Due to the fact that college classrooms are increasingly culturally diverse, the challenge for instructors is to foster a learning environment in which students gain a more focused sense of identity and achieve academic success. Through the use of stories in the communication classroom, at-risk students from diverse backgrounds can recognize the value and significance of personal experience in their lives. The use of storytelling has the potential to facilitate understanding of communication concepts in applicable, everyday contexts. This potentially empowering instructional tool promotes the creation of a "shared experience in the classroom" with peers and the professor (Hogg, 1995). Experiential pedagogical tools, such as storytelling, may help students develop the trust in themselves and in others through classroom interaction. By sharing stories, students may realize the relevance, validity, and efficacy of their cultural heritages and learning abilities, regardless of cultural differences. More research needs to be completed to illustrate how stories shared by students from diverse cultures can be more effectively evaluated. (Contains 33 references.) (NKA)