Causes of Vocational College Students’ Reticence in EFL Classrooms of Mainland China – based on Panxi Vocational College

Abstract

This article reports on a study of students’ reticence in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms in Panxi Vocational College in Sichuan Province of Mainland China. Forty-one students answered a 28-item questionnaire. The students’ reticence levels, general tendency of unwillingness-to-speak, and their learning behaviors were identified. Individual and social factors contributing to the reticence phenomenon in the vocational college’s EFL classrooms were also determined. The results suggested that culture have strong influences on Chinese vocational college students’ reticence. However, their habitual classroom behaviors that have been established for a long time should be taken into account in regard to their reticence.