Silent responses: Building international student confidence to participate in taught sessions at the graduate level

Over the last few decades, the number of tertiary students studying abroad has grown significantly. This has resulted in instructors teaching an increasingly diverse student body (both culturally and linguistically), particularly at the graduate level. This article focuses its attention on international students whose classroom presence is described by some as being very quiet, with a reluctance to speak up within the learning environment. To positively address this, a suite of original practical strategies is presented for graduate instructors to use to initially build international student confidence to participate during taught sessions. By embracing the notion of silent responses to questions, graduate instructors can be sensitive to select factors which influence international students’ reluctance in participating in classroom activities, supporting their emerging confidence and learning experience at the start of their graduate programme.