This study explored participation patterns that East Asian students and non-East Asian students who were native English speakers exhibited a graduate-level American classroom. Through the analysis of video-recorded classroom interactions, class observations, and interviews with selected participants, the study found that the two groups' participation patterns differed from one another. In particular, the linguistic or embodied devices that East Asian students and non-East Asian students used to secure their interactional turns and how they employed them were distinct. Although results represent an initial exploratory view of this topic, understanding these distinctions could help generate teacher strategies for allocating the floor in higher-education classrooms that can lead to more balanced participation by every member of the class.