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This exploratory study investigates how international students perceive and experience communication challenges in Iran's higher education context. This study explores the real-life experiences of international students enrolled in various academic programs. This study employs a qualitative approach using interviews to gather data. This study involved 70 international students from different countries. Participants were enrolled in various programs at Iranian universities. The findings revealed five communication challenges: linguistic barriers, cultural differences, lack of confidence, ineffective teaching practices, and poor teacher rapport. As mentioned by the participants, these challenges influence effective communication and participation in academic settings. This study found that these communication challenges often co-occur together and can lead to other communication challenges. In this regard, linguistic barriers among international students can contribute to a lack of confidence, and ineffective teaching practices can lead to language barriers. The most common pattern observed in the data was linguistic barriers leading to a lack of confidence. This study emphasizes the importance of addressing these challenges to establish a more inclusive and engaging learning environment for international students. By acknowledging and actively addressing the communication challenges faced by international students, educators and policymakers can play a crucial role in establishing a supportive and inclusive learning environment that enhances students' communication skills and overall academic success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, an attempt is made to probe two sets of widely used ELT textbooks in the Iranian context based on the representation of intercultural communicative competence (ICC). In accord with the theoretical assumptions underlying ICC, we analysed seven English textbooks to find out how they take into consideration the intercultural components including intercultural knowledge, intercultural attitude, and intercultural skills. This paper manifested that unlike the locally produced Iranian Vision series, the Top Notch series was found to take a much broader international approach in representing cultural elements associated with the development of language learners' ICC. The Vision series has failed to include diverse intercultural components. This alienation is highlighted through insufficient references to the target (or other) cultures, whereby it results in the deprivation of language learners from the authentic, real-life cultural contexts, which adversely affects the development of language learners' intercultural competence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the intricate dynamics of student–faculty interactions in asynchronous online communication, focusing in particular on professors’ responses to non-native English-speaking students’ (NNSs’) favor-asking during online exchanges. Through qualitative analysis of email exchanges, this research examines how students articulate their concerns and requests for grade reassessment, and how professors respond to such instances of favor-asking. This study indicates that politeness is a more critical issue in asynchronous email communication than whe face-to-face interactions. The findings reveal that students often challenge professors’ authority by questioning assessment fairness, whereas professors employ disaffiliative strategies to maintain academic rigor and uphold their authority. This study highlights the role of cultural norms and politeness strategies in shaping these interactions, suggesting that a lack of awareness regarding these norms can lead to misunderstanding and escalate tensions. Furthermore, this research underscores the necessity of teaching pragmatic communication skills to non-native speakers to enhance their engagement and effectiveness in academic discourse. This study illuminates the complexities of these exchanges, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by both students and faculty in the context of assessment and communication in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]