Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relation between amount of whispering in class and the class's norm for whispering. Participants were 1,490 students from 33 classes in 3 senior high schools, 1 junior high school, and 1 business school. The students completed a questionnaire that asked about whispering-the classroom norm, their own position, and their perception of their teacher's expectations-in terms of a revised return potential model. Of the 33 classes, 7 were characterized as noisy classrooms, and 8 as quiet ones, according to the judgment of the teachers in charge. The results indicated that: (a) norms for whispering in noisy classrooms were more generous than those in quiet classrooms; (b) norms for whispering were more generous than individuals' own positions, regardless of the amount of noise in the classroom; and (c) students' perceptions of their teacher's expectations regarding whispering in noisy classrooms and quiet ones were not significantly different.
