Introduction Practice 3

Asian students' reticence revisited

In recent ESL/EFL literature, Asian (especially East Asian) learners of English as a foreign/second language have been arguably reported as reticent and passive learners. The most common allegations are that these students are reluctant to participate in classroom discourse; they are unwilling to give responses; they do not ask questions; and they are passive and over-dependent on the teacher (Jones et al., 1993; Braddock et al., 1995; Cortazzi and Jin, 1996; Tsui, 1996). - Move 1 (by introducing and reviewing previous research)

Although some researchers (e.g. Littlewood and Liu, 1996) have challenged these allegations, more interested researchers have chosen to explore the causes behind such alleged reticence and passivity. By resorting to sociocultural interpretations of the Asian societies, many researchers (e.g. Flowerdew and Miller, 1995; Ferris and Tagg, 1996; Turner and Hiraga, 1996) conclude that reticent and passive behaviour results from certain cultural attributes of Asian societies. - Move 2 (by indicating the need to extend or revise)

In this paper I will first argue that the notion that Asian students of English are reticent and passive learners is an over-generalisation. Then I will argue that, in the circumstances where behaviour of reticence and passivity is indeed observed, situation specific factors such as teaching methodologies and language proficiency level rather than cultural attributes are to blame. Please note that the significance of this argumentation lies in the assumption that active participation is very important in language learning. - Move 3 (by outlining the plan of development)