"Rules you have to know"

Abstract

As more universities internationalize, interest in engagement between international and domestic students has increased. University initiatives to bring students together often adopt a deficit approach dependent on international students’ “adjustment” to the host culture, overlooking the need for adjustment to be a two-way exchange and the role of the institution in this process. Focusing on educational group work as a salient site of cross-national interaction, this study draws on focus group data to explore how institutional habitus, or unwritten rules, are enacted at a large U.S. university. Findings indicated that domestic students were better socialized to understand the habitus of the institution and thus tend to take charge in group work. In contrast, international students were seen as linguistically and academically deficient and are relegated to passive roles in a group. Important implications for practitioners and scholars of U.S. higher education are discussed.

Leveraging Flip, a Video Discussion Platform, to Support the Needs of International ESL Pre-Service Teachers

“…There is often a divide between international TESOL PSTs and English-speaking domestic students due to cultural and linguistic capital (Seithers et al, 2022). Flip helps to address this issue by creating an additional and asynchronous space where students can listen and hear from one another, have conversations, and build relationships.…”