Classroom silence and the dynamic interplay between context and the language learner: A stimulated recall study

This chapter reports on research which used a stimulated recall methodology (Gass & Mackey, 2000) in conjunction with empirical qualitative data from a series of classroom observations to explore what learners were actually thinking and feeling whilst silent episodes were in progress during their lessons. Using complex dynamic systems theory as its conceptual background, the study moves away from reductionist, single-cause explanations for learner silence and illustrates how silence emerges from multiple, and sometimes unexpected, routes. This naturalistic study helps to trace back some of the principal interrelated learner-internal and contextual attractors which draw language learners towards the seductive state of silence.