This study investigated 48 Hong Kong English as a second language (ESL) learners' engagement in three types of interactive tasks conducted via video chat or text chat. The learners, paired with their university friends, completed a descriptive task, a narrative task, and a decision-making task. They were randomly assigned to either the video-chat or text-chat group and were interviewed about their emotional engagement in each task immediately after task performance. The findings revealed that both groups of learners were behaviourally the least engaged but cognitively the most engaged in the decision-making task. They experienced positive emotions during the descriptive task, but fewer reported positive emotions in the other two tasks. The text-chat group was the most socially engaged in the decision-making task. Furthermore, the video-chat group was behaviourally and emotionally more engaged than the text-chat group. These findings have implications for task design and selection in computer-mediated communication. Copyright © 2024 De Gruyter .

This chapter explores the influence of technology on the pedagogical strategies instructors employ to enhance student outcomes at an English-medium instruction (EMI) institution in Hong Kong. As an integral component of course delivery, technology presents both opportunities and challenges in EMI settings. This interpretive qualitative study involves nine students and three instructors, who volunteered to participate in semi-structured interviews. The findings indicate that technology is pivotal in bridging and enhancing learning outcomes. The students strongly preferred instructors who incorporated technology into their teaching, adopted student-centred approaches that facilitated language-learning autonomy, and offered clear guidance on digital tools. The study also identifies the need for professional development focused on using technology purposefully to support instructors’ learning goals. The findings offer valuable insights and recommendations for students, instructors, and institutions aiming to integrate technology into EMI environments effectively. Copyright © 2025 selection and editorial matter, Xuyan Qiu and Rui Yuan; individual chapters, the contributors.

As the content knowledge of English language learners and immigrant students is assessed in their less proficient language, the validity and fairness of assessments related to those students have been widely discussed. However, such assessment issues have not received much attention in rapidly expanding bilingual education programmes, where students learn content subjects through a second/foreign/additional language (L2) and are often assessed in that language. This paper addresses this research gap by examining the mediating effect of language of testing on students’ performance in content subject assessments. 387 question items in the Biology papers of a public examination in Hong Kong were analysed according to their cognitive and linguistic demands. The performance of 480 students (half taking the test in their first language and half in their L2) on the questions with different demands was then analysed with MANOVA and multiple regression. The results show that linguistic demands, especially productive linguistic demands (e.g. writing sentences and texts), had a more significant effect on the performance of students taking the test in their L2. These results underscore the role played by language in the academic achievement of bilingual education students, which in turn illuminate valid assessment design and pedagogy in these programmes. Copyright © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.