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Background Studies: Captioning and repetition are widely used multimedia instructional devices for non‐native students. Generally, studies in this area have tended to focus on second language literacy skills rather than on learning new content knowledge. Additionally, posttests were administered immediately after the treatments, while the delayed influences of captioning and repetition have never been investigated. Objectives: This paper addressed these research gaps in two separate studies. More specifically, this study attempted to examine the influences of captioning and repetition on non‐native students' immediate and relayed retention. Methods: In Study One, three captioning conditions; word‐by‐word captions, closed captions, and no‐captions; were compared to examine their efficacies in immediate and delayed content knowledge retention on 82 Chinese university students. To address the limitations in Study One as the multimedia lesson was short and played only once, Study Two incorporated captioning and two repetition types in its design. One hundred and eleven Chinese university students watch a video lesson in one of four captioning and repetition conditions. Results: The statistical analyses of Study One indicated that there were no significant differences in both immediate and delayed retention test scores across the three captioning condition. Similarly, in Study Two, there were no significant differences in retention tests scores across the four captioning and repetition conditions. Findings: Neither the availability of captions nor the repetition types had any impact on the Chinese students' immediate or delayed content knowledge retention, which lent support to existing studies. Based on the research results, the limitations and future study possibilities are discussed. Lay Description: What Is Already Known About This TopicEmpirical studies on captioning have focused on immediate learning right after the treatment, so have studies on repetition.Empirical studies on multimedia lessons for non‐native students have focused on English language learning. What This Paper AddsThree types of captioning were compared to examine their efficacies in both immediate and delayed content retention of Chinese students.Two types of repetition were compared to examine their efficacies in both immediate and delayed content retention of Chinese students. Implications for Practice and/or Policy:Neither the availability of captions nor the repetition types had any impact on the Chinese students' immediate or delayed content knowledge retention.The availability of textual keywords adjacent to their corresponding graphics might have compromised the efficacy of captioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper advances a legitimacy‐based view on what factors determine multinational corporation (MNC) employees' adoption of English at work. We posit that legitimacy judgment represents an alternative mechanism, other than language ability, for explaining MNC employees' response to headquarters' corporate language policy. The hypotheses were confirmed in two studies with mixed‐methods (experiments; semi‐structured interviews), involving MNC employees in China. Our findings verified that corporate language policy increases positive legitimacy judgment, which in turn enhances employees' adoption of English at work. Further analysis showed that language ability moderates the mediating effect of legitimacy judgment, such that this effect is stronger for employees with lower language ability. Semi‐structured interviews confirmed the experimental findings and brought more insight into why and how Chinese employees adopt English in daily work. This paper contributes to the research on corporate language policy, legitimacy judgment, and cross‐border management in Asia Pacific. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China released two new policies in 2021, the 'double reduction' and a Gaokao (National College Entrance Examination) regulation, which have significantly impacted English learning and Languages other than English (LOTEs) learning respectively. This has intensified the existing dispute over 'English fever' and made people question whether the 'winter' of English education in China has come. In this article, findings from a multiple-case study exploring teachers' and students' opinions on the value of English learning in Chinese higher education are discussed under the circumstances of such new policies. This study employs the Bourdieusian approach and involves English major, non-English major learners as well as their teachers in Yunnan and Shanghai, two socio-economically different areas, to see diversity. The participants reported a cooling down of the 'English fever' in the universities and the wider society, yet an increasing demand for a higher level of English proficiency in particular industries or disciplines. The findings also demonstrate the tension between the standardised national curriculum and regionally different language needs along with the influence of an incoherent national curricula for different educational stages regarding foreign language education. This paper concludes with suggestions to modify the curriculum and teaching practices for multilingual and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) education in China as well as other English as a Foreign Language contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has attracted wide scholarly attention. However, discussions among social scientists on BRI have largely premised on the academic infrastructure in English language contexts. Academic research on BRI in China has often been only briefly mentioned as background information in English language publications. This disjuncture between scholarship on BRI inside and outside China reflects the multiple geographies of BRI. Thinking through BRI in English and Chinese scholarship, this paper considers how existing and future factors such as funding sources, language politics, political framing of the research and institutional surveillance may yield different intellectual spaces for understanding the knowledge production of BRI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conditions for developing English-language academic journals in China are now favourable. Government investment in scientific research is increasing annually, there are many researchers at a high academic level with good English, and many key scientific research laboratories and engineering research centres have been established. There is also a big increase in the number of editors qualified in English. At present both the number and quality of English-language journals are low, so the Chinese government is acting to support such journals and remedy their defects. There is thus a great opportunity for the development of such journals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Peer‐to‐peer feedback exchanges have been recognized as crucial to language learning. While studies on peer feedback proliferate, little is known about whether and how peer feedback is affected by learners' motivational levels. Objectives: Situated in a mobile collaborative learning context, the current study examined how English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students with different motivational levels participated in mobile‐assisted peer feedback provision, as well as the characteristics of the feedback they provided. Methods: A total of 61 sophomores majoring in Business English at a Chinese university participated in this 16‐week‐long study. They were asked to complete oral assignments and give and receive peer feedback via MosoTeach (a popular mobile learning application in China). Multiple types of data (peer feedback records, questionnaires, reflective journals and interviews) were collected, analysed, and triangulated. Results and Conclusions: Results revealed that EFL learners with higher motivation were more likely to provide feedback on time using more words. Unique characteristics of mobile‐assisted peer feedback among highly motivated learners were also observed. Implications: The study highlights the importance of learner motivation in mobile‐assisted peer feedback practice and provides pedagogical suggestions for better designing and implementing peer feedback in mobile collaborative learning contexts. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Previous research has recognized mobile‐assisted peer feedback as an effective way of mobile collaborative language learning.Previous studies on mobile‐assisted oral peer feedback have examined different dimensions of feedback in relation to their effects on speaking performance.Previous research is less clear about how learners' motivational characteristics may influence peer feedback performance. What this paper adds: Situated in a mobile learning context, this study investigated how English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students with different motivational levels participated in mobile‐assisted peer feedback provision, and examined the characteristics of the feedback they provided.Results revealed that EFL students with higher motivation were more likely to provide feedback on time using more words. Some unique characteristics of mobile‐assisted peer feedback among students with different motivational levels were also observed. Implications: This study demonstrates the importance of considering learners' motivational levels in teachers' design and implementation of peer feedback with technology.It is crucial for teachers to provide training and scaffolding to students in their construction of peer feedback with mobile technologies.Teachers are suggested to encourage the students to provide detailed positive comments for their peers, which may increase students' confidence and reduce their anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotions are critical to learning. However, the function of emotions in the emerging context of massive open online courses (MOOCs) has been under‐researched. The present study complemented this line of research by modelling the relation between learner emotions, engagement with videos, engagement with assignments, and self‐perceived achievement in a small private online course—a localized instance of an extended MOOC. The results suggested that whereas enjoyment, excitement, boredom, and annoyance were all significant predictors of video engagement, only excitement and annoyance were significant predictors of assignment engagement. Excitement, in particular, was the strongest or stronger predictor of both types of engagement. In addition, both types of engagement predicted self‐perceived achievement, but video engagement predicted self‐perceived achievement via the mediation of assignment engagement. Implications for designing more effective MOOCs were proposed. Lay Description: What is currently known about the subject Emotions predict engagement in learning settings other than MOOCs.Engagement predicts achievement in learning settings including MOOCs.Assignment engagement predicts achievement in MOOCs better than video engagement. What this paper adds The two types of engagement are predicted by different sets of emotions.Engagement predicts self‐perceived achievement in the SPOC.Video engagement predicts self‐perceived achievement via the mediation of assignment engagement.The majority of systematic reviews did not evaluate the quality of the primary papers which they examined. Implications for practitioners MOOC researchers should pay more attention to the design of assignments.MOOC developers should try to build more emotionally‐sound courses and platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sets out to discuss creativity and world Englishes from a range of perspectives. It begins with a discussion of the changing face of English studies over recent decades, and then proceeds to discuss definitions of 'creativity' and 'bilingual creativity'. In the later sections of the paper, there is discussion of postcolonial literature and world fiction in English, with particular reference to the work of Timothy Mo. Finally, the implications of this discussion for contemporary English studies in Hong Kong are also considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on China English available seems to focus mostly on the attitudes toward English, the use of English, or the EFL industry in this country. Lexical borrowing as part of nativization has rarely been investigated. This paper presents a data-based analysis of 59 borrowed lexical items as found in 84 articles from two English newspapers in China, including both loanwords and loan translations. On the whole these items do not seem to be in widespread use. Additionally, the findings show that the loanwords tend to be culture-specific lexical items, nonce borrowings, and necessary borrowings. The loan translations may be more foreign than they appear, because of the underlying facets of Chinese culture. Also discussed in the paper are two linguistic factors that may decide if a lexical item may be borrowed as a loanword or a loan translation, as well as the existence of pairs and sets of synonymous loanwords and/or loan translations, found among Chinese-English bilingual communities in and outside China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: This paper suggests that Hong Kong English, insofar as it varies from Standard English, has not achieved wide acceptance in the community. The paper approaches this by investigating the attitudes of Hong Kong's English language teachers. Over a thousand messages on language issues to a computer network for English teachers were analysed, in terms of their discourse and the sources of authority the teachers referred to in support of their views on correctness or acceptability.(n1) The sources regarded as most authoritative were dictionaries and grammar or usage books from native speaking countries such as Britain. Hong Kong sources such as textbooks and the media were treated with more caution, and sometimes criticised. The model of English the teachers adopted was clearly exonormative. The term Hong Kong English did not occur anywhere in the 1,234 messages, and no deviations from a native speaker norm were referred to favourably. The paper concludes that these attitudes, similar to those in the business community, will constrain the use of Hong Kong English for formal communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: While Asian Englishes such as Indian English, Malaysian English, Philippine English, and Singapore English have gained wide acceptance in the past two decades, relatively little notice has been taken of 'Hong Kong English'. This paper surveys the sociolinguistic background to the recognition of Hong Kong English, and considers the arguments in favour of a 'paradigm shift' in approaches to this issue. The paper begins by reviewing the history of English in Hong Kong and language planning and language policies in the late colonial period. It then goes on to discuss the ideological background to English in Hong Kong, noting the persistence of the 'monolingual myth' and the 'invisibility myth' in a number of recent sociolinguistic discourses. In the later sections of the paper, the case is made not only for a recognition of Hong Kong English in terms of distinctive linguistic features at the levels of accent and vocabulary, but also with reference to the creativity of the variety, in literary as well as less formal contexts. Ultimately, it is suggested, the notion of a distinct variety rests not only on the recognition of features of language, but also on the acceptance of a new space, or spaces, for the discourses of Hong Kong English. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: The paper is divided into three sections, and traces my evolution as a 'Hong Kong writer' in English through questions of identity, language and creativity. In 'Ethnicity and culture,' I discuss how both factors constrain and heighten my creative process. Despite my Hong Kong origins, I am questionably 'local' because of my ethnicity and personal history. The city itself embraces a schizophrenic identity, neither Chinese nor Western, and lacks a 'national culture'. This offers rich material for fiction but is also confusing. 'Language as stumbling block' delves into being jammed between two national Englishes, British and American, in trying to give voice to Hong Kong's socio-political situation. The other linguistic issue, Chinese, is addressed by studying Mandarin in the US, so that my English is ultimately enriched by Chinese. Finally, 'Beyond the denial of self ' focuses on my most recently completed novel The Unwalled City. In writing it, I come to grips with many of the issues raised in the first two sections of this paper. Not denying reality as I know it is central to the process. The novel becomes my Hong Kong statement of a city and its people whose curious reality cannot be ignored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inspired by Schneider's (2007) innovative Dynamic Model, this paper traces the rise of English-knowing bilingualism in Hong Kong by analysing the authorship of 1,379 letters published in the city's leading English-language newspapers since the early 1840s. The evidence points to three main phases in the evolution of this community: 1840s-1910s, 1920s-1970s, 1980s-present. In the first phase, the bilingual segment of the Chinese community was apparently microscopic or, in the words of a colonial official, 'infinitesimal'. The second and third phases may be characterised as periods of spreading minority and majority bilingualism respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study seeks to explore the controversial issue of pronunciation modelling in the secondary classroom in association with the medium-of-instruction (MOI) policy in Hong Kong. The investigation centres on two dimensions: (1) students' exposure to English accents throughout their weekly school timetable by means of a data log sheet and (2) the phonological differences between the speech of local subject and English language teachers. The findings suggest that students' main source of English exposure at school is the English pronunciation of both English language and content-area teachers in English-medium lessons, who shared numerous Hong Kong English ( HKE) features although in differing proportions. The paper concludes by prioritising the educated HKE vowel and consonant features and promoting an internationally intelligible endonormative model in the globalised world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper discusses some of the ways in which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) uses language in its English media. After a historical overview of political 'fixed formulations' ( tifa) in China through the ages, we look at specific terms in their contemporary forms as they appear in China's major English language newspaper, the China Daily. Data taken from a specialized corpus focusing on the term 'harmonious society' is investigated for information on how the term is used and with which language patterns it most frequently appears. In terms of world Englishes, usage may be classified as an Outer Circle Chinese English lexis as the formulations are translated from Chinese, making them a distinctly 'Chinese' type of politicized English. Linguistically, 'harmonious' often collocates with effusive modifiers and dynamic-sounding verbs, which portray growth and stability. The English of China's political media does not have much currency outside of the CCP 'news' context and due to its distinctive ideological characteristics, it has been labelled Zhonglish, Xinhua English or New China Newspeak. Preliminary research shows evidence of formulations being increasingly picked up by the media in geographically surrounding areas and even overseas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates employer perceptions of the nature and importance of the English language in public relations agencies in Hong Kong. Based on in-depth interviews with senior managers from eight Hong Kong-based public relations companies, it examines how the linguistic currency of English is used collaboratively in creative organizations. Findings suggest that English is used as the common language among transnational public relations work teams and the clients that they service. It is also used as a creative resource for facilitating collaboration, staff development and socialization into corporate and professional cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines discourses of creativity in English-language education in post-colonial Hong Kong, where educational reform has mandated a change from transmissive to interactive modes of teaching and learning and a shift towards more creative methods of teaching English. The literature is reviewed with regard to discourses of creativity both internationally and in the Hong Kong context. An ethnographic study of an innovative project in a Hong Kong secondary school, using poetry and creative writing in the language classroom, is presented. Findings from this study, carried out between 1999 and 2001, illustrate how pedagogical discourses of creativity - such as creative tasks, the creative process and communities of practice - are more significant at classroom level than simple East-West dichotomies, and how such discourses can be productive both for teachers and students despite institutional and social constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1997 the government of Hong Kong reformed its policy on the language medium for teaching at the secondary-school level and removed schools' right to choose their own medium. Among the 404 public and 'aided' secondary schools in Hong Kong, the government allowed only 100 to use English as the medium for teaching and required the remaining 304 to use the native language, Chinese. The authors assess the spatial impact of the policy reform and estimate the bid function for English-language schools. The results show that the 1997 policy reform shifted parental preferences from public to private education and increased the marginal bid for proximity to private English schools by 2 percent. Following the reform, homeowners were willing to pay, on average, HK $8,400 for each additional 100 metres closer to a private English school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article comments on a paper written by researcher David Nunan, which addresses the need for more research into the impact of English as a global language. Nunan's article reports a study of seven Asian-Pacific countries, including China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Vietnam and their changing education policies arising from the globalization of English. Beyond obvious problems in undertaking to study and represent such a large region as the Asia Pacific, Nunan's selection and naming of the states within this region are troubling. He distinguishes China from Hong Kong and Taiwan, yet does not accord Tibet and Xinjiang the same sensitivity. A more serious problem is Nunan's painting of China as a homogenous country. Nunan's data included "government and quasi-government documents" and interviews with stakeholders and officials, publishers, and teachers, which led to his claim that "English appears to have little impact" on the "Chinese language." These data sources are unlikely to represent Indigenous or minority people's interests.

Between 1929 and 2002 over 200 English-language scientific journals were founded in China. The number of China's English edition journals in each discipline is, however, not correlated to the corresponding output of China's articles listed in the ISI's Science Citation Index. Clearly, the goal of these journals is to be internationally recognized. It is shown that this goal is rarely achieved. We think that lack of good-quality papers, low international visibility and a citation `Matthew effect' are the main causes for the small role played by China's English-language journals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents results of a study, conducted by the author, investigating patterns of publication for 14 Western-trained Chinese Teachers of English to Speakers of Others Languages Inc. (TESOL) professionals in China. Fourteen professors of English from seven universities in mainland China participated in the study by completing a questionnaire. The interviews were conducted between June 1999 and May 2000. All the Western-trained Chinese professors of TESOL that were interviewed in the study were committed to publishing. Most of the participants said they published their academic papers in local Chinese journals. Of the 14 participants, only 3 said they had published in international journals. Most participants said they had started to publish after they came back from the West. Many participants commented on the influence English as an international language had on publications in China in order to explain why they or their colleagues consciously maintained the conventions of English discourse.

After 15 years’ negotiation, China officially became a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on November 10, 2001 in Doha, Qatar, at the fourth ministerial meeting of the WTO. China’s accession to the WTO will inevitably influence every sphere of society, especially in such sectors as international trade and education. This paper reports on a survey into the impact of China’s entry into the WTO on business professionals and college English instruction. In the survey, 400 people in 126 business and trading companies from five cities in Zhejiang province, the People’s Republic of China, were polled on issues related to the learning and teaching of English with reference to China’s entry into the WTO. The results of this survey are discussed with reference to college English instruction and the in-service training of business professionals in export-related fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: This paper discusses relative clauses in Hong Kong English, and considers a number of questions about the morphosyntactic feature system of Hong Kong English, comparing relevant attestations from local data to those found in other varieties of English. It looks at the ways in which relative constructions in Cantonese may affect how relative clauses in Hong Kong English are formed, and also examines the degree to which the relative clause system of Hong Kong English is independent of the relative clause system of both Cantonese and standard native-speaker varieties of English, and therefore could be said to provide evidence of whether Hong Kong English is an independent variety of English or not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: Whether or not Hong Kong English (HKE) has acquired the status of a 'new variety of English', there is no doubt that there exists an identifiable 'HKE accent', and therefore a HKE phonology. The paper embodies the author's findings in the first part of his research project on HKE phonology, which covered segmental phonology -- in particular the underlying phonemic system of HKE speakers, and the phonetic realisations of its phonemes in different phonological environments. The subjects comprised 15 undergraduates at the Hong Kong Baptist University. The initial batch of data consisted of a number of key words designed to capture all potential vowel and consonant contrasts in a variety of phonological environments. With the help of spectrographic analysis, it was found that the typical HKE speaker operates with a considerably smaller set of vowel and consonant contrasts than in native varieties of English. In particular, there is no length/tenseness contrast in vowels, and no voicing contrast in fricatives. HKE also exhibits a number of interesting and possibly unique phonological properties. An underlying phonemic system is postulated for HKE, and a number of allophonic variations are described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: The ideal description of a variety of English is one that is constructed within the terms of the variety itself. This paper discusses a number of issues involved in such a description in relation to the distinctive vocabulary of Hong Kong English. Attention to semantic and pragmatic relationships internal to the variety and the sociocultural context in which it operates is urged. These are illustrated with examples related to underlying definition, taxonomies, semantic opposition and the productivity of localised words. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: In this paper the authors discuss the themes of autonomy and creativity as they have been expressed in this special issue. At a linguistic level, the emergence of Hong Kong English has been clouded by a cluster of language ideologies within a localised complaint tradition. This has included discourses relating to 'monolingualism', the 'invisibility' of Hong Kong English, and 'falling standards'. Parallel discourses have also constrained creative writing in Hong Kong, but the appearance of new Hong Kong writers points the way to a fresh and energetic future for literary creativity. One example of this is the new journal Yuan Yang, largely written and edited by creative writing students at The University of Hong Kong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: This paper provides a brief guide to published research relevant to the study of Hong Kong Kong English, together with a selective bibliography. Hong Kong now has a thriving research culture although a substantial proportion of published research has earlier been devoted to applied linguistic and language pedagogy, where the discussion of 'Hong Kong English' has frequently been linked to studies of error analysis and interlanguage. The selective bibliography attempts to survey published research in those areas of sociolinguistics and applied linguistics of most relevance to the world Englishes paradigm, and also includes a section listing publications related to Hong Kong creative writing in English. The final section lists extant bibliographies in print and/or available online via the Internet.(n1) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past decade has seen an emerging interest in mapping (aligning or linking) test scores to language proficiency levels of external performance scales or frameworks, such as the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), as well as locally developed frameworks, such as China's Standards of English Language Ability (CSE). Such alignment is ultimately a claim about the interpretation of test scores in relation to external levels of language proficiency. To support such a claim, established procedures should be carefully implemented and multiple sources of evidence should be collected. In this research report, we demonstrate the application of a series of steps in building an argument for aligning the scores of the TOEFL iBT® test, an international, large‐scale language proficiency test of English as a foreign language (EFL), to the levels of the CSE. The alignment process comprised the following steps: (a) establishing construct congruence between the TOEFL iBT test and the CSE; (b) establishing recommended minimum test scores (cut scores), set by local experts, to classify language learners into the local proficiency levels; (c) collection of scores by test takers (N = 1,326) and evaluations of the test takers' proficiency levels by their teachers, based on the local framework; and (d) consideration of the results of other alignment studies in the local context as well as the link between the CEFR and the CSE levels. We conclude with a discussion of the contextual issues that should be considered when interpreting test scores in relation to external proficiency levels. These contextual issues are important considerations because they have the potential to impact score‐based decisions on individuals and institutions. We also discuss the implications for similar alignment research. Report Number: TOEFL–RR‐89 Report Number: ETS Research Report No. RR–19‐44 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that there are ample resources in the English-speaking academic community to enable philosophers who cannot read Chinese to work with material from the Western Han dynasty in their research or teaching. It discusses three kinds of resources, with the aim of developing a community of philosophers engaged in a sustained conversation about Western Han thought. These resources are (1) histories that describe various aspects of the Han dynasty, (2) translations of key texts, and (3) intellectual histories that examine specific thinkers or texts from the Han. This article also provides a detailed example of one way in which Western Han texts demonstrate the diversity of Chinese philosophy with regard to value conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we attempted to separate the effects of culture and language on imagery generation. By asking subjects from China, Singapore and the US to read Chinese and/or English messages, we found that culture, as opposed to language of the message, drives Chinese people's imagery-generation capabilities. Indeed, people from mainland China generated more images than both Singaporean Chinese people and Americans, even when tested in English. This is because their dominant way of thinking is concrete. Bilingual Singaporean Chinese subjects generated the same number of images when exposed to English and Chinese stimuli because they are equally adept at abstract and concrete thinking. However, their imagery-generation ability could be manipulated by priming abstract or concrete thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the standard of English proficiency is rising in China, using English in conversations with Chinese host nationals may be difficult. Therefore, proficiency in the Chinese language may promote the adjustment of foreign business expatriates in China. To test this proposition, a mail survey was directed to Western business expatriates assigned to China. Controlling for the time expatriates had spent in China, results showed that their language ability had a positive association with their sociocultural adjustment. Not surprisingly, this positive relationship was strongest for interaction adjustment and weakest for work adjustment. The straightforward implications of these clear findings are discussed in detail. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]