Silent students with voices: an exploration of students’ silence in an Algerian EFL setting

Many studies have considered silent engagement as a form of classroom participation and learning. However, many silent students in language classrooms are still perceived lacking language competence, self confidence, and they are considered shy and introverted. This study explores the experiences of a group of Algerian students of English at an Algerian university, who tend to be silent in the classroom, and the perceptions of their teachers regarding classroom silence and classroom participation. A focused ethnographic approach is taken. This research perceives silent students’ classroom participation as a process informed by prior-learning experiences, current social and interpersonal relationships and context-related teaching and learning practices. Thus, as a whole, it investigates the learning environment’s influences on students’ uses of silence and the different conceptualisations of classroom participation in university classrooms. It also investigates the perceptions of silence among students and teachers. The research findings suggest complex factors influencing silence in the classroom such as teachers’ behaviours and fear of poor grading, as well as embracement and the need to vary classroom interaction patterns and teaching and learning approaches in order to cater for individual students, such as those with a tendency to learn silently. This can lead to students adopting different learner identities including a silent learner identity and unconsciously adapting them depending on their perceptions of the value of classroom participation, their academic level, classroom norms and their interpersonal relationships. Acknowledging the complexity of students’ silence, this study suggests the importance of students’ voice in negotiating classroom participation and teaching practices and calls for the importance of inclusive teaching techniques to accommodate students with diverse learning preferences

Letting students speak, or be silent if they prefer

Within different classroom activities, giving students time to think and respond is a common approach among teachers. But what happens when this time extends into uncomfortable silence or when the students seem unwilling to respond at all? This paper considers why students might decide to remain silent in language classes and the implications of this for teachers

Letting silent students speak or be silent if they prefer

This talk considered why students might decide to remain silent in language classes and the implications of this for language teachers

Genetic Diversity and Differentiation of Eleven Medicago Species from Campania Region Revealed by Nuclear and Chloroplast Microsatellites Markers

The species belonging to the genus Medicago are considered a very important genetic resource at global level both for planet’s food security and for sustainable rangelands management. The checklist of the Italian flora (2021) includes a total number of 40 Medicago species for Italy, and 27 for Campania region, with a number of doubtful records or related to species no more found in the wild. In this study, 10 Medicago species native to Campania region, and one archaeophyte (M. sativa), identified by means of morphological diagnostic characters, were analyzed in a blind test to assay the efficacy of nine microsatellite markers (five cp-SSRs and four n-SSRs). A total number of 33 individuals from 6 locations were sampled and genotyped. All markers were polymorphic, 40 alleles were obtained with n-SSRs ranging from 8–12 alleles per locus with an average of 10 alleles per marker, PIC values ranged from 0.672 to 0.847, and the most polymorphic SSR was MTIC 564. The cp-SSRs markers were highly polymorphic too; PIC values ranged from 0.644 to 0.891 with an average of 0.776, the most polymorphic cp-SSR was CCMP10. 56 alleles were obtained with cp-SSRs ranging from 7 to 17 alleles per locus with an average of 11. AMOVA analysis with n-SSR markers highlighted a great level of genetic differentiation among the 11 species, with a statistically significant fixation index (FST ). UPGMA clustering and Bayesian-based population structure analysis assigned these 11 species to two main clusters, but the distribution of species within clusters was not the same for the two analyses. In conclusion, our results demonstrated that the combination of the used SSRs well distinguished the 11 Medicago species. Moreover, our results demonstrated that the use of a limited number of SSRs might be considered for further genetic studies on other Medicago species