The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 43, No. 1 - 82

Christina W. Yao

his English speaking skills and connect with
domestic students. Pete shared, "some people
told me to get off campus but I still live here so
I can improve my language. So this is the most
important reason I live in [residence hall]."
Although most participants expressed the
need for strong English speaking skills, very
few participants indicated they were successful in bridging the communication gap with
domestic students in their residence halls. For
example, Kay spoke extensively about the role
language played in her MWU experience. Kay
disclosed that she hired an English language
tutor her sophomore year to practice conversational English. She addressed the need for
better English skills to have a better life in the
United States, when she stated:
One theory I really believe is that living
in the United States, your language level
basically stands for your living standards here.
Better English is the better mind. If we have
American style mind and you speak English
really good, as an international student, you
can live very well in the United States. But if
you stay here for three or four years and you
still speak broken English, then you have a
very sucks life.
Kay recognized the necessity of being conﬁdent enough to approach American students.
She stated that as a "foreigner," she had to
"push myself to involve into this culture" in
order to "live a good life" in the United States.
Only one participant expressed full conﬁdence in his ability to speak English with
native English speakers. D identiﬁed himself
as someone who loves to speak and loves to
learn languages. D stated he had a relatively
easy time adjusting to life at MWU. He credited his ease in ﬁnding new friends to his

The need for belonging is
particularly relevant for international
students who are thrust into a
foreign living environment when
they attend college.

English speaking abilities:
It's pretty easy for me to adjust to the life here
because a lot of-some Chinese students don't
speak English very well. For me, I'm kind of
open and speak not really bad. And I talk a
lot and I go to a lot exhibits with my friends.
Some of my friends, they told me that they
have a hard time adjusting to the life here
because of some cultural problems, language
problems.
D spoke about his Chinese friends having difﬁculty with culture and language. When asked
what makes it different for him, he stated his
willingness to "put himself out there" gave
him the advantage over other international
students. Conﬁdence in his language abilities
enabled D to make more American friends
and, consequently, they were able to ﬁnd more
topics in common, such as sports and clothes.
Thus, D used his conﬁdence in his language
ability as a bridge to connect with domestic
American students, leading to an increased
sense of belonging.

Language Ability as a Barrier to
Connecting with Domestic Students
Many participants felt their lack of English
language skills hindered communicating with
American students, and more often than not,

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The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 43, No. 1

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