A study examined foreign students from one cultural background, Malaysia, in the American basic speech class to discover which areas they find most difficult and to discover those norms and values that cause these difficulties. Malaysian students were chosen as the focus of the study because Asian students comprise more than half of the total foreign student population (56%), and Malaysians constitute one of the largest groups among the Asian student groups. Ethnography was chosen as the study's principal approach because of its ability to provide what C. Geertz calls "thick description." Ethnography suited the research well because its qualitative and holistic approach helped to guard against ethnocentric aspects of some traditional approaches which force data into artificial categories. A total of 11 interviews were carried out with 2 major groups--Malays and Chinese Malaysians. Conclusions show that Malaysians have at least three main handicaps in a speech class: (1) they have a language barrier; (2) they come from a culture in which gesturing and speaking loudly are frowned upon; and (3) they have had no experience in their own countries speaking publicly. Interviews also led to suggestions about how to help Malaysian students in speech classes. Schools could offer remedial classes in English. Instructors could coach students individually, and take their disadvantages into account when evaluating them. (Contains 23 references.) (TB)