International and American Students' Perceptions of Informal English Conversations.

In the past decade, American universities have become the globally premier providers of tertiary education, resulting in substantial increases among international student populations. According to the Institute of International Education's "Open Doors 2012: Report on International Educational Exchange" (2012), the number of non-immigrant international students enrolled in accredited U.S. higher education institutions on temporary visas increased 6% in the 2011-12 school year, to a record high of 764,495-4% of total U.S. college and university enrollment. New international student enrollment also increased 6.5% in 2012, to 228,467 students. For the first time since 2000-01, undergraduate international students (309,342) outnumbered graduate international students (300,430) in 2011-12. Nurturing an internationally diverse student body can generate considerable educational, cultural, and economic benefits for U.S. universities and their students. For instance, connecting and communicating with international students can not only increase American students' awareness of cultural diversity, but also foster their communication skills, preparing them to interact effectively and sensitively in a diverse global market.To achieve such benefits, however, universities must actively encourage international student retention. Whether international students persist in their studies at U.S. universities is closely related to how they navigate a series of difficult and complex sociocultural, psychological, and linguistic adjustments. The present study's findings suggest that structured informal English conversations, in which American students are paired with international students, can positively address these challenges in ways that formal classroom lessons sometimes miss. Indeed, Lee and Song (2009) points out that being able to understand and converse in English during everyday interactions is a high priority for many L2 learners, often because such conversations combine English practice with improved cultural competence. However, the present study also demonstrates that international and American students approach structured informal conversations with different goals and expectations: though both groups valued the intercultural friendships they developed, international students most valued the chance to improve their oral English proficiency, while American students emphasized how they learned about global cultures and helped their international conversation partners to cope with American academic cultures.Although these goals are not mutually exclusive, understanding both sets of priorities is valuable from an administrative perspective. ESL program administrators, along with ESL faculty, commonly encourage international students to make friends with their American classmates, and to practice their English in non-academic contexts. University-run English conversation programs offer a convenient framework for these processes, especially for American students interested in TESOL, but they can also frustrate students who seek different outcomes from their respective conversation partners. An international student, for instance, may expect detailed attention to grammar and syntax while her American partner may be more interested in wide-ranging conversations about customs and culture. Acknowledging and discussing these differences can greatly improve course planning and training, and help both groups of students balance their expectations while still maintaining a positive, comfortable environment for practicing English.LITERATURE REVIEWInformal Interactions with Native Speakers of EnglishInformal interactions with native speakers have been recommended as a means to improve communicative skills, in both academic and nonacademic English learning environments (Johnston, 1996-7; Lee & Song, 2009; Lussier, Turer, & Desharnais, 1993; Martin, 1980; Yager, 1998; Zhang, 2005). Informal learning environments have been defined as "natural setting[s]. …