Among Australian tertiary teachers and researchers there has been appreciable debate in recent years about the reluctance of a good many international students to participate actively in tutorials and seminars. The explanation cannot lie simply in low competence in English. The approach of this study is to contrast these students' culturally based perception of the classroom as a place of quiet learners and respected teacher with the Australian view of it as relatively informal, the teacher promoting equal participation. Pragmatic analysis of two informal discussions, one between a group of Australian students and the other between a group of Vietnamese students (in English), reveals that the differences in managing conversation are not in fact wide and that the international students have a potential for active and equal participation in small-group academic discussion. The conclusion suggests a pedagogical direction that EFL teachers and advisers could follow to help their students realise this potential.