Journal of International Students Non-native English Students’ Linguistic and Cultural Challenges in Australia Noparat Tananuraksakul, PhD Department of Business English South-East Asia University, Thailand Abstract This paper looks into the effect of use of international English on non-native students’ dignity in Australian aca- demic and social contexts. The study was undertaken through in-depth interviews with 28 participants from 13 countries. The results partly revealed that there was neither speech convergence nor culture convergence between non-native and native speakers. When native speakers linguistically converged towards non-native speakers, it appeared to backfire as mocking behavior. There was an expectation that host tutors, lecturers and classmates would adjust their speech to a level accommodating non-native speakers, but they did not. Failure to effectively converge linguistically and culturally led to failure in intergroup communication. The failure concomitantly affect- ed participants’ self-worth, motivation and identity in a way that diminished their dignity and motivation, imping- ing on their identity. Key Words: International Students, Academic and Social Context, Dignity, Non-Native English Speaker English is the most powerful international lingua fran- host language is not their mother tongue. It also follows ca, a language of globalization, a great economic and from the different approaches to language learning ped- political source of power and a contributing factor to the agogy, where a more traditional focus on grammatical growth of intercultural communication in the global rules and usage (Sawir, 2005), rather than on using the context (Hatos, 2006; Tsuda, 2008). Its status has cre- language for real communicative purposes, may not ated a rich English language teaching (ELT) industry, equip them well for their new environment. Given that which has opened up employment opportunities for language and culture are intertwined, the more their both native and non-native speakers of English. As first language and culture differ from the host’s, the well, the rise of English has motivated non-native more difficulty they have in coping with academic and speakers to study the language at home and/or abroad in social life. order to acquire fluency and utilize these English lan- In Australia, international students in general guage skills as effectively as they can in the globalized have difficulty understanding Australian English (AE) professional world. Of the English-speaking countries, which leads them to feel psychologically distant from Australia ranks the third largest provider of internation- the host society and encounter language shock al education after the US and the UK (Novera, 2004). (Tananuraksakul, 2009b). In consequence, they lose According to Australian Education confidence (Sawir, 2005) and tend to become confused, International (2011), 240,644 international students embarrassed or lost which tends to hinder their focus were enrolled in the Australian Higher Education and undermine the energy required to learn a second Sector. Generally, when these international students language (Holliday, Hyde & Kullman, 2004). enter a new social environment, they are taking an inter- Eventually, they may feel deprived of opportunities to cultural crossing journey, which can be difficult and use their mother tongue, partly risking their sense of challenging because it involves coping with unfamiliar- intrinsic dignity and self-worth (Tsuda, 2000; ity and anxiety. They may find many cultural differ- Tananuraksakul & Hall, 2011). ences between their host country and their home coun- Tsuda (2000) particularly reveals his own per- tries (Gu & Maley, 2008). If they cannot adjust them- sonal experiences as a non-native-English-speaking selves to the differences in such a disorienting environ- professor of International Communication in English- ment, they will experience culture shock (Sussman, speaking settings where he experienced more than 2000). Adjustment during an initial transitional stage minor inconveniences; he felt his personal sense of appears to be a primary and challenging issue for them human dignity suffer as a result of language challenges. when coming to an English-speaking country (Bigg, Non-native speakers consider English language learn- 2003). Language competence is predicted as a having a ing as a vehicle for a sense of accomplishment (Crystal, strong impact on international students’ post-arrival 2003) and a source of their dignity (Tananuraksakul, adaptation (Andrade, 2006). This is not just because the 2009a) and 107 ISSN-2162-3104 http://jistudents.org/ Spring 2012 Vol. 2 Issue 1 no previous studies appear to have been undertaken on versation can show differences in social status, enforce the connection between language proficiency and feel- role or norm-specific behavior as well as define in- ings of human dignity in an intercultural and foreign group or out-group boundaries (Gallois, Ogay & Giles, language learning context. The primary objective of 2005). In this intergroup communication, if interlocu- this paper is therefore to look into the effect of use of tors (people one socially interacts with) are not willing international English on non-native students’ dignity in to accommodate or adjust their language and speech Australian academic and social contexts. behavior towards one another, successful communica- tion is unlikely to occur. There is no mutual under- Definition of Dignity in the Present Context standing and their message becomes unintelligible Dignity is a complex concept to define due to its because they do not pronounce words synchronically. abstraction and culturally contextual base. No previous This phenomenon is relevant to what Smith and Nelson studies have been undertaken on human dignity in an (2006) term “intelligibility”, which refers to word and intercultural and foreign language learning context. utterance recognition. The Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Of all speakers of English from the Expanding Learners (2002) defines dignity as “respect that other Circle, almost one-third of speakers from the twenty- people have for you or that you have for yourself” (p. five non-native English countries of the European 385), which reflects individuals’ feelings of self-worth Union (EU) think that they can manage to converse or self-respect. In organization studies, Bolton (2007) confidently in English with culturally different others proposes dimensions of a dignity framework, which (Anderman & Rogers, 2005). Speakers from describes distinctive features of dignity in work and at Scandinavia and the Netherlands particularly demon- work. Features of dignity in work are autonomy, job strate higher levels of fluency than speakers from other satisfaction, meaningful work, respect, learning and countries (Crystal, 2003). This is partly because development. Features of dignity at work relate to well- English is increasingly used as a lingua franca in the being, just reward, voice, security and equal opportuni- EU. However, when interlocutors from other countries ty. in this particular Circle communicate with each other Dignity in the current study, however, is defined via the medium of English, their intergroup communi- based on Tananuraksakul’s and Hall’s (2011) study into cation is more likely to break down because of their non-native English students’ self-worth or self-respect. different levels of English competence and/or pronun- It is related to how they personally feel when they com- ciation-based misunderstanding. Jenkins (2002) found municate in English inside and outside the classroom, that “certain pronunciation deviations particularly in based on perceptions of how well they have learned consonant sounds, vowel length and the placing of English and projected this learning in communicative tonic stress” (p. 91) caused a non-native English com- acts with culturally different others. If they perceive a municator’s pronunciation to lack mutual intelligibility success in communication, they feel dignified in them- to a non-native English interlocutor. Nevertheless, if selves and gain self-worth, and conversely, if they interlocutors come from countries within the same experience a failure to communicate with culturally regions, communication may appear to be more intelli- different others, they feel a loss of dignity in them- gible. An example is revealed in Deterding’s and selves and a lowering in their sense of intrinsic self- Kirkpatrick’s (2006) study that English as a lingua worth. How they respond to feelings of diminished franca (ELF) used among people from ASEAN coun- dignity or present themselves to culturally different tries had some non-standard features of pronunciation others during social interactions depends upon their in common which enhanced intelligibility. own perceptions, standards and goals. Despite the fact that learners of English in the Expanding Circle have studied for years and their stan- Pertinent Literature Review dardized English test has returned a high proficiency When speakers of English from different cultural and level, studies (e.g., Bamford et al., 2002; Kiley, 2003) linguistic groups come into contact through the use of reveal that the language requirement for tertiary admis- English, their language and speech behavior during sion in English-speaking countries cannot ensure that interactions are important because they are markers of non-native English students possess the necessary group membership and individual identity (Shepard, native-like communication skills or acquire native-like Giles & Le Poire, 2001). How individuals use their lan- receptive ability. In part, this is because variations in guage and speech behavior when they engage in a con- their English pronunciation are characterized by Journal of International Students 108 Journal of International Students the influence of their mother tongue. Their interactive purposes than non-native English people. speech is described as language interference (Ellis, Convergence, however, can backfire because it can 1999) or “Interlanguage Talk” (Jenkins, 2000), mean- appear as mocking behavior (Thornborrow, 2004), in ing language phonological transfer from their mother particular when native English people converge on tongue to English language usage. While interlocutors non-native English people. And if convergence is engage in the Talk, Jenkins (2000) suggests that it is anticipated due to regulated rules and social norms, and imperative for speakers to develop the ability to adjust there is no synchronous verbal and nonverbal behavior, their pronunciation based on the communicative situa- such communication is negatively interpreted as tion they are in. They must accommodate towards their expectancy violation (Burgoon & Hubbard, 2005). The listeners. At the same time, listeners must learn to deal power distance between interlocutors enjoying both with a certain amount of mother tongue transfer and high and low social status culturally influences these adjust expectations regarding target pronunciation. violations (Burgoon, 1995). Deterding and Kirkpatrick (2006) further recommend that it is essential for interlocutors to be aware of not Methodology only when they need to adjust their own speech but A qualitative research approach by means of one-on- also how to adjust the speech successfully. one interviews was employed for data collection The notion of accommodation was initially theo- between 2008 and 2009. The approach was appropriate rized by Howard Giles (1973) and modified as com- for the study because it was not concerned with meas- munication accommodation theory. Accommodation urement but with exploring students’ personal lived describes the ways and extent to which each individual experiences in relation to their communication in employs a particular strategic behavior to negotiate English and their personal security in the Australian social distance (Shepard, Giles & Le Poire, 2001). context (Johnson & Christensen, 2008). Convergence, divergence and maintaining are typical accommodation strategies (Giles & Coupland, 1991). Participants A convergent strategy reflects an individual’s social The target group of participants was international male integration or identification with others. In contrast, a and female students with non-native English and divergent strategy reflects individuals’ social disinte- diverse cultural backgrounds, enrolled in a Master’s gration or distance from others by accentuating differ- Degree Program. A condition of the selection of par- ences in speech and non-verbal features between them ticipants was that they must have neither studied nor and others. When individuals persist in maintaining completed a diploma or a degree in countries (includ- their original speech style irrespective of that of their ing their own) where English was used as a medium of interlocutors, it is referred to as maintenance, which is communication and instruction. In order to try to main- similar to divergence in its neglect of accommodation. tain a measure of consistency, the research was restrict- To some extent, the maintaining strategy signals signif- ed to Master’s Degree students, since the different lev- icant social connection. For example, an Australian els of maturity between undergraduate and postgradu- may maintain their own original accented speech when ate students would have introduced an additional vari- communicating with their family and friends able. The duration of Master’s Degree Programs varies (Kirkpatrick, 2007), signaling a close relationship or between one year, a year and a half, and two years. shared social and cultural belonging. The same person A small number of 28 postgraduate students from may modify his or her speech when talking to out- non-native English backgrounds (China, Czech group members to achieve a communicative goal. Republic, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, When interlocutors linguistically converge in the Mexico, Peru, Slovakia, Sweden, Thailand and same direction as their interaction partners, their Vietnam) were recruited on a voluntary basis in behaviour patterns become synchronous (Shepard, response to an advertisement at an internationally rec- Giles & Le Poire, 2001), leading to a construct of intel- ognized university in Sydney. Participants were ligibility in an international communication context enrolled in a variety of different Master’s Degree (Jenkins, 2000). Accents, dialects, idioms (Moise & Programs. Their adequate English proficiency mani- Bourhis, 1994), speech rates, pauses, utterance lengths fested in their admission to the university. Of the 28 and phonological variants (Burt, 2005) can be modified participants, 9 were male and 19 were female. Their by interlocutors to display their convergence. It may ages ranged from 22 to 48. All were assigned pseudo- be assumed that native English people have more abil- nyms in order to ensure their anonymity. Most were ity to converge their speech pattern for accommodation undertaking one-year postgraduate programs, 109 ISSN-2162-3104 Spring 2012 Vol. 2 Issue 1 some were studying for a double degree, which for the purpose of postgraduate study, the participants involved a combination of coursework and research were unable, despite their demonstrated English-lan- and thus took longer than one year. Some had joined guage competence, to ‘meaningfully, appropriately and an exchange program, which only required six months effectively’ use English as a medium of communica- on site at the Australian university. At the time of this tion (Ochs 1996 cited in Kramsch 2002); nor could study, the participants had been studying at the they negotiate their ‘intercultural identity’ (Kim, 2001) University for various length of time. Fifteen had just successfully. They could neither recognise nor com- started their programs, and five had one or more prehend the different varieties of ‘World Englishes’ semesters left before completing their programs. Five (Bolton, 2006). Peng (Chinese) and Joo (Korean) participants were due to graduate having passed all of expected their Australian tutors, lecturers and class- their exams. Three participants aimed to finish their mates to empathize with them and adjust their speech exchange program in the next semester. accordingly (Jenkins, 2003). Yet, the Australian inter- locutors in almost all cases did not do this, whether Procedures through lack of awareness or through a deliberate deci- Prior to each interview, the interviewer introduced her- sion not to change their normal communication styles. self and explained the aims of the study including the By displaying more convergent behavior, especially definition of the key concept. Equivalents of the con- speaking with a clearer accent, using less local slang cept of “dignity” were found and verified with bilin- (Burt, 2005) and modifying their speech rate, pauses, gual speakers in each of the native languages of the utterance length and phonological variants, the interviewees. During each interview, which took about Australian interlocutors would have been able to make half an hour, notes were taken in preference to tape their communication more effective for their interna- recording the conversation so as to create an informal tional colleagues. The fact that they did not adopt a atmosphere. Each student was asked to recall his or more convergent approach suggests that Australians her experiences in communicating in English inside tend to be ‘speech maintainers’, speaking English with and outside the classroom. The data were validated by their ‘own original speech style’ (Shepard, Giles & Le each student within a week after the interviews. First, Poire, 2001). They make little or no effort to make lec- each interview was re-created from the notes and tures and class discussions easier for non-native-speak- emailed to the participant for validation. All corre- er students to understand. Perhaps, it is because they spondence at this stage was electronic. Three partici- are more focused on projecting their own persona or pants suggested minor changes and the documents identity rather than on communicating with culturally were then revised accordingly. The validated data were and linguistically different others (Kirpatrick, 2007) or then analyzed and categorized by means of highlight- on incorporating such a communication style into their ing keywords/phrases with different colors. The fol- instruction. The Australians’ speech behaviour is thus lowing are examples of the structured interview ques- interpreted negatively by international students as tions: Have you had any cultural and linguistic barriers ‘expectancy violation’ (Burgoon & Hubbard, 2005) inside and outside the classroom? If yes, when and although there is no situational norm in the present what are those? How did you feel when you faced the context that requires lecturers and others to adjust their barriers? Did the feeling(s) you have affect your digni- speech to accommodate international students. These ty? How and why? Australian lecturers fail to be ‘mindful to communicate Summary of Findings competently’ with their sojourning international stu- All students experienced English language barriers in dents (Ting-Toomey, 2005). This being the case, the understanding Australians at the beginning of their participants felt uneasy and unmotivated to participate study at the university because they were not accus- in classroom activities. Peng and Joo felt that this ‘non- tomed to this variety of English. While Anna mindful’ behavior and the maintaining speech style (Slovakian), Nadia (Czech) and Lam (Vietnamese) contributed to their feelings of insecurity regarding were more familiar with British English (BrE), the rest their identities because these features impinged on were used to American English (AmE) as they studied their ability to engage in classroom discussions. Out of it at school in their homeland and were influenced the twenty-eight participants, seven did not feel com- through popular culture. Additionally, some students fortable asking Australians to repeat what they said, experienced difficulty in comprehending other vari- nor did they feel comfortable being asked by eties of English. Upon their arrival in Australia Australians to repeat themselves. For example, Journal of International Students 110 Journal of International Students Neil (Indonesian) described: “during my first two dation with four American students perceived her months my Australian classmates did not interaction with these housemates as an obstacle. She understand my English, missed the points I said:“they spoke quickly using slang and engaging in wanted to make and asked me to say it small talk about topics I was unfamiliar with...TV pro- again...then I became silent in the class.” grams, food and the US study system...I felt excluded Kim (Korean) expressed “I remembered my first day and unaccepted by the group...they didn’t seem to care at the university…an administrative officer kept ask- about how I felt.” ing me the same questions”. Jib (Thai) considered It appeared that Anna lacked the required ‘cul- “repetition a bad experience” while Jose (Mexican) tural schema’ (Ozyaka, 2001; Lustig & Koester, 2006). thought “it was not pleasant to try to understand what She also felt that her American housemates ignored his Australian friends and housemates and asked them her, suggesting that they did not culturally converge to repeat the same question what?”. Fong said “I actu- their communicative behaviour, by for example fram- ally felt too embarrassed to ask my European class- ing their culturally-specific talk in such a way that mates to repeat what they said in class”. Cathy mutual understanding would become possible (Swede) “felt stupid to ask someone on the phone to (Kincaid, 1988). Anna subsequently experienced repeat something and if I asked three times and I still ‘identity-freezing’ (Imahori & Cupach, 2005), lacking could not understand, I would say something like the motivation to socialise with her US housemates. never mind”. Gai (Thai), working part-time at a Thai Such cultural and linguistic barriers witnessed restaurant, rarely understood her customers there in these and other comments from study participants because “they spoke with an unfamiliar accent and I reflect the symbolic relations of power and identity couldn’t get their orders on the phone. I repeatedly (Norton, 2000) between native-English speakers and asked them to spell some words such as their address the participants, in that the former were linguistically and names”. Regardless of the repetition she asked for, influential over the latter. In one sense, the power rela- she reported that she was not discouraged. In fact, she tions also reflect the identity exclusivity of the former, determined to try harder to understand AE. which constructed native speaker groups as ‘us’ and Regarding scenarios like those mentioned non-native speaker groups as ‘them’, thus compound- above, Bradac and Giles (2005) suggest that they ing ‘the identity insecurity’ of the latter (Kim, 2009). demonstrate no mutual speech convergence in their In another sense, these power relations can be seen as two-way interaction with native speakers. This also an outgrowth of ethnocentrism and stereotyping, both suggests that it is not simple for non-native-speaker of which created barriers in the present context (Jandt, students to be converging speakers or to speak English 2004). The cultural and linguistic forms the partici- in a way that will accommodate Australians in gener- pants had acquired were not adequate to function al, as accommodation in one direction only puts all the effectively in Australia. Furthermore, the process of onus on the non-native speaker. Furthermore, repeti- their English acquisition impinged on the processes of tion constructs a perception of linguistic inability and both their progress towards becoming socially compe- identity negotiation incompetence which lowers affect. tent members (Schieffelin & Ochs, 1986) of the socie- Gai, however, claimed that repetition for her as a ty and their ‘identity negotiations’ (Ting-Toomey, speaker gave her ‘self-concept-related motivation’ 2005) with culturally different others. (Dörnyei & Clément, 2001) to develop her language The unfamiliar linguistic and cultural land- ability rather than ‘cripple herself with inferiority’ scape confronting the international students from non- (Kim, 2009), so it must be concluded that asking for native backgrounds arriving in Australia resulted in a and receiving requests for repetition, while they may failure to establish intergroup communication, which be powerful demotivating contributors, are not in in turn affected participants’ self-worth, motivation themselves an inevitable cause of demotivation as long and identity. The unintelligibility and ineffective use as participants have the emotional and communicative of English psychologically affected them in a way that mechanisms for coping with these difficulties. challenged their speaking and being understood. This Native speakers in unfamiliar communicative led them to feel distant, not only from native-speaker contexts may find themselves experiencing similar groups (Schumann, 1986) but also from other non- emotions, but the feeling among foreign-language native-speaker groups with stronger English skills. users that they may be to blame for insufficient prior This effect appeared to inhibit their acculturation and learning constitutes an additional emotional hurdle to personal development. However, twelve participants be overcome. Anna who shared university accommo- were not as affected by unintelligibility because 111 ISSN-2162-3104 Spring 2012 Vol. 2 Issue 1 they appeared to adopt a positive attitude and determi- lenges. For Nadia, it was because native speakers did nation to improve which helped them negotiate their not understand her English and laughed at the way she activities with culturally different others (Kim, 2009). pronounced some words. Yao felt empathetic for those Take Nelcy’s case as an example. She said: interacting with her, pressurizing her to be an effective I feel confident in myself and my English…I intercultural communicator. Abdul (Indian) feared that feel comfortable to use English to make friends he could become an object of ridicule in the eyes of the with culturally different others…I am able to locals. He noticed that some local interlocutors did make a good friend with a Korean class appear to be adopting some elements of his speech, but mate…it doesn’t matter if we could understand he interpreted this less as helpful and sympathetic each other completely…what matters is her speech convergence and more like what Thornborrow good personality. (2004) calls ‘mocking behavior’. This quote clearly shows that Nelcy had high confi- The loss of dignity was attributed variously to dence, which promoted her competence in intergroup Shin’s (Chinese) past educational background and communication in intercultural situations as she dis- English teaching career in his home country as he missed her encounter with unintelligibility, felt com- thought that he would have no problems since he used fortable and was able to successfully negotiate her rela- to study and teach English, Cathy’s (Swede) feeling of tional and cultural identities (Imahori & Cupach, 2005) stupidity at not understanding an Australian joke, with a Korean classmate. Furthermore, she was able to Nok’s (Thai) discouragement comparing herself with manage her identities effectively even though she did her Thai colleagues, Peng’s (Chinese) feeling pressur- not totally understand her classmate’s English because ized to study AE, Ying’s (Chinese) shame, Mau’s she employed appropriate facework strategies, consid- (Chinese) depression and social exclusion, Jib’s (Thai) ering the personality of her interactant instead of antic- feeling of being an outsider, Dui’s (Thai) inability to ipating language barriers and constantly checking compete with Australian-born Chinese, Kim’s unrealis- mutual understanding. This approach affectively and tic expectations based on her results on a recognized integratively motivated her (Dörnyei & Clément, 2001) English test and Wai’s feelings of pressure and chal- both to use English as a medium of communication to lenge by a course convener. Factors influencing these ‘mindfully negotiate shared identity meanings’ (Ting- participants’ loss of dignity reflect their values and Toomey, 2005) and ultimately make good friends. perceived loss of face suggesting that lack of dignity Although Lam felt disadvantaged and stressed affected the participants’ intercultural identity negotia- during her study, and Gai felt frustrated dealing with tions. local customers at her casual work, both maintained Participants who experienced linguistic and their dignity because the former eventually managed to cultural barriers brought discomfort upon themselves adapt herself to pace of study at her host university and and reacted in different ways. For example, four par- the latter considered her casual work experiences to be ticipants stopped sharing their ideas during class dis- unimportant. Natalie (Colombian), Fernando (Peru), cussions. One participant opted to only queue at a win- Tik (Thai) and Toa (Chinese) felt no loss of dignity, dow where a bank teller of a Middle Eastern appear- since their personal traits affectively and integratively ance was on duty, and only chose to shop in an Asian motivated them to respond positively to the issue of supermarket where he could culturally identify himself unintelligibility. Keiko (Japanese) felt dignified in the with the shop assistants. Instead of resorting to silence, belief that it was normal for a 48-year-old student like one male participant deliberately responded by saying herself to have limited language learning ability. Tom ‘what?’ while one female said ‘never mind’ and anoth- (Swede), Anna and Jose perceived no attack on their er requested her customers to spell their names and dignity, seeing the application of the term dignity as an addresses. The analysis concludes that intergroup com- unnecessarily serious way of measuring their intrinsic munication in the present context is complex due not self-worth. Joo (Korean) felt dignified because of her only to the different levels of English used and to confidence in the subject matters. The above analysis accented speech but also to diverse cultural back- suggests that positive attitudes, affective/integrative grounds. These differences, along with other commu- motivation and personal traits influence perceptions of nicative barriers, appear to include factors affecting the dignity and self-worth when communicating in English process of communication between non-native speak- with culturally different others. ers and native speakers. Intergroup communication Thirteen participants felt that their feelings of between people from non-native and native English dignity had suffered as a result of their language chal- Journal of International Students 112 Journal of International Students speakers is more complex than when native speakers date non-native speakers with whom they came into communicate with each other. The native-to-native contact. The US nationals mentioned in one case simi- communication process ends with making sense of the larly did not culturally accommodate their non-native world based upon shared cultural worldviews. housemate. On the other hand, non-native speakers Asymmetrical communication ends with being silent, were not yet able to adjust their way of speaking to changing the subject, pretending to understand, saying accommodate the host nationals. This phenomenon things that hopefully will be appropriate, making clari- suggests that it is very challenging for non-native stu- fication, repeating and/or negotiating new intercultural dents to adjust their academic and social lives in the identities. present context because they have to cope with linguis- tic and cultural ‘nonaccommodation’. Thus, it is appro- Conclusion and Recommendations priate to recommend that there is a need for both This study explored how use of international English groups to be conscious of this issue. In particular, the impacted non-native students in Australian academic host nationals may need to consciously adjust their and social contexts. The study has a number of limita- own speech to an accommodating style appropriate to tions in that it was restricted to a small sample of 28 the varied cultural and linguistic backgrounds of their non-native English students and a qualitative research students. method. Researchers also did not establish a control References group of native speakers to examine whether at least Anderman, G., & Rogers, M. (2005). English in some of the cultural and communicative issues might Europe: for better, for worse? In G. Anderman arise in a similar way as part of the transition from & M. Rogers (Eds.), In and out of English: For undergraduate to postgraduate studies. The study does, better, for worse?(pp. 1-26). Toronto, Canada: however, give some indication of the effect of per- Multilingual Matters. ceived language competency and culturally complex Andrade, M. S. (2006) International students in communications on non-native students’ sense of dig- English-speaking universities. Journal of nity and self-worth during the early stages of their stud- Research in International Education, 5, 131- ies in Australia. 154. The outcomes suggest that the participants Australian Education International. (2011). 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B., & Ochs, E. (Eds.) (1986). Language socialization across cultures. ________________________ Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. About the Author: Schumann, J. H. (1986) Research on the accultura Noparat Tananuraksakul received a master’s degree in tion model for second language acquisition. TESOL from Azusa Pacific University (California), Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural postgraduate degree in International Communication Development, 7, 379-392. and a doctoral degree in Linguistics from Macquarie Shepard, C. A., Giles, H., & Le Poire, B.A. (2001). University in Australia. Her research interests include Communication accommodation theory. In social psychology of language use, intercultural com- W.P. Robinson & H. Giles (Eds.), The new munication and teaching English as a Foreign handbook of language and social psychology Language. (pp. 33-56). West Sussex, England: John Wiley and Sons Ltd. Smith, L. E., & Nelson, C. L. (2006). World Englishes and issues of intelligibility. In B. B. Kachru, Y. Kachru & C. L. Nelson (Eds.), The handbook of world Englishes (pp. 428-444). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 115 ISSN-2162-3104 Spring 2012 Vol. 2 Issue 1