田瑩

As an essential course in the higher education， the importance of college English is self-evident. However， the students in independent colleges have different English proficiency and the phenomenon of silence in independent colleges is serious. At present， studies on the phenomenon of classroom silence are mainly concentrated on universities and studies about independent colleges are relatively few. Thus， this paper will carry out an empirical investigation about English classroom silence among non-English major students in independent colleges， aiming to study the reasons of college English classroom silence in independent colleges.

Questionnaire， classroom observation and interview are used in this study. Through the analysis of results， it can be found that the phenomenon of college English classroom silence is mainly due to three aspects， including independent colleges students themselves， teachers and environment. The specific conclusions are as follows.

Firstly， according to the research results， the author finds that students own factors are the main reasons for the silence in English class. Students in independent colleges have high learning motivation， and they are eager to improve their English. However， in actual learning， their participation in English learning is not so active. According to the survey， students poor English foundation and poor oral English directly lead to their silence， which accounts for the largest proportion. Moreover， different degrees of anxiety also affect students participation in class. Most students express that they are anxious and nervous when answering questions. In addition， students lack of confidence is also an important reason. Students are worried about the accuracy of the question or avoid stuttering when answering questions. There are other factors. For example， some students keep silent because they are sick or uncomfortable.

Secondly， students silence is also influenced by teachers. Although after the educational reform， the situation of Chinese traditional teaching mode has improved. But under the existing teaching target， teaching task， teaching pressure， many teachers still devote more time to teaching new knowledge. By contrast， there is less time for students to express themselves. In this kind of cramming education， students have become accustomed to simply listening. They think that whether to answer the question does not matter much as long as they can understand the teachers speaking content. In addition， the majority of students say that teachers questioning methods， problem sets （including problem appeal and difficulty） also affect the classroom performance of students. From the interview， it shows that once the teacher blames students for the failure to answer the question. But the reason why students dont answer the question is that the voice of the teachers asking is small. However， the teacher doesnt realize that and no student or class representative give reflection to teacher. Furthermore， it can also be found that many teachers pay more attention to the teaching time， while ignoring the mutual understanding and communication with students. There is no denying that it is also a significant reason for students silence in class. Moreover， through classroom observation， it is noted that most teachers attach importance to excellent students who are good at answering questions while ignoring those of lower scores. Through interviews， poor students in most cases also desire to answer the question， but students of answering questions in class have turned into “fixed” group by default， so they no longer express themselves.

Finally， environmental and cultural factors are also essential. The research results indicate that the class size and class learning atmosphere have little to do with the phenomenon of silence in college English classes in independent colleges. In contrast， cultural factors account for a large proportion. Lao tzu once mentioned that “silence is golden， silence is a blessing”， which has a deep influence on Chinese. Most students know the answer to the question clearly， but they seldom show themselves. In their eyes， silence is a virtue， and silence can also be regarded as modesty. Moreover， Chinese advocate face culture， which is also an important reason for students silence in class. Many college students are very concerned about the impression of their teachers and classmates on them. Therefore， in order to maintain their self-image， they would rather keep silent than lose face because of their wrong answers. In addition， there is a serious phenomenon of conformity. Although some students know the answers to the questions， they pretend that they do not know the answers to the questions and choose not to answer the questions when no one else does.

To sum up， the above are the reasons found in this study that lead to the phenomenon of students silence in college English classroom in independent colleges.