Embracing Culturally Responsive Methods to Educate Culturally and Linguistically Diverse International Students in the U.S.

Even though a substantial number of international graduate students pursue their education in U.S. higher education institutions, existing policies, regulations and procedures do not clearly define their linguistic and cultural needs. The cultural knowledge or familiarity that students need to function effectively in U.S. classrooms is often overlooked. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the cultural challenges that international graduate students experience in classrooms in an American higher education institution and to explore the practice of culturally responsive teaching to accommodate their academic needs. This study specifically focused on implicit cultural components in curriculum and instruction, and the strategies that may assist international graduate students to accomplish their academic goals. There were two groups of participants in this study: The first group of participants was 25 international graduate students, and the second group of participants was three faculty and two administrator members at the public university. The conceptual framework was used as a framework of this study, which has four components: (1) Societal Factors, (2) Student Factors, (3) University Experiences, and (4) Student Outcomes. Findings for the societal factors revealed that linguicism in some form was experienced by all students, but racism and Islamophobia impacted mainly students of color. Additionally, these societal factors impacted interactions in the classroom between international students and native English-speaking American students. The findings for the student factors indicated that international graduate students’ prior academic experience necessitate extra support with the required cultural, historical and current event knowledge, and also with academic English language usage in American classrooms. The major component was the role of English language pragmatics in course materials, assessments and classroom participation. The university experience inputs suggested that embracing culturally responsive methods and creating a bridge between students’ culture and prior knowledge and classroom content can enhance the academic success of both international and domestic students. This dissertation provides recommendations for policies, guidelines, and practices that can support the cultural and linguistic needs of international graduate students