Monique, thanks for sharing information about this subject from a French perspective. It's interesting to read about similarities and differences betweem specific customs & the reasons for those customs within a particular nation and throughout the world.

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Perhaps this point has already been made, but it occurs to me that mainstream American [USA] culture also believes that looking a speaker in the eye is a sign of attentiveness. Teachers, ministers, and other public speakers and also performers expect that their audiences look at them as this shows that the audiences are listening to them.

In African American, West Indian, and other African Disapora cultures periodic verbal responses from the audiences are another sign that audiences are responsive to a speaker. Public schools in African American communities and elsewhere are an important exception to this observation since the public education system does not respect non-mainstream cultural behaviours and the reasons for those practices.

Also, in most African American {and African and African Diaspora} public speaking, ministers, performers, and other speakers elicit responses from their audiences to make sure that they are being heard and understood and also to energize & unify their audiences. For example, within his sermon, a minister will periodically ask "Do you hear me?" "Are you with me?" "Can I get a witness?" Can I get an Amen" and other such questions. And the audience shows that they are listening by responding to these questions. Along with this practice of asking the audience these types of questions, speakers usually makes sure the audience is with them by including call & response questions and/or song.

I've told adapted West African stories to children & teens for more than thirty years and my stories usually include a song with handclapping, and I usually elicit questions from the audience while I tell those stories. For instance, while telling a story about the turtle who was caught eating the farmer's corn, I'll ask the group "How do you think the turtle felt when the farmer said he would make the turtle into turtle soup"? In other stories I might ask "What would you do? {in this situation}? The storytelling is both entertainment and a learning experience as those types of questions interjected within the story help children develop & reinforce critical thinking skills. But my point is that those questions help me gage if my audience is "with me" and helps the audience "stay with me". In contrast, most of my public speaking presentations to adults usually are patterned after the more mainstream [read Anglo-American] practice of giving a speech and then "opening up the floor" to questions & comments.

But I'm going off subject with those points, though they are part and parcel of a discussion about how people might determine whether audiences are being attentive. That said, I'll hold my thoughts on that wider subject and practice being attentive to any other comments from those who might have something else to say.

:o)