David Gardner

One international university, two perspectives: the role of English as a lingua franca as perceived by Mainland and Hong Kong Chinese students

Abstract Internationalisation of higher education greatly facilitates cross-border student mobility, which has been extensively researched. This comparative study focuses on the relatively under-explored field of intra-regional educational mobility. It compares attitudes towards learning and using English of M ainland Chinese students and Hong Kong Chinese students while studying side-by-side at an English-medium university in Hong Kong. Using a mixed methodology the study found that the two groups expressed a similarly strong need for, and acceptance of, English as an academic lingua franca but expressed significantly different attitudes, needs and desires in relation to the use of English for social intercourse. The weaker presence of a social lingua franca was accompanied by perceptions of a lack of inclusivity. If, as is suggested in the literature, both social and academic integration are integral to the university experience, the findings reveal a lacuna in the learning environment of this and potentially other similarly internationalised universities.

Learning and using English: what experience and expectations do non-local Asian international students bring to their university studies in Hong Kong?

Abstract This paper reports on a study of prior and current experiences with English of non-local Asian international students and of their language expectations when commencing their studies at an English-medium university in Hong Kong. In addition to grappling with new academic demands, these sojourners need to adapt to a vastly different social environment, further complicating the already challenging school-to-university transition. A mixed-methods approach was adopted to generate data with the employment of online questionnaire surveys and semi-structured individual interviews. In total, 224 completed questionnaires were returned, among which 60 were identified as responses from Asian international students. Eleven students of five different Asian nationalities participated in interviews. The results show that despite different socio-cultural backgrounds and prior learning experiences, these international students had similar expectations regarding the institutional language environment of an internationalised university, within which they expect English to be not only a medium of instruction but also a lingua franca for social interaction with their peers and local counterparts. The findings provide internationalised institutions with insights into the needs and expectations of incoming students from regions which are geographical neighbours but with varying cultural norms, educational standards, colonial heritage, degrees of elitism, and technological development.