This study examined proficiency levels and attitudes of main languages in use among ethnic minority students in Hong Kong. We surveyed 260 students from primary and secondary schools with English as the medium of instruction. They were multilingual speakers who were proficient in spoken English and Cantonese. Our results revealed asymmetric and correlated proficiency levels including in the students' native languages (L1s). Their multilingual proficiencies were also affected by factors such as age variables and associated with aspects of L1 attitudes. Our key finding corroborated previous research claims that mastery of multiple languages could allow ethnic minority students to construct a more powerful multilingual and multicultural identity. Copyright © 2023 Routledge.

Against the backdrop of rapidly growing attention to FL learners’ emotions, the present study investigated learners’ classroom emotions (anxiety, boredom, and enjoyment), literacy outcomes (reading and writing proficiency), and a largely neglected factor in FL emotions research to date – maternal education as a proxy for socio-economic status. One hundred and ninety-one Grade-three/four EFL learners from Hong Kong participated in this study. These learners completed a questionnaire about their classroom emotions, and reading and writing tests. Their parents/guardians attended individual interviews in which the highest level of maternal education was elicited. Overall, the results showed that maternal education and enjoyment were significantly associated with reading and writing proficiency. The contribution of maternal education to literacy outcomes was partially mediated by enjoyment, but not anxiety and boredom. The importance of maternal education and enjoyment are highlighted and discussed. Copyright © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Based on Fredrickson’s (2001) broaden-and-build theory, this study investigates how Foreign Language Enjoyment (FLE; consisting of teacher appreciation, personal enjoyment, and social enjoyment) mediates the relationship between Informal Digital Learning of English (IDLE) and EFL secondary students’ willingness to communicate in a second language (L2 WTC) inside and outside the classroom. We collected survey data from 308 EFL Hong Kong secondary students who lacked any international experience (ages 12–18). After controlling for demographic data, the results show that teacher appreciation, personal enjoyment, and social enjoyment all mediate the relationship between IDLE and L2 WTC inside the classroom, while personal and social enjoyment mediate the link outside the classroom. A closer look reveals that personal enjoyment, rather than social enjoyment or teacher appreciation, plays a larger role in mediating the relationship. Practically, these findings shed light on the underlying mechanisms by which IDLE and different aspects of FLE can potentially improve the L2 WTC of Asian EFL learners who primarily learn and practice English in the classroom. These findings have implications for future interventions aimed at enhancing L2 WTC by increasing L2 enjoyment in EFL learners. Copyright © 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

This mixed-methods study investigates whether and to what extent positive psychology constructs (classroom enjoyment, grit, and growth mindset) and Extramural English predict primary school students’ willingness to communicate in a second language (L2 WTC) both in the classroom (a fictitious but common setting for English communication among English as an Foreign Language [EFL] students) and outside the classroom (a natural and increasingly prevalent environment for EFL communication). We collect and analyze survey data from 160 EFL primary school students in Hong Kong (ages 6–13 years old). Hierarchical regression analyses reveal that L2 WTC in the classroom is predicted by classroom enjoyment, grit, and Extramural English. A slightly different picture emerges outside of the classroom, with grit, growth mindset, and Extramural English predicting L2 WTC. Semi-structured interviews (N = 8) confirm and elaborate on the quantitative findings. Our findings suggest that through grit- and Extramural English-integrated intervention programmes, EFL teachers can improve young learners’ L2 WTC both inside and outside the classroom. Furthermore, teachers can improve young learners’ L2 WTC in the classroom by creating a positive learning environment, while also improving their L2 WTC outside of the classroom by cultivating their growth mindset system. Copyright © 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

This qualitative study investigated the impact of online education on the learning and peer interaction experiences of students from eight universities in Hong Kong over the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. It employed an expansive and spatial notion of translanguaging to explore the process by which students drew on the affordance of virtual communication environments to communicate, study and develop new identities. The findings suggested (1) the students strategically mobilised manifold multimodal resources to constitute their communicative repertoires that facilitated smooth intercultural communication and academic success; (2) such communicative competence centralized the mediating effect of digital semiotic systems and thus might empower the students with disadvantaged language skills; and (3) through translanguaging acts the students developed a virtually translocal identity with an expanded experience of internationalisation of higher education whereby the increasingly interwoven physical and virtual spaces bring extended social networks, learning resources, and career opportunities. The implications of the findings were discussed. Copyright © 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Against the backdrop of the worldwide prevalence and importance of internationalisation in higher education, the mixed-methods study examined the relationships between tertiary-level learners' on-campus intercultural activity participation (e.g. intercultural talks and workshops), seven aspects of whole-person development (civic responsibility, cultural engagement, intellectual capacity, peer relationship, community care, leadership, and self-appreciation), and academic performance. A questionnaire was distributed to 518 participants studying at two universities in Hong Kong. No positive relationship was found between participation and academic achievement. However, participation was positively correlated with all aspects of whole-person development. Community care and cultural engagement had the strongest correlations with participation. Following an explanatory sequential design, 18 of these participants were invited for a follow-up interview to expound on the findings based on their experiences, observations and understanding of their peers. The article ends with a discussion of the findings and implications for intercultural learning and teaching in higher education. Copyright ©2021 Routledge.

Post-colonial Hong Kong is an officially trilingual city with significant numbers of residents speaking English, Cantonese, Mandarin, or some combination of all three. Competency in these languages is promoted through educational policies and practices at all levels of schooling. Using concepts from the Deweyan framework of democracy and education, this article explores relational practices among bilingual co-teachers at a private, international early years programme in Hong Kong that emphasizes democratic philosophies of learning in their efforts to promote trilingualism. Findings point to co-teachers' interest in developing collaborative relationships, and prompting interest in additional language use through promotion of children's interests, along with tensions they experience as they grapple with instruction in multiple languages. Findings point to a need for more nuanced understandings of co-teaching dynamics in post-colonial multilingual learning contexts. Copyright ©2021 Routledge.

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.

This article reports on a qualitative study investigating the teaching experiences of ESL teachers of ethnic minority students from South Asian countries. Eight ESL teachers from two secondary schools in Hong Kong were interviewed. Informed by the concept of neoliberal governmentality, this study explores the shaping effect of neoliberal education on these teachers’ professional development, their negotiation with the current examination-oriented educational policy, and the overall neoliberal discourse in education. The teachers were found to be ambivalent in their contradictory positions regarding whether to encourage or prohibit the use of heritage languages in English learning, whether to conform to the curriculum or develop new materials and try out new ways, and how to unravel social responsibility for ethnic minority groups’ development. This study has implications for the importance of awareness of the impact of macro-level neoliberalism on micro-level educational practices among teachers, principals, and policy makers, and for the necessity of developing teacher education programmes to prepare teachers with a particular concern about the well-being of children (especially those in underprivileged communities), and enable them to think critically about scripted curriculum packages and to work within more diverse and challenging contexts. Copyright © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

How migrants, refugees and minority groups acquire a sense of belonging in their adopted society is a concern for nations worldwide as they aim to balance the diversity and inclusion of growing numbers of migrants with ensuring harmony and cohesion across society. In postcolonial Hong Kong, the population diversity is accompanied with a swift change in the racialisation of Hong Kong where minorities in schools find themselves categorised as 'non-Chinese speaking' ('NCS') rather than a 'Hongkonger'. The NCS label stigmatises young people as linguistically and academically deficit, de-legitimises acceptance by the local Chinese, Cantonese speaking majority designated as 'Hongkongers'. Yet how minority youth interpret their status as 'NCS' and negotiate belonging in Hong Kong has received scant attention. This qualitative study is a substantive and theoretical contribution to the literature on how multilingual minorities can construct a positive sense of place-belonging to their adopted city. Reflecting the contentious nature of the politics of belonging, we found that students challenged and sought to redefine the narrow, prevailing identity of a 'Hongkonger'. Rather, they stressed their multilingual identity, historical affiliations, emotional attachments and place-belongingness to the city in order to legitimate their entitlement to sociopolitical belonging in Hong Kong. Copyright © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.