] was the oldest participant, at 24. she had left her native Thailand 1 1/2 years previously with the intention of obtaining a Master's degree in the U.S. she had studied Eng for 10 years in her home country, and then spent 6 months in an intensive Eng program in the U.S. before starting graduate school. her most recent TOEFL score was the highest of the three participant, at 580; however, due to her continuing struggles with grammar and pronunciation in spoken Eng I estimated her ACTFL speaking score as Intermadiate High. [--] taped her interaction with native speaking for nearly one year, capturing conversation mainly with her boyfriend and classmates.