Breaking the silence: understanding teachers’ use of silence in classrooms

ABSTRACT

Silence in classrooms is an undervalued and understudied phenomenon. There is limited research on how teachers behave and think during teachers’ silence in lessons. There are also methodological constraints due to the lack of teacher’s talk during silence. This study used eye-tracking technology to visualize the noticing patterns of two science teachers during silence lasting more than three seconds. Using video data recorded from cameras and eye trackers, we examined each silent event and interpreted teachers’ perceptions and interpretations with consideration of eye fixations, actions of students and teachers during the silence, and teachers’ actions immediately after they broke the silence. We further examined expert-novice differences in teachers’ use of silence. Four categories of teachers’ silence were identified: silence for (1) preparing the classroom for learning; (2) teaching, questioning, and facilitating learning; (3) reflecting and thinking, and (4) behavioural management. Expert-novice differences were identified, especially in the teachers’ use of silence for approaches to teaching, reflection, and behavioural management. The novel contribution of this paper lies in the characterization of silences as observed in actual classroom settings as well as the methodological innovation in using eye trackers and video to overcome the constraints of lack of talk data during silence.

KEYWORDS:

• Silence pedagogy
• teacher noticing
• eye tracking
• expert-novice differences
• classroom practices

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the the MOE Academies Fund, project number AFR 02/17 TSC. The views expressed in this paper are the authors’ and do not necessarily represent the views of NIE. We would also like to acknowledge the teachers and schools that were involved in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the MOE Academies Fund [AFR 02/17TSC].

Notes on contributors

Seng Chee Tan

Seng Chee TAN is an Associate Professor with the Learning Sciences and Assessment academic group in the National Institute of Education. His research interest focuses on the use of emerging technologies for teaching and learning, including eye-tracker, learning analytics and artificial intelligence for education.

Aik-Ling Tan

Aik-Ling Tan is an associate professor of science education at the National Institute of Education. She is an active researcher in the field of science education and integrated STEM learning.

Alwyn Vwen Yen Lee

Alwyn Lee is an education research scientist at the National Institute of Education. He is an active researcher in the areas of learning analytics, machine learning and technology-supported assessment.