Silence in Education
Daniel Costa has worked as a corporate online language educator for more than a decade, teaching mainly English but also Portuguese, Italian and Spanish to learners from several fields and countries. A regular MET contributor, he has written for publications such as the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education, Encyclopaedia Britannica and academic journals. He has a CELTA, a BET, a COLT, an MA in History (Birmingham), an MA in ELT (Southampton) and a BA in Philosophy (London). He is currently doing his PhD in history at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, a multilingual project in the history of science. Linkedin profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielcostaeducator/
Introducing silence
Speech is silver and silence is golden, as the old adage goes. This wealth conveys the multifaceted nature of silence, whose presence in education has conveyed ambivalence. On one hand, it has been viewed as a hindrance, shaping research seeking to probe into its relation with motivation in learning. On the other, silence has been considered a useful means to enhance education, constituting silence-inclusive pedagogy. As an emblematic case in point, silence informed the educational output of 20th-century Italian educator Maria Montessori (1936) whose Silent Game was inspired by a four-month-old baby and been used with children in schools devoted to her method
(https://theglobalmontessorinetwork.org/resource/parents/silence-activity-english/).
Similarly, Egypt-born educator Caleb Gattegno (1963) based his Silent Way method of language teaching on teacher silence with the use of colour charts and Cuisenaire rods to enhance active student participation and discovery. Such well-known endeavours, however, appear to have been timid if not silent in mainstream teaching in several contexts, notwithstanding audiovisual attempts to foster silence in the classroom dating back to at least the 1950s with Coronet’s How Quiet Helps at School (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-4wb8rKiAw). French historian Alain Corbin (2016) has argued that silence has lost its value in education since that period, in contrast with earlier monastic environments, where it was used as an educational tool.
Despite such shortcomings, increased interest in silence has prompted a plethora of literature on the topic. Publications specifically devoted to silence in education have been published, testifying to the perceived value of the concept. Such initiatives are exemplified by the publishing of specialised books on the topic as well as the pioneering academic journal Journal of Silence Studies in Education. These undertakings mirror the emergence of broader research communities such as the Network for Silence Studies, which brings together scholars from different disciplines. The diversity inherent in the conceptualization of silence prompts one to wonder what silence is actually in question. Is it the mere lack of human language or a deeper underlying phenomenon? Is it the silencing of learners or of educators? Is it the silence of marginalized groups or of those in power? Is it human silence or one that goes beyond the realms of humanity? Such vital questions form the backbone of the current article, which explores silence in education across different cultural contexts. Given the endless possibilities and consequent assumptions that silence as a concept can entail, however, the focus is on the uses of the term in related literature or relevant translation where English was not the language that the text was originally written in.
By conceiving silence as a mosaic, this article begins explores contributions to the semantic aspects of silence in relevant educational texts and by educators throughout history, testifying to its significance beyond contemporary classroom. It then turns to taxonomies which have more recently been developed in order to classify the functional aspects of silence.
Conceptualising silence
An understanding of the role silence has played in education is challenged by the meaning, ramifications and connotations of silence itself, prompting one to enquire about its very nature. A number of ancient educational texts made reference to silence and its role vis-à-vis the absence thereof. The sebayt genre, whose purpose was ultimately didactic, substantiated the value of silence in Ancient Egyptian pedagogy. In The Maxims of Ptahhotep, which date back to 2375–2350 BCE, the Vizier taught that silence is more profitable than the abundance of speech (Simpson, 2003). Another piece of wisdom literature, the Instruction of Amenomope (1300–1075 BCE), distinguished between the heated and the silent man, comparing the former to a tree grown indoors and the latter to one grown in a meadow (Amenomope, Instruction 4).
Ancient musings regarding the relationship between silence and education can also be found in the output of 6th-century BCE Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, who equated silence with peace and the anchor of the universe found within oneself, viewing it as an integral part of a life lesson:
The most yielding thing in the world
will overcome the most rigid
The emptiest thing in the world
will overcome the fullest
From this comes a lesson—
Stillness benefits more than action
Silence benefits more than words
(Tzu: 43)
The Lunyu (or Analects) had influential philosopher Confucius contend that the ancients were not eager to speak, as they would be ashamed should their actions fail to mirror their words (Confucius, n.d./2003). Reverence for silence would pervade Buddhism, with the concept of noble silence being used to describe 6-4th century BCE Gautama Buddha’s response to unanswerable questions. This nobility encompassed body, speech and mind (Hanh, 2011). In this spirit, Vipassana meditation has students observe ten days of silence, restricting physical and non-physical contact with others (Hart, 2011).
Of similar educational relevance in the Ancient Greek context was Pythagorean silence, whereby 6th-century BCE philosopher Pythagoras would compel his students to refrain from speaking during five years in order to enhance self-control. Silence was thus seen as a path to moral discipline and stood in contrast with the emphasis on public speaking which pervaded traditional Greek education (Huffman, 2024). Socrates’ dialectic method conveyed his aversion to silence, an aspect vividly portrayed in Plato’s Apology. Living in silence, in Socrates’ view, would entail disobeying the deity as discoursing daily on virtue constitutes the greatest good (399 BCE/1901).
The Pythagorean stance, however, would inform the output of Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca. In a letter to his student Lucilius, Seneca cited Pythagoras when arguing that philosophy ought to be worshipped in silence, devoid of the need for applause and self-seeking. Writing in the 1st-century CE, he compared this to a patient submitting to a cure with reverent awe, rather than praising the surgeon (62-65/1786). More than a mere lack of words, he also correlated silence with inner peace:
Let me die, if I think silence so absolutely necessary for a studious man as it seems at first to be: variety of noise surrounds me on every side […] Whatever noise is abroad, I care not, while all is calm and quiet within.
Letters 56
The Greek city of Nicopolis would later be home to the Stoic school of Epictetus, whose effective teaching methods as well as the power of his ethical thought put learners on a quest for integrity, self-management and personal freedom (Graver, 2024). In Enchiridion, compiled in the early 2nd century by his student Arrian based on his lectures, Epictetus made the functional necessity of silence clear by advising one to stay mostly silent, saying only what is necessary and in a sparse manner (Epictetus, 104-108/2023). This stance also informed the output of Platonist moral and political educator Plutarch, whose text On Talkativeness sought to cure garrulousness, seen as an ailment vis-à-vis virtuous silence (Plutarch, c. 100/1927).
Jewish education fostered the idea of silence as a tool for spiritual enhancement, testified by Rabbi Akiva’s contention that it is a fence to wisdom, included in 2nd-century Rabbinic didactic compilation Pirkei Avot (3:13). Notwithstanding the pervasion of daily prayer at the heart of devotion, 12th-century Sephardic rabbi and philosopher Maimonides (1186-1190/1963) considered silence the highest form of praise given to God, citing psalm 65. Praise for silence in the Arabo-Muslim world was voiced by 7th-century Quran educator Abu al-Darda, who conceived of silence as a form of wisdom practiced only by a few (Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, n.d./1990). For 11th-century scholar Al-Qushayri (1045/2012), silence constituted safety and its timely use was considered an attribute of true men, belonging to the good manners of Sufi gatherings, in a context where outer silence was compared with the silence of the heart and mind. In the influential 12th-century text Ihya 'Ulum al-Din, Persian Sufi scholar Imam al-Ghazali (1100-1150/1982), who taught in Baghdad and Nishapur, advocated samt, a silence seen as a social ethic or virtue to protect oneself against the twenty dangers of the tongue, including hypocrisy, scandalmongering, distortion and lying. Yet samt also meant silence of the heart, whose nature was divine (muqarrabīn). In a similar vein, the founder of Madrasah al-Qadiriyya, Persian Hanbali scholar and Sufi leader Abdul Qadir Jilani (1150-1151 CE) reported the Prophet Mohammed’s call for silence as one’s custom, as a path to correct behaviour and closeness with Allah.
The reverence for silence in early Christianity is vividly exemplified by the epistles written at the start of the 2nd century on his journey to martyrdom in Rome, bishop Saint Ignatius of Antioch (c.107/ 2015) distinguished silence from vain speech. According to a text written to the Ephesians, the more the bishop kept silent the more he had to be revered, and treated as if he were Christ himself:
There is then one Teacher, who spake and it was done; while even those things which
He did in silence are worthy of the Father. He who possesses the word of Jesus, is truly able to hear even His very silence, that he may be perfect, and may both act as he speaks,
and be recognised by His silence.
Epistle to the Ephesians 15.
Silence would also play a prominent role in the output of Saint Augustine (397-400/2017), whose confessions voiced its link with divine devotion. Understanding and wisdom are associated with silence in the teachings of Isaac the Syrian (688/2011) as silence honours God, contended Thomas Aquinas in his commentary on Boethius’ de Trinitate, one of the few texts written by Aquinas himself (Torrell, 1996/2023).
Indian philosophical musings on the topic are illustrated by the words of guru Ramana Maharshi. His teachings were based on mouna, a silence which is both eloquent and potent, embodying a state that goes beyond both speech and thought (Maharshi, 1955/2006). He taught that silence enables access to perfect knowledge and that constitutes true teaching. Similarly, silence pervaded the output of Jiddu Krishnamurti who, in The Only Revolution (1970), introduced a boundless meditative silence that cannot be put together by thought or experienced by the observer. He later contended that only silence allows one to observe clearly. In Beyond Violence, the silence of the mind equates beauty and can only be accessed by stillness (Krishnamurti, 1973).
Western European thinkers followed the trail of the Ancient Greeks. Considering the Pythagoreans the best statesmen of their age, 19th-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche cited their prolonged silence in both Anti-Education (1872) and The Dawn of Day (1881), believing it would prompt the practice of genuine philosophy and discourse in lieu of chattering. Danish existentialist philosopher Søren Kierkegaard critiqued the passionless indolence inherent in the society he lived in, condemning talkativeness, in line with the views of Plutarch:
What is talkativeness? It is the result of doing away with the vital distinction
between talking and keeping silent. Only someone who knows how to remain essentially
silent can really talk - and act essentially
Kierkegaard, 1940: 43
For German philosopher Martin Heidegger (1927) silence acts as an essential possibility of discourse which enables understanding to a greater extent than speech, in a context where discourse is viewed as constitutive for the existence of Dasein (Heideggerian existence). Swiss philosopher Max Picard (1948) asserted that silence is not merely a suspension of language but an autonomous phenomenon, namely an independent whole which subsists in and through itself. He asserted that silence, like language, is creative and formative, but since word characterises humankind it is superior to silence. Further support for the latter as an intrinsic aspect of communication came from French phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1973), who underlined the significance of silence vis-à-vis speech:
We should consider speech before it has been pronounced, against the ground of silence which precedes it, which never ceases to accompany it, and without which it would say nothing. Moreover, we should be sensitive to the thread of silence from which the tissue of speech is woven.
Merleau-Ponty, 1973: 46
Echoing Stoic musings, Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein conveyed the boundaries of silence by asserting that "whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent" (1921:185). Such boundaries would acquire a sociological connotation in the output of Brazilian educator and philosopher Paulo Freire (1972), whose culture of silence conveyed oppression, thereby preventing marginalised groups from achieving critical consciousness and liberation. The sociocultural dimension of silence was explored by American anthropologists such as Edward T. Hall (1959), who posited a map of culture as well as proxemics and chronemics to understand human behaviour across cultures, Keith H. Basso (1972), who focused on silence in Western Apache culture, and Richard Baumann (1983), who explored silence among seventeenth-century Quakers.
Yet understanding such silences is challenged by the historical silences pinpointed by Haitian anthropologist Michel-Rolph Trouillot (1995). Historical narratives, he argued, are ultimately shaped by power relations which silence actors during the making of sources, archives, narratives and history itself. In this spirit, writers such as British historian Diarmaid MacCulloch (2014) have shed light on the abuses silenced within Christian education in stark contrast with the spiritual value of the practice. In a similar vein, educators such as Magda Gere Lewis (1993) have brought to the fore the silence of women in academic settings, contributing to the burgeoning feminist literature on the topic.
American composer John Cage’s stance went beyond societal challenges and human language, nourishing lectures which argued for the inexistence of silence altogether due to the pervasiveness of sound (Cage, 1961). Noises of different sorts star in one of his main compositions, provocatively referred to as four minutes and thirty-three seconds of silence. Such differing views on silence underscore its wealth, which the emergence of distinct taxonomies would further substantiate.
Classifying silence
The twentieth century saw the development of taxonomies of silence which underscore the diversity inherent in the concept, albeit typically with a focus on silence vis-à-vis human speech. An early attempt to classify silence came from the field of counselling, Tindall and Robinson (1947) from Ohio State University posited four categories of counselee-initiated pauses (namely indecision, normal, organizational and solicitation) and contrasted them with counsellor-initiated pauses (deliberate, organizational and normal).
Sociocultural musings informed the taxonomy of American linguist Thomas J. Bruneau (1973), where ‘sociocultural silence’ made reference to the way cultural and social orders abstain from speech. He distinguished this from ‘interactive silence’, consisting of pausal interruptions during communication, and from ‘psycholinguistic silence,’ inherent in the normal flow of speech and subdivided into fast-time and slow-time silence.
Danish linguist Frede Jensen (1973) went further by identifying five distinct communicative functions inherent in silence, each displaying a dual nature.
1 Linkage: bringing together while separating interlocutors
2 Affecting: conveying moral qualities like respect, acceptance and kindness but also coldness, distance or hatred
3 Revelational: prompting self-awareness and understanding, yet concealing feelings and opinions
4 Judgemental: triggering assent and agreement, yet causing disagreement and resentment
5 Activating: displaying thoughtfulness but also suggesting the absence of thought itself
Viewing silence as a key element in human performance, American linguist Richard Dauenhauer (1980) distinguished between intervening silence (to punctuate and organize discourse), fore and after silence (the alertness to initiate discourse and an appreciation of what has been said, respectively) and the pervasive deep silence, in turn classified as the silence of intimates, liturgical silence and the silence of the to-be-said, all of which are deemed polyvalent in terms of their emotional impact. This is exemplified by the contrasting positive and negative shades of deep silence.
For French philosopher Foucault, there were also myriad silences, which he considered integral:
Silence itself—the thing one declines to say, or is forbidden to name, the
discretion that is required between different speakers—is less the absolute limit of
discourse, the other side from which it is separated by a strict
boundary, than an element that functions alongside the things said, with
them and in relation to them within over-all strategies. There is no binary
division to be made between what one says and what one does not say;
we must try to determine the different ways of not saying such things,
how those who can and those who cannot speak of them are distributed,
which type of discourse is authorized, or which form of discretion is re-
quired in either case. There is not one but many silences, and they are
an integral part of the strategies that underlie and permeate discourses
(Foucault, 1976: 27).
Plurality also informed the work of Polish sociolinguist Adam Jaworski, whose interdisciplinary stance delved into silence as a metaphor for communication, conveying the nature of silence beyond the mere lack of sound:
Depending, therefore, on whether the silence is linguistic (e. g., pause), visual (e. g., monochrome painting) or kinetic (e. g., stillness), whether it occurs on a continuum with talk or with sound (noise) in general, whether it functions as a medium of face-to-face or mass communication, we can approach it from many different angles, points of view, frameworks, philosophical and cultural traditions.
Jaworski, 1997: 3-4
Other scholars, however, have reduced the faces of silence to two, underscoring the concept’s duality. New-Zealand-born philologist Sidney Baker (1955) distinguished between positive and negative silence, with the former conveying the intimacy and tranquillity shared by interlocutors in contexts where words are not necessary since there are no tensions to be resolved, and the latter referring to situations characterised by hatred, anger or fear. Another case in point is conveyed by output by French anthropologist Dan Sperber and British linguist Deirdre Wilson (1986) who distinguished between meaningful and incidental silence. They underscored the ambiguity which characterises silence, on the grounds that its interpretation can vary depending on the speaker and listener in question.
Similarly, Polish linguist Włodzimierz Sobkowiak (1997) posited two types of silence, namely acoustic – shaped by the absence of sound – and communicative – whose function is essentially pragmatic. More recent distinctions include British educator Helen Lees’ distinction between weak and strong silence in education, where the former involves coercion, dominant teacher talk and avoiding controversial issues, and the latter non-coercive and dialogic (Lee, 2012).
Despite their differences in terms of nature and scope, such taxonomies appear to cohere with a conception of silence which goes beyond the mere absence of words. Silence is thus seen as a signifier of eloquence, yet the extent to which this has shaped the contemporary classroom is nuanced.
Conclusion
As shown, the diversity and implications of silence contribute to its multifarious conceptualization, with writers from different linguistic and cultural contexts seeking to probe further into its affordances and shortcomings. Knowledge of this conceptual diversity can sustain educators’ efforts when considering the role that silence can play in education.
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Further reading:
Alerby, E. (2020). Silence within and beyond pedagogical settings. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.
Hanna, A. (2023). Children’s Right to Silence and Non-Participation in Education: Redefining Student Voice. Routledge.
Ephratt, M (2008). “The functions of silence.” Journal of pragmatics 40(11): 1909-1938.
Su, F., Wood, M., & Tribe, R. (2023). ‘Dare to be silent’: Re-conceptualising silence as a positive pedagogical approach in schools. Research in education 116(1): 29-42.
Verstraete, P. (2016). Lessons in silence: Power, diversity, and the educationalisation of silence. DiGeSt. Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies 3(2): 59-74.
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Silence in Education
Daniel Costa, International