This qualitative study examines the academic aural/oral difficulties Taiwanese ESL students experience on the US campus and the coping strategies they use in improving related proficiency. They are discussed within a framework of input/interaction/output theory, socio-cultural theory, and from perspectives of affective factors in second language acquisition. The research questions include: What challenges does participation in classroom discussion present? How do students exploit the all English environment to gain the sought-after proficiency? What problems are there in acquiring communication opportunities in the environment? Participants in this study were four Taiwanese graduate students majoring in special education, business, linguistics, and electronics engineering at the University of Kansas. Their stays on campus vary from four months to more than three years. Data are collected through semi-structured interviews, which are recorded and transcribed for analysis that results in four dimensions: Personal attributes, environmental impacts, difficulty types, and strategy repertoire. There are further subcategorized into: background effects, motivation & attitude effects, environmental advantages, impeding situations, linguistic deficiency, content & cultural barriers, strategies to overcome difficulties, and strategies to gain communication opportunities. The main difficulties Taiwanese ESL students experience include insufficient vocabulary and basic listening/speaking skills, lack of background knowledge about the current American society, and being shy from risk-taking in spontaneous discussions. The strategies to cope with such difficulties contain making the most of the environment to improve basic competence, taking an active role in social participation, and engaging in adequate preparation for class meetings.