BAEAL Year 2 student Leung Yu Hong clinches gold medal at the 1st AUSF Wushu Championship

We are delighted to share the extraordinary success of Leung Yu Hong, a Year 2 student in our BA (Hons) in English and Applied Linguistics programme. He secured the gold medal in the Men’s Sanda 60kg category at the AUSF 1st Asian University Wushu Championship in Harbin, China, from 19-22 June, which brought 87 athletes from 12 Asian countries and regions together. Yu Hong humbly expressed his gratitude for this accomplishment, "PolyU supports athletic careers and maintains a flexible balance between academics and athletics. Assisting athletes in bringing honour to Hong Kong and striving for excellence. I’m able to focus entirely on the competition when I compete. The hybrid learning mode makes my study more flexible and better time management." Including Yu Hong, three PolyU Wushu athletes achieved one gold, two silver, and one bronze medal at the Championship. Let us come together to celebrate the outstanding accomplishments of these athletes and eagerly anticipate their continued success in the days ahead. Click HERE to learn more.

English Debate Club won a grand finalist award at the 2024 Taipei Debate Open

QIN Xin, Eric, a talented member of the English Debate Club, chalked up another grand finalist award at the 2024 Taipei Debate Open! The tournament took place at the National Chengchi University from July 27 to July 29, which gathered some of the region’s best debaters to compete in British parliamentary style. Eric collaborated with partners from Macau University of Science and Technology in a debate performance that showcased his ability to think quickly on his feet and work effectively with his teammates. Congratulations to Eric on this outstanding achievement! Join our PolyU English Debate Club to hone your debating skills and become part of our debating community!

New joint article on the implications of platformization for online language teaching

Our Dr Nate Ming Curran has co-authored an article with Faculty of Humanities’ Doctor of Applied Language Sciences (DALS) student Jinyan (Stephy) Wang, in the prestigious journal TESOL Quarterly. Their article, "Competing for Views and Students: The Implications of Platformization for Online Language Teaching," examines the accounts of two popular English teachers on the social media platform Douyin. The article delves into the impact of platformization on TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages), exploring how it shapes the identities of language teachers in the realm of social media. To learn more about this insightful research, please click HERE for the full article (open access).

Awardees for The Stephen Evans Best Paper Award 2024

Two PhD students received The Stephen Evans Best Paper Award 2024. They are: CHIGBU Godswill Uchechukwu. His thesis's title is “Religious othering in Nigeria’s electoral discourse: Towards a critical religious tolerance”. WU Xiaoyan Ivy. Her paper's title is “Mainland Chinese students’ psychological adaptation to Hong Kong: an intergroup communication perspective”. Please join us in congratulating them. Their exceptional research work has set a great example for academic excellence!  More about The Stephen Evans Awards can be found on the website HERE.

New book on individual differences and task-based language teaching

This new book by our Prof. Shaofeng Li, published by John Benjamins Publishing Company, consists of a collection of empirical studies and research syntheses that investigate the role of individual difference (ID) variables in task-based language teaching (TBLT)—a pedagogical approach that emphasizes the importance of the performance of meaning-oriented tasks in facilitating second language learning. TBLT is subject to learner-external as well as learner-internal factors, with the former referring to task- and context-related factors, and the latter to ID factors pertaining to learner traits, dispositions, or propensities. To date, the research has focused primarily on learner-external factors, and there has been insufficient and unsystematic research on individual difference factors. This volume brings centre stage this important but under-researched dimension by means of a comprehensive, in-depth examination of the role of key ID factors in TBLT. The volume integrates theory, research, and pedagogy by spelling out the mechanism through which IDs influence learning attainment, behaviours, and processes, examining evidence for theoretical claims, and discussing ways to apply research findings and cater to individual differences in the task-based classroom. More information about the book can be found on the website HERE. 

English Training Program for Migrant Workers - Second Batch

The English Training Program for Migrant Domestic Workers, a collaborative initiative between our Department and the Indonesian Migrant Workers Union (IMWU), proudly celebrated the achievements of 84 migrant domestic workers who have successfully completed a 4-month English training course on 16 June 2024. The milestone was marked by a certificate presentation ceremony attended by distinguished guests and community members, including Prof. Eric Friginal (Professor and Department Head of ENGL), Supartini (Executive Committee member of IMWU), and Endah Rachmi Yuliarti (Consul of the Information and Socio-Cultural Affairs at the Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia in Hong Kong). The English Training Program aims to equip migrant workers with essential linguistic tools to enhance their work efficiency and foster better social interactions within local communities. This is the second batch of the program, which has seen remarkable growth, doubling in size and now accommodating a more linguistically diverse group of participants. The program offers two levels of instruction: Beginner and Intermediate Classes for Migrant Domestic Workers. Participants attended classes twice a month, engaging in immersive and hands-on learning experiences that helped them acquire various skills, including communication, vocabulary, grammar, and writing. The impact of the program has been significant. Upon completion, 70% of participants felt confident in using English, while 83% reported a significant positive impact on their relationships with employers. Moreover, 84% felt the program had a substantial positive effect on their interactions with the local community. These outcomes highlight the program’s success in not only improving language proficiency but also in enhancing the overall quality of life for migrant domestic workers. The program continues to thrive and will welcome its third cohort, commencing in mid-July 2024, with 90 participants. Dr. Jeffry Oktavianus, Assistant Professor and project leader, commented that this expansion reflects the growing demand and the program’s effectiveness in meeting the needs of migrant domestic workers. Click here to watch the highlights.

Migrant Worker Lives Matter Symposium (24 May 2024)

Our Department hosted the first Migrant Worker Lives Matter Symposium on 24 May 2024. This half-day symposium, co-organised with two migrant worker NGOs, Pathfinders and Mission for Migrant Workers, brought together people from different sectors across Hong Kong, including policy makers, academics, migrant worker NGOs, migrant domestic workers (MDWs) and their employers. A total of 140 people signed up for the symposium - 130 in person and 10 online - and they discussed some of the most pressing issues facing MDWs in the city, including their social inclusivity, access to healthcare, and the employer-employee relationship. Some of the conclusions and recommendations for practice that came out of the symposium include: more ethical recruitment practices and transparency about the recruitment process; more accessible information about health issues available to MDWs in their own language: more information about MDWs’ rights and pre-hire training to employers; and more open communication about the challenges faced by both MDWs and their employers to foster more positive relationships. The symposium also highlighted the importance of collaboration among all MDW stakeholders to address the structural issues faced by many MDWs and ensure their wellbeing and social inclusion in the city.

Second Annual Undergraduate ENGL Conference “PolyU-CALLS 2024” Reflects Astounding Growth

Organised by the Department of English and Communication (ENGL), the second annual PolyU Undergraduate Conference on Applied Linguistics and Language Studies (PolyU-CALLS) was held on Saturday, 23 March 2024. The event, held on campus at PolyU, was an even greater success than the previous year, with 150 students participating in the conference. In addition to the student participants from Hong Kong and mainland China, this year PolyU-CALLS became a truly international conference and included presenters from Thailand and South Korea. In total, over 20 different universities from around the world were represented at the conference. PolyU-CALLS 2024 featured multiple parallel sessions with research presentations by undergraduate students as well as plenary speeches by ENGL alumna Doris Shuk Yi Leung as well as incoming ENGL faculty member Dr Lydia Catedral. In keeping with the conference’s focus on showcasing the work of ENGL undergraduate students, the conference was supported throughout the day by more than a dozen undergraduate student volunteers. “PolyU-CALLS reflects an important trend in undergraduate education: the increasing emphasis on developing research skills and the ability to critically analyse data. As students progress through their studies, particularly in their Capstone or Final Year Projects, it is crucial that they receive robust training and opportunities to engage in substantive research. PolyU-CALLS again demonstrates a recognition that nurturing these research capacities should be a core part of the undergraduate experience. By providing a platform for students to present and discuss their original research, such events foster a culture of inquiry and empower students to make meaningful contributions to their fields of study” said Professor Eric Friginal, Head of ENGL at PolyU. The breadth of topics and diversity of presenters at PolyU-CALLS 2024 brought in an audience that included faculty, postgraduate students, and undergraduate students. Attendees at the conference were able to listen to 49 different undergraduate presentations spanning subject areas ranging from hip-hop music lyrics to sign language interpretation in Hong Kong courtrooms. This year, due to overwhelming interest from both within and beyond the Greater Bay Area, organisers were forced to turn away many excellent abstracts. Student presenters were competitively selected based on their submitted proposals, and the overall quality of research presented at the conference was very impressive. The organisers of PolyU-CALLS 2024 were thrilled with the level of engagement and energy at the event. A post-conference survey was sent to all participants to help the Department know what can be done to make next year’s iteration of the conference even better. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with respondents expressing their enthusiasm for the event, which featured catered lunches and gift bags for all attendees. The majority of respondents said they would recommend PolyU-CALLS to friends and classmates, with one attendee saying the conference “provided an awesome first-time experience” and another stating “it was a nice experience for me as an undergraduate to give a presentation to share my ideas.” While all the student presenters at PolyU-CALLS 2024 did an amazing job, ENGL would like to acknowledge the work of several outstanding student presenters. The PolyU-CALLS 2024 Award winners for best presentations are: Best PolyU-CALLS Presentation Award: Wang Yanning and Wang Ziyue, from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Best ENGL Presentation Award: Gu Beiwei, from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Best Non-ENGL Presentation Award: Aiden Y. H. Cheung, from The Chinese University of Hong Kong Best International Presentation Award: Jung Haechan, from Kyung Hee University The level of student participation at PolyU-CALLS 2024 highlights an appetite for more student-oriented conferences in Applied Linguistics and Language Studies. “The quality of the student presentations at PolyU-CALLS 2024 was absolutely outstanding,” said Dr Max Diaz, ENGL Undergraduate Programme Leader. “I look forward to next year’s conference, which we hope will be even bigger, more international, and allow us to extend the conference to include a day for MA students to also present their work.” With its first chapter coming to a successful close, students and the Department of English and Communication are already looking forward to PolyU-CALLS 2025.

Captivating the Crowd: ENGL Champion Joanna CHEN Shines at the PolyU 3MT Final Competition as the Second Runner-up (3 July 2024)

The Jockey Club Auditorium was buzzing with excitement as the PolyU Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Finals began. Having succeeded at both the faculty and university-wide semi-final levels prior to this competition, the eight competitors from six different departments across PolyU represented PolyU’s best. Among them was Joanna CHEN, the champion from ENGL, who, it could be sure, would, once again, execute with poise and charisma. But the competition was fierce. Our hearts were in our throats as one competitor after another skilfully captured the audience's attention in just three minutes.  Joanna took the stage as the sixth competitor. As she began her presentation, her fans could relax a little: it was clear that she was in full control. Her captivating delivery, accompanied by vivid examples from her study, masterfully highlighted the importance of her research to society. With clear gestures and a compelling presence, Joanna shrewdly demonstrated the power of ENGL research to engage the PolyU community.  Following the judges’ tallying of their scores, the winners were announced. The audience grew silent as the announcer spoke. We learned immediately that Joanna had tied for the second runner-up award! Full of pride for our champion, we erupted with applause and cheers. Joanna's performance truly captivated the crowd, showcasing the impact of her research on the PolyU community.  Congratulations to Joanna on her impressive achievement!

PhD Candidates Triumph in the 2nd FH Three-Minute Thesis Competition

The Faculty of Humanities (FH) hosted its 2nd Three-Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition on 12 June, showcasing the research prowess of its PhD students. The event challenged participants to present their complex research projects in just three minutes, emphasising clarity, conciseness, and effective communication. Our doctoral candidates have emerged victorious in this competition. The winner is Joanna Chen, with John Ganaah as first runner-up. Both students’ research and presentation skills showcased the depth and rigour of the work being done in our Department. They will represent FH in the University-wide 3MT competition (semifinal) scheduled for 24 June. Please join us in extending your warmest congratulations to Joanna and John on their remarkable achievements. Their success is a testament to the exceptional calibre of students at our Department!