The authors explored the role of silence and deciphered its meaning and usefulness as a teaching and learning strategy for Japanese students through a survey of Japanese university students in their home country. This study has revealed that participant responses were evenly divided among comfortable with silence, uncomfortable with silence, and dependent on familiarity with the person. The use of silence by Japanese students varies on a highly individualized basis, not only by culture. The interlocutor is the significant factor, not the topic of conversation, for their comfort with silence. This study also suggests that silence can be used in addition to verbal participation as a form of engaged learning and active participation.

With almost five million English language learners in the United States, digital storytelling is increasingly being used in second language learning classrooms. As a teaching and learning strategy, digital storytelling can promote critical thinking, connect new content with prior knowledge, enhance memory, and foster confidence and motivation for learning. Digital stories possess unique narrative qualities that often center on identity negotiation and the ways culturally and linguistically diverse students make meaning out of their lives. Fostering hands-on, active learning, digital storytelling is an interactive way to include culturally and linguistically diverse students' voices in a curriculum that may not easily represent them. Practical implementation of digital storytelling is included.

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