Academic Communication Skills: Conversation Strategies for International Graduate Students (review)

Graduate students who study in a second or other language might struggle to communicate orally with classmates, professors, and undergraduates; often, they experience difficulties across multiple situations, tasks, or aspects of speech. Textbooks on oral communication for non-native speaking graduate students, however, have tended to limit their focus either on aspects of second language pronunciation (Hahn & Dickerson, 1992) or on a restricted set of tasks or roles that graduate students might undertake (Gorsuch, Meyers, Pickering, & Griffee, 2010). In contrast to such textbooks, Li-Shih Huang's Academic Communication Skills is a wide-ranging textbook targeting the many types of oral communication tasks that are typically required of graduate students in North America.

The book is meant to be used both by non-native graduate students and instructors in graduate communication courses and by graduate students in self-study situations. The book has seven units: (1) 'A Guide to Key Terms and Concepts,' (2) 'Engaging in Interpersonal Communication,' (3) 'Participating in Small Group Settings I,' (4) 'Participating in Small Group Settings II,' (5) 'Giving Departmental Presentations,' (6) 'Teaching in the Classroom,' and (7) 'Conference Presentations, Research Talks, Teaching Demonstrations, and Job Interviews.' Each unit, except the first introductory one, contains five sections: a short introduction previewing the content, a diagnostic (awareness-raising) section encouraging discussion of assumptions and challenges in speaking, a section providing specific phrases for communicating in particular settings and tasks, a section with in-class or take-home activities, and a section providing strategies and tips for successfully communicating in those settings and tasks. Endnotes in each unit provide further elaboration and suggestions for instructors and for students doing self-study. Reference information for citations is contained in reference lists for individual units which are included at the end of the book. References for further reading and a subject index are also included.

One of the most obvious strengths of Academic Communication Skills is the sheer variety of communicative settings and tasks which are featured. These range from tasks which can be basic though nerve-wracking (such as leaving a telephone message) to tasks which require a high degree of knowledge, preparation, and adaptability (such as answering questions during or after a lesson or presentation). By including a wide variety of tasks and settings, Huang highlights the different characteristics of particular tasks while repeating key strategies or assumptions central to many tasks, such as getting to the point promptly.

The multiple phrases provided for each task and setting also provide students and teachers with different options for accomplishing their communicative goals. The practice activities allow students to engage in tasks, such as group discussions, that may closely reflect their academic experience. In each unit, the strategies section typically focuses on the organization and content of particular tasks and includes both strategies that help students and teachers prepare to communicate and strategies that help them manage interactions while communicating. Students are thus presented not only with examples of what to say but also with guidance about how certain communicative tasks typically unfold and how to proactively and reactively deal with potential communication problems.

Throughout the book, Huang makes explicit links to concepts from cultural anthropology and sociolinguistics (e.g., individualism and collectivism) to raise awareness of the different expectations that people might have about communicating or even 'being' in the world. This helps to uncover the 'hidden assumptions,' as Huang puts it, that underlie communication in North American academia.

There are some limitations to this book. Visually, the formatting and organization of the text is basic. A greater range of graphics, such as boxed inserts, and a wider variety of fonts and ways to organize the text would make the book more visually appealing. In addition, although numerous phrases are given for the various tasks, there are no written or recorded models or examples provided of interactions. Huang does, however, provide advice for the instructor or independent student on how to find or record interactions to use...