Asian students tend to regard their teachers as authority figures, and may not want to write with a strong voice because they may sound rebellious. The NNS community is diverse, so not all students share the Asian hesitance to use voice. To illustrate, Aghbar and Chitrapu present the Latino community. Again, the NNS writer's style challenges the American preference, which is for a balance of the writers' claims, her or his voice, with the voices of researched experts. Any time a person reads a writer's work, there are challenges, but the challenges are more frequent and more complex in cross-cultural cases.
Awareness is essential to preserve the integrity of the writer's meaning.
The two phenomena presented in this discussion are merely the tip of an iceberg of considerations that could alleviate misinterpretations of NNS writers' work. Familiarizing ourselves with foreign preferences in writing, including thought patterns and use of voice, will not only make us better readers, but also better communicators.