Abstract:
International
students
in
the
United
States
are
a
large
and
growing
population
(Institute
of
International
Education,
2010).
Universities
in
the
United
States
and
elsewhere
are
attempting
to
tap
into
the
potential
benefits
of
international
education
including
the
advantages
that
a
culturally
and
racially
diverse
student
body
offers.
Despite
valuing
international
students
for
their
cultural
diversity,
universities
still
seem
reluctant
to
embrace
the
linguistic
diversity
that
international
students
who
are
‘non-‐native
speakers’
of
English
inevitably
bring
with
them
(cf.
Jenkins,
2011).
This
study
explores
this
issue
from
the
point
of
view
of
eight
international
students
studying
at
a
mid-‐sized
US
university,
using
questionnaire
and
interview
data
collected
longitudinally
over
eight
months.
The
data
reveals
that
despite
many
claims
to
the
contrary
(e.g.
Carter,
1998;
Kubota,
2006;
Kuo,
2006;
Prodromou,
2006;
Scheuer,
2005;
Sobkowiak,
2005),
international
students
are
not
unequivocally
in
support
of
using
a
standard
based
on
native
speaker
norms
for
language
learning
and
use.
Rather,
the
issue
is
a
source
of conflict
and
contradiction
for
the
students.
Furthermore,
this
ideology
of
‘nativeness’
formed
on
the
basis
of
the
belief
that
‘native
speaker’
language
represents
‘authentic’
or
‘superior’
language
leads
the
participants
to
a
position
of
devaluing
their
own
and
other
‘non-‐native
speakers’’
intelligibility
and
communicative
capacity.
The
study
concludes
with
the
suggestion
that
the
ideology
that
holds
that
‘non-‐native
speaker’
language
is
deficient
as
opposed
to
different
from
‘native
speaker’
language
is
incompatible
with
a
vision
of
egalitarian
international
education,
in
which
English
is
used
as
a
common
language
or
lingua
franca.
In
order
to
empower
international
students
to
contribute
to
the
academic
discourses
that
characterize
US
higher
education
(and
other
contexts),
recognition
of
the
legitimate
speakerhood
of
‘non-‐native
speakers’
of
English
is
critical.
