A Dissertation by GRACE HUI-CHIN LIN Submitted to the Office of ...

y more than one respondent. That is to say, the recognized themes were significant
and could not be ignored because they were not a single individual’s opinions or
biased concepts.
Themes Emerged from Students’ Perceptions about the Topic Avoidance Strategy
This study revealed that the seven respondents made a connection between
“politeness” and “keeping silence” in their interviews. Students at Tunghai
University mentioned that it is important to consider politeness in communication.
Although they agreed that changing topic was necessary, they did not support the
technique of “keeping silence.”
Sung Ru mentioned politeness was her habit since she was a pupil. Sung Ru
believed that being patient was obligatory when encountering trouble in a topic.
Cheng Chih suggested that using “polite language” to change the topics might be a
better skill than just “keeping silence.” Jiun Sheng was embarrassed if he kept his
silence, so he proposed that at least “Mmm…,” or “Ohh….” sounds needed to be
articulated in order to inform the speaker that the topic was not attractive. Jain Guo
suggested gradually, rather than totally, changing a topic was a strategy he would use.
He believed ignoring an ongoing topic might not be appropriate in communication.
Additionally, Ling Mei perceived that she politely had to say “I might not
like this topic” or “I have a need to change this topic” when asking to change the
topics. Pei Pei addressed that she needed to be polite when changing topics,
especially in an international situation or a formal situation. Pei Pei’s opinion about
politeness in communication was that the requester should say, “Excuse me” or “I am
sorry” before expressing his/her need to change a topic. More than two cases had
implied an indirect way of requesting a change in topic should be a more appropriate
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