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

Just like all the other respondents, Ling Mei perceived that “keeping silent” was not
constructive. Ling Mei conveyed that it was not a clear way to send hints to others;
also, it caused misunderstanding in communication:
When someone was silent, I would wonder if s/he was angry or
uncomfortable, or s/he did not like to talk. Also, using this strategy was
“impolite,” especially when talking to foreigners. I perceived that when the
topic was stopped and changed, people thought I was not a nice person who
could compromise in choosing topic.
Therefore, I would not use this strategy often, except in a condition that “I
had to.” So I perceived that it was very important to learn some sentences for
notifying the others that the topic was going to be changed. I believed that
when I needed to change a topic, I should say, “I might not like this topic,” or
“I have a need to change this topic.” I believed that we had to be very careful
and polite and make the other not feel offended.
Like Sung Ru and Jian Guo, Ling Mei also perceived that an inappropriate topic
should be changed in a gradual way:
I suggest that when we apply the topic avoidance strategy, the topic should
not be changed totally into a whole new one. We should only change the topic
a little bit into a similar one instead of changing it into a different direction.
Furthermore, I suggest not using “keeping silence” to change topics. It does
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