Silence in the classroom: silent class, studious class

Silence in the classroom: silent class, studious class?

[The conversation] - Published on November 4, 2024in Science-Society

To learn well, do students need to be silent? Silence has long been associated with the exercise of authority, but today it covers other issues as well.

Sylvain Wagnon, University of MontpellierFabien Groeninger, University of Montpellier and Sonia Vermeulen Steyaert, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB)

Credits Freepik

In the collective imagination, a "studious" classroom is often represented by students lined up, immersed in their work, in absolute silence or, when the work is done, with their arms folded.

Is a silent class necessarily a class focused on its lessons? This question, far from being anecdotal, goes to the heart of the pedagogical issues of expression, interaction and active participation of students. If silence has a history, it also has a topicality as a form of learning.

Silence and authority

For a pedagogy historically founded on passive listening and repetitive memorization, silence is a central element of school discipline. As part of the control of bodies and behavior described by Michel Foucault, it has become a symbol of respect for the teacher's authority and of concentration on the part of pupils.

Silence is therefore often used by teachers, particularly in primary schools, as a classroom management tool. It reduces distractions and signals to students that they need to concentrate on the task in hand. This silence is sometimes so difficult to achieve that it can be a struggle.

It is also an element of the teacher's authority, as Magali Boizumault writes:

"Silence is first and foremost a means, requiring the implementation of professional gestures that call on the teacher's bodily staging to obtain it and pass on instructions to the whole class. Then, it becomes an end in itself, to maintain a serene work climate".

Silence can also have counter-productive effects. A class that is too silent can conceal a lack of commitment or a lack of understanding on the part of the students. Imposed silence can mean that students don't dare ask questions or interact. For this reason, it's essential for the teacher to know how to decode this silence: is it synonymous with concentration, or does it conceal unease or passivity?

Silence and student participation

Speech and dialogue play an essential role in learning, enabling students to express their ideas, formulate their misunderstandings, and adjust their reasoning in contact with their peers. Silence, in this context, could be interpreted not as a sign of attention, but as a hindrance to student participation and engagement.

This is not a new question. From 1881 onwards, the libertarian socialist Paul Robin theorized and implemented an integral education - intellectual, physical and emotional - in which joyful expression was opposed to a silence synonymous with passivity. But this question divided the reformist pedagogues of the new education movement in the early ^20th century. In 1932, Élise Freinet contrasted the silence of Montessori classes with the effervescence of Freinet pedagogy:

"We watched with a kind of astonishment as they silently handled surfaces and cubes with dexterity, and all these objects of immobility that sometimes led to virtuosities of square root or cube root placed us in an atmosphere of learned monkeys.... We thought of our shaggy, scruffy little pupils, so spontaneous in their gestures and outbursts, and the memory of our buzzing classes imposed itself on us and prevented us from perhaps understanding what was hidden in truth in the games of the little Montessorian conjurers. "

While silence is often seen as antithetical to active participation, this opposition needs to be qualified. Some studies highlight its performance-enhancing function. They suggest that silence encourages students to self-regulate, to turn to their own thoughts and process information independently.

This silent space then becomes a time when each student can progress at his or her own pace, according to his or her needs and ability to integrate the knowledge required for a better pedagogical relationship.

In a classroom, the balance between silence and expression is fundamental to becoming a genuine teaching tool. A teacher who favors silence alone can inhibit students' creativity and curiosity. On the contrary, an environment in which speech is encouraged, without descending into hubbub, can stimulate the participation and investment of all students to create a school climate where silence and speech coexist in a complementary way, each having a role to play in the learning process.

This learning to speak and to be silent can be developed in particular through theatrical activities, where silences are important elements. Moreover, silence, like oral expression, is also a power issue between boys and girls in learning, and teachers need to be aware of this.

Silence, a school issue

Beneficial for health, silence can play a key role in the development of socio-emotional skills, at a time when ambient noise is becoming a real source of nuisance for students. In a society where noise is the norm, silent time takes on a new meaning in the classroom: time that can be controlled. The sound environment is a real challenge for schools, and one that is linked to an understanding of the role of silence in the entire educational process.

If the idea of a "visual" or "auditory" student seems like a neuromyth, teachers can allow moments of silence for individual reflection, while encouraging interactive exchanges for those who learn by speaking. In this sense, the management of silence should not be uniform in the classroom, but linked to the needs of the students and the pedagogical objectives to be achieved.

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Managing silence and noise levels in the classroom doesn't just depend on how you teach. It is also conditioned by the acoustic qualities of the spaces. A deficient acoustic environment can undermine the effectiveness of sound management, by introducing interfering noise from inside or outside the classroom, altering the working climate and interactions. By improving acoustic conditions, teachers can better control noise and achieve their teaching objectives.

Beyond the classroom, new forms of schooling, notably outdoor education, approach silence in a different way and rethink its role and function in the educational act, using it as a means of listening to the surrounding nature, concentrating and observing. These are just some of the ways in which we can learn about the role and importance of silence in education today, and in human relations as a whole.

Sylvain Wagnon, Professor of Education, Faculty of Education, University of MontpellierFabien Groeninger, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Education, LIRDEF (Laboratoire interdisciplinaire de recherche en didactique, éducation et formation), University of Montpellier and Sonia Vermeulen Steyaert, PhD student in Occupational Psychology and Educational Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB)

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read theoriginal article.

Key words : Education, Research, Science, Company

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