REVIEW OF ACADEMIC INTERACTIONS: COMMUNICATING ON CAMPUS Academic Interactions: Communicating on

The internationalization of higher education has seen an increasing number of students pursuing academic interests in the U.S. (deWit, 2002). Such learners will likely face a variety of challenges—including not only the need to participate in the academic discourse of a particular discipline, such as the natural sciences, marketing, or legal studies (Bhatia, 2002), but also the need to manage social adjustment (Ward, Bochner, & Furnham, 2001). Moreover, the U.S. academic context itself is a particular community of practice (Belcher, 1994; Lave & Wenger, 1991), characterized by norms of engagement and classroom expectations that may differ widely from the experiences international students bring with them (Casanave & Li, 2008; Shiraev & Boyd, 2008). Designed to raise ESL learners ’ awareness about such norms of engagement, Academic Interactions seeks to equip prospective U.S.-based students with “some of the basic communication skills they need to be successful in a college or university setting ” (p. vii). The target audience of the book is high-intermediate to advanced level ESL learners. Its explicit academic focus means that it is best suited for college-preparatory programs. In fact, some activities presuppose access to professors and matriculated university students, further indicating that the book is intended for learners “who are either in an intensive academic English program or have newly begun their academic careers at a U.S. community college, college, or university at either the undergraduate or graduate level” (p. vii). The greatest strength of the book is its carefully designed textual analysis tasks drawn largely from the MICASE databas