Exploring Pre-Service English Language Teachers’ Silence and Engagement in an Oral Communication Class

This study explores how first-year pre-service English language teachers (PSELTs) interpret classroom silence and engagement in an Oral Communication course and how they understand their own participation after comparison with a more participatory course section. Theoretically, it brings Willingness to Communicate (WTC) and Oral Communication Apprehension (OCA) into dialogue with a multidimensional engagement framework while treating silence as behavior whose meaning must be interpreted rather than assumed. Using a qualitative exploratory design, the study involved 48 PSELTs in two pre-existing, administratively constituted course sections taught by the same instructor under the same syllabus. Data were generated through an open-ended questionnaire, written self-reflections, individual semi-structured interviews with 15 focal-section participants, and post-comparison written reflections. Two combined-class sessions provided the comparison, with the more participatory section serving as a contextual point of comparison rather than a baseline or control group. Findings showed that participants associated silence most strongly with fear of negative evaluation and perfectionism, alongside linguistic retrieval difficulties, limited topic knowledge, peer relations, low interest, attentional drift, fatigue, prior learning experiences, and conditions beyond the classroom. Conversely, a smaller set of accounts described silence as active listening, cognitive processing, or preparation for later participation, indicating that limited observable participation can coexist with cognitive engagement. Notably, post-comparison accounts gave greater prominence to relationships, teamwork, and classroom climate, although similar social explanations were already evident before the comparison activity. The findings therefore support a shift in emphasis rather than a causal change in engagement or WTC. Ultimately, OCA explains an important part of silence among PSELTs but not its full range of conditions and functions. The study concludes that silence in language teacher education is heterogeneous, situated, and analytically ambiguous. Teacher educators should distinguish observable quietness from disengagement while attending to the affective, cognitive, relational, and contextual conditions that shape participation.