department. I think nobody can help you. Youcan either swim by yourself or you can sink. It all depends on yourself’. Instead oftargeting international students’ ‘problems’ in Western/English classrooms, someresearchers paid more attention to the roles of pedagogy as well as curriculum intransforming the classroom dynamics that can motivate both international studentsand local students to participate. To embrace the hybridity and multiplicity of theknowledge brought into the classroom by students from diverse backgrounds, forinstance, Dei (2000b) argued to integrate indigenous knowledge into the currentcurriculum, Tuhwai Smith (2002) advocated the development of indigenousresearch proposals and methodologies, and Kubota & Lehner (2004) suggestedteachers reflect critically on how classroom dialogue that underscores cultural differ-ences in rhetoric ‘could perpetuate Othering, cultural stereotyping, and unequalrelations of power’ (Kubota & Lehner, 2004, p. 18). Without critical interrogatinghegemonic knowledge system in Western academies, classroom might become a siteof reproduction of relations of domination and subordination and ‘diversity’ maystill be a cliché without meaningful content (Benjamin, 2002). Teachers’ key role infacilitating ‘inclusive knowledge sharing’ in the classroom was also emphasized byChinese students:

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In my opinion the instructors’ reaction, attitudes towards my comments are the mostimportant part. It is not that she or he is more important but the instructor is the leaderof the class. If she or he directs the class into that direction it is easier for other people[to] go into that direction too. Like if the instructor is like oh okay and [moves on] …even if the other people are interested, I don’t think the whole class will go into thatdirection at all.


Conclusion

Fostering an appreciation of diversity in the classroom requires the open exchange ofideas and experiences of students from different backgrounds. However, the contentof these exchanges and the extent to which knowledge (including indigenousknowledge) is shared may be compromised in the classroom setting. This studydescribed the knowledge sharing experiences of Chinese international students and,in particular, their experiences of sharing indigenous knowledge. Student experiencesvaried according to specific classroom contexts, students’ perceptions about class-room interaction/democracy, their personalities and level of familiarity with the host(Canadian) culture.

While previous studies found ‘cultural differences’ and communication capabilityto be salient elements in determining level of participation, this study further suggeststhat these cultural elements and proficiency in communication dynamically intersectwith a wide range of other elements such as reciprocal cultural familiarity and powerdifferentials between different languages, cultures and knowledge. By focusing onclassroom context, the current study documents the ways in which classroom inter-actions influence knowledge sharing and the way that classroom dynamics interactwith linguistic, cultural and knowledge aspects. We argue that the reticence to partic-ipate among Chinese students cannot be adequately explained by reducing theseexperiences to their ‘cultural difference’ and/or communication capability alone. Thiscontention is reinforced by the finding that while improvements in English languageskills and increased knowledge of Canadian/Western culture increased participationamong some students, others chose to remain silent. More attention should be paidto the classroom context in which such silence/reticence is manifested and to theclassroom process through which such silence/reticence is produced and reproduced.

The study also found a connection between Chinese students’ perceptions regard-ing the receptiveness of classes to indigenous knowledge and their practices of knowl-edge sharing. The perceived responses from professors and their peer studentsprovided them the basis for determining their response/reaction strategies andinfluenced their level of subsequent participation. However, Chinese students’perceptions of or interpretations about classroom process (e.g. participation andinteraction) are also influenced by their cultural and educational backgrounds. Thisanalysis also suggests that more attention must be paid to the fluid elements of cultureand to the complex processes through which elements such as power differentials(e.g. language capability, cultural familiarity, and relative positioning of various

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systems of knowledge) and sites of emergence (e.g. classroom) influence the impactof culture. The term ‘reciprocal cultural familiarity’ is proposed to convey that cultureis not a static and unidirectional element determining Chinese students’ performancein classroom but a bidirectional and dynamic element intricately interwoven with arange of other classroom contextual elements and perpetuating the ongoing processof classroom interactions and classroom participation. The classroom processes, inwhich Chinese students make decisions about knowledge sharing, is context specific orsituationally constructed and thus changeable. As a Chinese student who self-identifiedas silent in the classroom, but active outside the classroom, said, ‘A student like mecan be changeable’. Conveyed in their narratives is the agency and potential to resistthe dominant classroom ideology/knowledge that may marginalize indigenousknowledge and preclude a more inclusive learning environment. Despite the smallnumber of participants in this study, there is no doubt that the exploration of theirlived experiences will increase our understanding of the classroom experiences ofChinese students, as well as other international students, in Canadian academicinstitutions and other Western/English educational settings. Such information mayalso inform ways in which we enrich the notion of ‘diversity’ and move towards theco-construction of a more inclusive learning environment.

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to express their gratitude to the Chinese students whogenerously shared their time and experiences. They also appreciate the anonymousreviewers for providing insightful revising suggestions. Earlier drafts of the paper werepresented at the Excellence through Equity – Confronting the Tensions in Universi-ties Conference, Toronto, Canada, 21–22 March 2003, and at the 36th WorldCongress of International Institute of Sociology, Beijing, China, 7–11 July 2004.

Notes on contributors

Yanqiu Rachel Zhou is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Social Work, University ofToronto, Canada. Her areas of interest include Chinese Diaspora, illness narra-tives, social/health policy, and international social work.

Della Knoke is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Social Work, University ofToronto, Canada.

Izumi Sakamoto is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Social Work, University ofToronto, Canada.

Notes

1. Students from Confucian Heritage Culture (CHC) refer to students from cultures such asChina, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Korea and Japan (Watkins & Biggs, 2001).

2. We use the term ‘international students’ to refer to those students from other countries andwhose primary aim of coming to North America (in our case, Canada) is to study, includingboth visa students and students with permanent residence.

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3. A phenomenological approach was desirable for this study for three primary reasons. First, thephenomenological approach attempts to understand an empirical matter or phenomenon (e.g.students’ classroom experiences) from the perspective of those who experienced them. Second,the approach aims to explore the subjective meaning of the lived experiences. Third, theapproach provides an approach to examining experience in a way not constrained by researcherpreconceptions. Understanding the lived experiences of knowledge sharing of Chinese studentsis expected to increase an understanding of the processes that impede open exchanges and mayguide the selection of strategies to foster inclusive knowledge sharing. For more informationabout phenomenology, see Boyd (1993), Bruyn (1966), Creswell (1998), Moustakas (1994)and Van Manen (1997).

4. In the present study, ‘participation’ is conceptualized as voluntarily sharing within the contextof the class. Participation may include voluntarily responding to questions posed to the class,asking questions in class, initiating or contributing to class discussion.

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rethinking silence in the classroom: chinese students’ experiences of sharing indigenous knowledge

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