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

a polite child from when he was in elementary school. His educated and polite
impressions led to his selection as a class leader by his teachers and classmates since
he was very little. He therefore gained more opportunities to interact with his
teachers, who could teach him how to interact with people more appropriately.
Tien Long Lee
Tien Long, in both interviews, provided reasons why he needed the “topic
avoidance” strategy, but not the skill of “keeping silent.” He believed the topic
avoidance strategy protected his privacy, but “keeping silent” could build an impolite
impression. In Tien Long’s first interview, he expressed that topic avoidance made
him free when he did not answer questions he believed were private:
Topic avoidance strategy helped me to respond to questions that I could not
answer. This strategy was worthy of learning. I would like to use it very often.
It protected me against talking in a wrong way, and against telling the others
my secrets.
In class, I learned how to change topics and avoided some sensitive and
private topics that might oppress me. Some topics like my grade at school or
my salary at work were topics that I should avoid. I did not like the others to
evaluate how good my grades were or compared to his/her own. It was quite
private issue, which could be my secret. Therefore, when people asked me
about my score, I used “topic avoidance” strategy and refused to answer.
Tien Long shared which types of topics should be regarded as private in his first
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