Reconsidering possibilities for integration of international students in tertiary education

Various geopolitical and sociohistorical factors have contributed to large-scale enrolments of international students from non-English-speaking countries in educational institutions located in English-speaking countries. While their original academic qualifications and conventions fulfil the pre-requisites for entry into these institutions, their subsequent academic success is mediated to a great extent by their abilities to embrace the academic and literacy practices of their new educational context. Attempts to foster the understanding and application of new conventions among these students have tended to involve either provisions for replacing ‘the old’ with ‘the new’ or more pluralistic approaches where accommodation of ‘the old’ is the underlying norm. We argue, however, that neither of these approaches holistically addresses the pedagogical complexities involved in educating these students, illustrating the pressing need for innovative, more nuanced and considered approaches to educating international students at the tertiary level.