Responding to the Unique Expectations and Needs of Graduate Students Who Are Nonnative Speakers of English

Students who are nonnative speakers of English are both a major component of today's diverse student population and also a special constituency in business communication classrooms. They may be foreign students or resident students who have primary languages other than English. Business communication instructors face major challenges conducting graduate classes with such diverse and often divergent student needs. Meeting the challenges of these ESL students is especially daunting because instructors must respond concurrently to the needs of the native English speakers as well. The purpose of this article is to suggest techniques, approaches, and exercises that respond to these nonnative, English-speaking graduate students. The author examined the obstacles and proposed resolutions across three dimensions: written communication, spoken communication, and cross-cultural communication.