Abstract

The present study aims to explore how two college freshmen inThailandnegotiate their space in an EFL classroom as both of them are from different provinces so that they face linguistic and cultural barriers and thus are labelled as “others.” The ethnographic approach based upon participant observation and a series of interviews shows how two students become aware of their own cultural background which leads them to take different approaches in order to accommodate a new challenge: one actively gets involved in a local culture while the other holds on to his own to maintain his cultural upbringing.