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

certain topic:
Topic avoidance was a useful strategy, but it could not be a permanent
solution for solving listening difficulty in my English communication. It was
not a good idea that I changed the ongoing topic too easily when I did not
understand what my group member was talking about. I should unriddle my
problem of listening obstruction by patience. When I kept silent, I should try
to figure out what the others were talking about. More aggressively, I should
inquire them to teach me about things I did not know instead of declining the
topic directly.
Sung Ru focused on “keeping silent” and provided her aspect of opposing it in both
interviews. She believed that “keeping silent” might cause misinterpretation or
embarrassment during in-class communication, so she felt she would not use it too
readily.
In my learning experience of communication strategy, I recognized that there
were two functions in the strategy of topic avoidance in my English
communication while practicing strategies in class. First, when talking in a
group, I would use this strategy to pretend that I conceived what had been
discussed. Second, in pair discussion, I would use this strategy to give hint
that I was bored during communication. I would make my face very serious
without smiling in order to make clear that I was not fond of the topics. I did
not feel I would be able to hint to the others that I did not like the topic when
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