ABSTRACT
This study extends a conceptual framework of instructional communication to Chinese professors’ interactions with international students in the classroom. Chinese professors (n = 313) in nine Wuhan-area universities completed a questionnaire on their classroom instructional relationships with their international students. Key findings are: (a) Chinese professors most frequently discussed with their colleagues methods for improving their instructional communication with their international students and least frequently the instructional difficulties the students faced; (b) female professors tended to spend more time than their male counterparts in trying to make the international students’ classroom experience more fulfilling; and (c) female professors engaged more than their male counterparts in one-on-one discussions with international students (r = .551, p < .01). This chapter presents pedagogical implications of these results for practices in Chinese universities and in higher education institutions with significant international student populations.
