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

About the topic avoidance strategy, it was a valuable strategy. However, it
was important to find smaller topics within a big scope. I did not think it was
a good idea to change the main topic totally. We should find the related topics
and continue to talk, but not delete the topic and discover a whole new one.
We should discuss with our interlocutors a certain topic thoroughly and
finally tacitly agree that the topic should go to an end.
Jian Guo conveyed that selecting the right topics in the beginning was a way to
prevent changing topics:
Selecting the right subjects to discuss was a good method because the topic
would not be changed. For example, I was interested in a Canadian musician,
Matthew Lien, who collected sounds of animals and natures in his album. If I
talked about him with my friends from literature or art majors, they should be
interested in talking with me. However, if I mentioned this topic to students
from science majors, they would be less motivated in talking with me.
It was crucial to identify our partners’ backgrounds and experiences in order
to select the fitting topics during communication. I felt much more secure
when talking about the right topics and the right subjects. I knew the topic
should not be modified, and it could be continued by my partners. Selecting a
right topic in the very beginning became more appropriate than changing the
topic in the middle of communication.
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