This collection examines how silence and speech function in the psychology of student learning. Building on the emerging field of silence studies, it gathers cutting-edge contributions on the role of silence in education and suggests new possibilities for integrating silence into classroom practice.

A great deal of discourse on silence and speech has presumed that verbal articulation is more advanced and effectual than silent contemplation. The proposed book challenges that positioning with empirical evidence to show how silence and speech can work together to optimise student learning. With over 25 years’ experience in silence research and speech analysis, the editors, Seiko Harumi and Dat Bao, have collected contributions from contexts including Australia, China, Japan, Sweden, the UK, the USA, Vietnam, Mongolia, and India, from school and university education settings.

Themes covered include silence and speech in the ecology of the classroom; learner experience in students who suffer from anxiety and communication unwillingness; teacher perspectives on productive and unproductive silence; silence in communication and speech performance; and productive silent learning models or ways of learning.

This research-based collection promises to add essential new perspectives to thinking on the role of silence and speech in student learning applicable both to researchers and practitioners in education and silence studies.

Dat Bao is Senior Lecturer in the School of Education, Society and Culture at Monash University, Australia.

Seiko Harumi is Lecturer in Japanese and Applied Linguistics (Education) at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, UK.