A study of classroom communication skills and strategies initiated in an effort to enhance the experience of Chinese graduate students visiting the United States had two parts. In the first, communications in a sampling of U.S. graduate science courses were examined, resulting in information about the language of classroom conversation management. This information was then incorporated into oral communication classes in China. The second part of the study, undertaken in China, looked at interaction in graduate science courses to (1) examine apparent cultural differences in more detail, (2) determine whether the strategies being taught from the study's first part were those most needed by students going abroad, (3) orient Chinese scientists going abroad at a more general level to classroom interaction, and (4) orient foreign teachers and scholars working in China. The results of both sets of data were analyzed for similarities, differences, and salient characteristics of classroom communication in the two countries, and the results are presented. The analysis focuses on these communication features: total class time for teachers and students, student and teacher initiation of interactional frames, techniques used by students in initiating interaction, and nonverbal feedback from students. The implications of these results for the U.S. scientist going to China are discussed briefly. (MSE)