It is argued in this paper that Chinese students' preference to reticence and American students' to eloquence in class are respectively reflections of the cultural values held by the two peoples. The purpose of this paper is to explore the reasons for the differences in class participation between Chinese and American students from the perspective of cultural values. The learning behaviors of both Chinese and American students are described based on the author's observation and research. A questionnaire delivered to a number of Chinese and American students is then briefly analyzed. The paper focuses on five dimensions of contrastive values held by the Chinese and Americans, which lead to their different views about talk: high-context culture vs. low-context culture; harmony vs. confrontation; collectivism vs. individualism; obedience vs. aggression; face giving vs. facing saving.
