This paper explores the apparent contradiction between the valuing and promoting of diverse literacies in most UK HEIs, and the discursive construction of spoken native-speaker English as the medium of good grades and prestige academic knowledge. During group interviews on their experiences of university internationalisation, 38 undergraduate respondents characterise the legitimacy of native-speaker English and non-native-speaker English as used by themselves and their fellow students. The paper concludes by reflecting upon what undergraduates can teach us about the tacit "native-speakerness" of our approaches to knowledge construction, and a third space approach to curriculum design. (Contains 1 note.)