ABSTRACT
The university system, by design, is a credentialing and socializing institution which sorts students according to their conformity to hegemonic cultural patterns that include white ontological perspectives, neoliberalism, Anglo-American communication and writing styles, and other behavioral norms of the dominant culture(s). Aspects of instruction that may be culturally loaded include course content, epistemological assumptions, expectations about speaking and writing, how the instructor communicates with students, and how students are expected and positioned to communicate with one another. Other scholars of critical pedagogy have analyzed the experiences of international students facing deeply embedded Anglo-American expectations of what constitutes "good writing" in US universities. For many students, relationships with teachers is a central part of the learning experience. Teachers have a great deal of power in structuring learning environments. One way to show that all students are special is to facilitate dialogue in a way that all voices are honored equally.
