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Located in the Philippines, this study explored the perceptions secondary English education majors at a public university in Metro Manila, Philippines, have of classroom participation. Through an open-ended questionnaire and a series of interviews, the researcher found participants defined class participation as “recitation,” such as student responses to teacher-generated questions with limited interaction with peers. Participants also reported a strong power distance relationship between student and teacher and suggested a fear of failure restricted their class participation. Despite these challenges, participants expected their participation to be assessed. When examined through the lens of Willingness to Communicate, student perceptions were contrary to the skills expected of 21st century learners. Understanding the student perception of class participation has the potential to mediate perceptual mismatches and create more effective learning environments.

Integrating English language learners into the academic mainstream is a critically important goal. For students who are learning content in their second or third language as well as negotiating the university's social context, integrating into the mainstream academic environment can be challenging. Instructors at a public university intensive English program (IEP) addressed these problems by developing a common reading project and creating a learning community composed of U.S. native-English-speaking freshman in a critical reading class and intermediate-and advanced-level IEP students in integrated skills courses. Communities of practice, inquiry, and creativity were built through the process of coplanning and coteaching and through methods and activities implemented in the classroom. Through collaboration on a common reading and theme, Night by Elie Wiesel, and genocide, the instructors built a supportive learning environment that was mutually beneficial to both groups. In this article, the instructors discuss the nature of the learning community, present theories related to cross-cultural learning communities, and explain how intercultural communities support the distinctive goals of a liberal arts education. Then they describe the process of developing curriculum for the common reading project and share findings from student questionnaires evaluating the project.

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