CHAPTER 2 THE USE OF THE FACE
Research on body language attempts to distinguish between those body actions which are part of a symbolic code, a message from the sender, and those which are symptoms, e.g., blinking, blushing, pupil contraction, sweating.1 For the teacher, both are equally important and need to be understood.
In Japan, the face can present the largest challenge to the foreign observer. Doi Takeo, in explaining why the Japanese hesitate to speak, describes the importance of presenting a balance between the outer (kao, face) and the inner (kokoro, heart/mind) self.2 I do not accept, as many Westerners believe, that the Japanese always hide their true feelings, their real face, under a mask of inscrutability. Instead, in keeping with the values inherent in Asian culture, emphasis is placed on shielding one's gut reactions until sincere introspection, the inner reflection common to Buddhism, Shintoism, and Confucianism, has been completed, and respect for communal harmony has been illustrated.3
In the West we wear our hearts on our sleeves and speak our mind, but in Japan this can appear irresponsible and insincere. Words are believed to be too limiting in describing subtlety of feelings and impressions. Instead, a neutral facade, the expressionless face perfected by the stoic samurai, can best bide time while the real proof, what we actually do, illustrates clearly how we truly feel. Words and gestures of anger or love are not the truest expressions of hate or affection. In Japan it is believed that the action one takes over the long run is the ultimate expression. Excessive displays of anger and love only suggest insincerity or weakness.
If there is one major weakness in my own use of body language is how my manner, bred in the rather assertive and confrontational atmosphere of New York City, generates a chain reaction of messages that I never mean to initiate. In my effort to fill the silent spaces, I often speak too quickly, neither listening to the messages in the Japanese student's silence, nor allowing the silence to be filled naturally, in keeping with the student's need for space and breath in deliberation.
Repeatedly I am told by my classes that their initial opinion of me is that I am a difficult and problematic teacher, which eventually softens as the students have a chance to watch me, over the term. Many feel I come on too strong, and they must learn to not take me too seriously. In New York we use the expression ‘Get out of my face’ when we feel someone's aggressive behavior has violated our personal space, here I sense students are saying ‘Get out of my silences’. Students neither need to listen to my continual chatter, nor should they be expected to emulate my Western predisposition for explanation and rationalization.
My style which can initially appear to a Japanese student as obsessive or aggressive later may be understood, by some, to be enthusiasm for my subject matter, a reflection of my seriousness as a teacher or symptomatic of my Western upbringing. Unfortunately this strong initial impression prevents some students from ever completely relaxing in my class. But more important is my neglect of the pedagogical needs of my students. This noisy style has repercussions beyond interpersonal relations, it actually affects my students’ learning in a very fundamental way.
“Silence is a tool. It helps to foster autonomy, or the exercise of initiative. It also removes the teacher from the center of attention so he can listen to and work with students”,4 a quote from Diane Larsen-Freeman’s analysis of a Silent Way class activity, describes what I believe are some of the advantages in holding back my urge to fill all the silent spaces.
As it is difficult for me to dramatically alter my overall physical and speaking style, I have found it helpful, if not necessary, to often monitor through written feedback and private interviews how my students perceive my class, and to self-monitor my non-verbals. As a result of this monitoring, I have begun to read student reactions faster and more accurately. As my awareness of student facial expressions grow, I feel more attuned to the subtler messages sent by my students.
My cultural relationship with silence differs from that of my students. By monitoring student nonverbal feedback in the lines on their faces, I feel more aware of these differences, and so more capable of using silence constructively in the college classroom. By watching their faces and retreating when I detect undue tension, while placing less emphasis on how they fulfill my expectations for immediate verbal response, I have begun to eliminate negative chain reactions.
Let me clarify what I mean by negative chain reactions. Imagine my asking what I believe to be an easy question, one I assume any student should be able to answer. To my surprise the student I address does not reply at all, but instead makes a gesture which suggests to my Western eyes indifference. Concerned the student has not heard, I move closer, repeating the question. Now the student is staring straight ahead, or down at the desk, avoiding eye contact, or looking about for help from neighboring students.
Feeling that perhaps the phrasing was too difficult and feeling annoyed that the student has not made any effort to answer, I next try to rephrase the question and still get no response. Students who have been attempting to assist now have become very quiet. As I continue to repeat the question, and move closer, an ominous silence grips the class, and soon no one seems capable of answering what I still believe is an easy question. A mixed feeling of frustration, anger, and discouragement begins to overcome me, and I begin to sense the rest of the class becoming hostile or nervous.
This negative chain reaction started at the very beginning of my questioning and could have easily been avoided. Let me describe a few of the cultural factors that may have influenced the student's behavior. Students spend years answering questions in seat order, so that to be called on or singled out is considered a challenge by the teacher. In the Japanese tradition, if the teacher is pleased with the student, the teacher will ask the student a question that the teacher believes the student can answer, as both reward and model for the class. Conversely, the stern teacher will choose a student who has not been studying and use a question to illustrate the student's inadequacies.
In the test-oriented environment of the Japanese classroom all questions have a correct answer, and are not hypothetical challenges to initiate discussion as in the West. Students enter college having spent years preparing for multi-choice English exams in which only one answer is acceptable. My having asked a question triggers this test anxiety, since the student does not know how to answer correctly. The student then acknowledges failure with silence. To say ‘I don't know’ can appear defiant when it is assumed you should know, so most students, particularly women, will prefer silence to a negative response. If the teacher continues to ask the same question, it may appear to the student that he/she is being punished, by being publicly embarrassed for not knowing the answer.
There is another cultural factor often discussed in the press and among educators in Japan that may directly effects a student's classroom behavior. Under the present system of higher education, Japanese university students feel that, because they have already passed the difficult Japanese university entrance examinations, they have already, for the most part, completed their scholastic obligations and therefore do not need to apply themselves to their studies.
Japanese educators and students describe college as a chance to learn social skills neglected during high school cramming. Since companies train new employees, many students may feel anything else learned is a personal matter of no concern to any one, including the college instructor. For many large corporations, students are not expected to excel in their chosen discipline but to remain empty vessels to be later filled by these companies. Companies choose potential employees by the university they entered, and by what club activities and sports teams they had participated in, not their final grades while at that university. Being a good team player, according to many recruiting employers, is a far more important corporate skill in Japan than post-high school academic discipline.5
In addition, many university freshmen feel burnt out from entrance exam hell and can be hostile to anything that appears draining. They do not care to continue their grueling high school studies into college. Students often say to me they prefer to enjoy their new culturally approved social liberties, placing emphasis on extracurricular activities over their studies, before having to enter as company ‘freshman’ working demanding 40-60 hour weeks again. It is not difficult to understand why a teacher, who comes across as demanding, can often trigger negative memories of high school and appear unreasonable to students.
A Western teacher, having never experienced such an extreme system, may feel the student is indifferent or irresponsible. In fact, many students work very hard, working part time jobs to save money for a car or holiday, or at their club activities, though not necessarily at their studies.
Since students must eventually pass a majority of their college classes to graduate, they must, to a certain extent, oblige the teacher. But, faced with what a student feels is a demanding teacher, most students will rely on others to help them accomplish the minimum requirements to pass. This is why certain students will become spokesmen for their class, while most others prefer being as invisible as possible. To challenge a student's privacy, by expecting participation and mental alertness, may run against the grain of many students and create anxiety. The first clues of this anxiety can be detected in the student's face.
By evolving into a new person, combining the methodological principals of understanding while allowing for the silences, I have begun to absorb intuitively the more subtler forms of my students’ body language. In very much the same way I intuit the meaning of a sentence by the intonation pattern used, I am beginning to intuit my students feelings by their facial expressions, preventing crisis before it occurs.
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1 - Morris, Desmond , Manwatching: A Field Guide to Human Behavior, New York: Abrams, 1977.
2 - Doi, Takeo, The Anatomy of Dependence, trans. John Bester, Tokyo: Kodansha, 1973.
3 - Barnlund, Dean C., Communicative Styles of Japanese and Americans, Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1989.
4 - See Larsen-Freeman, Diane 1986. Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching, Chapter 5, ‘The Silent Way’, New York: Oxford University Press, as well as, Gattegno, Caleb. 1972. Teaching foreign languages in schools: The silent way, 2d ed. New York: Educational Solutions, Inc., for a fuller description of the advantages of silence in the classroom.
5 - Placement information is readily available for students and despite the attempt by the government to prevent company recruiting before the senior year, early recruiting is common. Japan has a serious labor shortage, many positions go unfilled. [ update 2000: In the 90's there was an economic shift and jobs became more scarce. In response the government liberalized recruiting, opening up a pandora's box of perpetual recruiting and forcing many students to begin job hunting much sooner than before. Almost all of senior year is now dedicated to job hunting, particularly for women and the scholastically or socially disadvantaged who now do less well in the poor job market ].
Students are aware of the statistical probability of their landing a good job with or without active participation in their college courses, particularly if they have entered a name school. [update 2000: Though the tight job market has effected this, generally a name school has greater weight than applied effort while in college, though when competing among classmates from the same or equal level school, or in specialized fields, quality skills like language or computer skills are helpful.]