Prof. Eric Friginal co-edits new volume on Global Aviation English

Our Department Head, Professor Eric Friginal, has co-edited the newly published anthology, "Teaching and Assessment in Global Aviation English", from Bloomsbury Publishing. This significant collection combines the expertise of renowned academics and aviation professionals to offer the latest research and evidence-based recommendations for building effective curricula in Aviation English. Topics  include International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Language Proficiency Requirements, teacher training, and innovative uses of corpus linguistics, role-play, and computer-assisted learning in radiotelephony contexts. The volume is an invaluable resource for educators, assessors, and researchers working to advance language training standards in the global aviation industry. Read more about the publication from HERE  

Inspiring stories of strength and resilience: Commemorating International Migrants Day

On 14 December 2025, our Department partnered with the Equal Opportunities Commission to commemorate ‘International Migrants Day’ with migrant communities in Hong Kong at PolyU Hung Hom Bay Campus. Titled “Inspiring Stories of Strength and Resilience,” the event welcomed over 120 participants and was honoured by the presence of Consul General of the Philippines Mr Romulo Victor M. Israel, Jr. , Consul of Information and Sociocultural Affairs, Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia Mr Clemens Triaji Bektikusuma , and our Department Head Prof. Eric Friginal. The programme featured information booths from migrant-serving organisations, a panel discussion with accomplished migrant leaders, including Vishaka Rajakaruna, Efi Susanti, Lusya Tawu Loko, and Melody Munson, remarks from our Prof. Jeffry Oktavianus , and an intimate fireside chat with Randell Aranza. Through candid conversations and personal reflections, the speakers highlighted how their voices, labor, and dreams are essential to Hong Kong’s present and future. The event also advances our Departmnt’s Migrant Worker Lives Matter series, strengthening dialogue and collaboration with community partners.

New book by Dr Blair Jin explores comfort in Chinese online medical consultations

Our Department is pleased to announce the publication of The Discourse of Comfort in Chinese Online Medical Consultations by Dr Blair Jin. Published by Routledge, this innovative monograph integrates conversation analysis and discursive psychology to examine how doctors and patients co-construct emotional support and collaborative problem-solving in asynchronous text-based consultations. Using a large corpus collected through Python-based data scraping, Dr Jin sheds new light on the distinctive interactional practices of online medical encounters and the broader implications of digital mediation for health communication. The book is essential reading for researchers and students in conversation analysis, health communication, pragmatics, discursive psychology, and the study of language and technology in healthcare contexts. Learn more about the publication from HERE.

ENGL’s Aviation English Research Group presents two papers at GEIA 12 Seminar in Rio de Janeiro

The Department of English and Communication (ENGL) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) made a strong international impact at the 12th GEIA Seminar, held from 24–28 November 2025 at the Complexo Santos Dumont in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Led by Professor Eric Friginal, Head of the Department, the PolyU delegation delivered two presentations that highlighted Hong Kong’s distinctive approaches to aviation English education and professional technical communication. Their participation strengthened academic exchange between Hong Kong, Brazil, and the wider global aviation English community, contributing to a deeper understanding of how language training supports safety, efficiency, and professional development across the aviation sector. The GEIA Seminar, organized annually by the Grupo de Estudos em Inglês Aeronáutico (GEIA), is recognized as one of the most influential international platforms for research and practice in aeronautical English. Bringing together educators, linguists, aviation professionals, policy makers, and safety specialists, the seminar fosters dialogue on language proficiency, communication standards, and training methodologies essential to aviation safety. This year’s event was attended by participants from various continents, reflecting the global nature of the aviation industry and the increasing demand for high-level English communication skills in multilingual environments. Against this backdrop, the ENGL team presented two studies that showcased Hong Kong’s innovations in aviation English instruction—from secondary education to professional training—and its contributions to improving communication in high‑stakes safety contexts. The first presentation, delivered by Prof. Eric Friginal in collaboration with Dr Frederick Cheung, Principal of Chinese YMCA Secondary School and two secondary school students, Thomas Lok and Elena Liu. They examined how Aviation English is promoted and integrated into both secondary school curricula and university‑level cadet pilot programmes in Hong Kong. Their presentation offered a comprehensive view of Hong Kong’s vertically structured approach to preparing future aviation professionals. At the secondary level, Dr Cheung shared how aviation-focused initiatives introduce students to foundational aeronautical concepts while emphasizing the development of Aviation English skills. These programmes aim not only to raise students’ aspirations but also to prepare them for the linguistic and cultural demands of the aviation workplace. Many participating students are encountering aviation terminology and communication conventions for the first time, making structured and engaging language instruction particularly crucial. The two secondary school students, Thomas Lok and Elena Liu, highlighted how Aviation English training is embedded throughout the programme, supporting young aviation enthusiasts as they progress toward their university education. By discussing the challenges of aligning language proficiency with operational requirements, the team demonstrated how Aviation English functions as a critical competency in modern pilot training. Doctoral student Amber Wang, for her presentation shifted focus from spoken communication to the highly technical world of written safety documentation in aviation. The presentation addressed a critical but often overlooked aspect of aviation communication: the clarity and readability of maintenance manuals and technical written reports. Recognizing that approximately 80% of aviation maintenance technicians worldwide are non-native English speakers, this study sought to identify the linguistic structures and features that make maintenance documentation both precise and accessible using corpus linguistics methods. Findings identified four key communicative mechanisms essential to effective maintenance writing: structured elaboration of discourse, precise lexical choices, syntactic simplicity, and clear referential strategies. These features work together to ensure that complex technical procedures can be communicated clearly, consistently, and with minimal risk of misinterpretation. Throughout GEIA 12, the PolyU team engaged with Brazilian aviation educators, DECEA Aeronautical English instructors, and international researchers, exchanging perspectives on curriculum design, English proficiency standards, and the future of aviation training. Their contributions were consistently noted for their strong empirical grounding, practical relevance, and the distinctive Hong Kong perspective they brought to global discussions on communication in aviation. The insights shared at GEIA 12 are expected to inform ongoing international collaboration and future research partnerships, contributing to safer and more effective communication across the global aviation industry. By representing Hong Kong on this international stage, the PolyU delegation helped strengthen cross-cultural understanding and showcased the university’s commitment to advancing impactful research and global engagement.

PhD Graduate Receives PolyU PhD Thesis Award 2025 – Outstanding Award (Non-STEM Category)

Dr Sopuruchi Aboh, a PhD graduate from our Department, has won the PolyU PhD Thesis Award 2025 – Outstanding Award (Non-STEM Category) for his thesis titled "Accent and social evaluation: A sociolinguistic analysis of language attitudes and stereotypes in university settings in Nigeria.” The thesis explores the formation of stereotypes and language-based bias. His research highlights how discrimination or lost opportunities due to individuals' English accents are unjust. The PolyU PhD Thesis Award is established by the Graduate School to recognise, reward, and promote the distinguished research achievements by graduating PhD students. The award comprises two classes—Outstanding and Merit—to acknowledge varying levels of academic excellence. Dr Aboh is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in the department. This honour not only recognises Dr Aboh's outstanding work and contributions to advancing knowledge with applications but also acknowledges the invaluable guidance and mentorship provided by his supervisor, Prof. Hans Ladegaard.

PolyU English Debate Club expands its joint training network with visit from Macao Polytechnic University

On 7 October, while most of Hong Kong was celebrating the day after Mid-Autumn Festival, the ENGL Debate Club proudly hosted the Macau Polytechnic University (MPU) Debate Team for a joint training session. This event marked an important milestone for the club. While previous joint training sessions were limited to universities within Hong Kong, such as CUHK and HKU, this event expanded the scope of these activities to universities within the Greater Bay Area (GBA). In addition to demonstrating the broadening of inter-institutional collaboration activities, this event also reflected the ENGL Debate Club’s growing reputation. The Debate Club at MPU initially proposed the event based on their knowledge of PolyU’s success at the Greater Bay Area Debate Championship at the beginning of the year. There, the ENGL Debate Club won the championship title in addition to the prize for the best grand final speaker. Featuring high-level debate demonstrations, group discussions, and multiple hands-on debate practice sessions, the event targeted students’ improvement of critical thinking, public speaking, and argumentation skills. Engagement with their peers from Macao allowed PolyU ENGL Debate Club students to gain exposure to diverse perspectives and build supportive peer-to-peer learning networks. Supported by funding from the Fund for Technology-in-Education (FITE) grant, the event challenged students to ponder the implications and applications of generative AI with respect to debate. The ENGL Debate Club looks forward to continuing our inter-institutional exchanges and expanding our network with universities across the region and beyond.

Four ENGL scholars recognised among world's top 2% scientists

We are delighted to share that four distinguished academic staff members of our Department—Professor Hu Guangwei, Professor Li Shaofeng, Professor Michał Krzyżanowski, and Professor Zou Di—have been named among the World's Top 2% Scientists in the recently published 2025 Stanford/Elsevier rankings. Professors Hu and Li have once again been honoured for their outstanding contributions to Communication and Textual Studies (Sub-field: Languages and Linguistics), while Professor Krzyżanowski is recognised not only in the same category but also in the domain of Information and Communication Technologies (Sub-field: Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing). Professor Zou has been acknowledged for her impactful work in the Social Sciences (Sub-field: Education). This prestigious international recognition reflects the exceptional calibre of research undertaken by our academic staff. Their work continues to advance scholarly understanding and practical applications across linguistics, communication theory, artificial intelligence, and educational studies—making significant contributions to both academia and society at large. We extend our warmest congratulations to Professors Hu, Li, Krzyżanowski, and Zou on this remarkable achievement. Their dedication and intellectual leadership are a source of pride for the Department and an inspiration to the wider academic community.   Further reading - About the Stanford/Elsevier List: The World's Top 2% Most-cited Scientists lists, compiled by Stanford University, acknowledge both lifetime achievements and recent research contributions. Over 100,000 leading scientists globally are categorised into 22 subject fields and 174 sub-fields. The lists utilise various indicators, including citations, scientific research output, and a composite measure of citation impact, covering data up to the end of 2024.  

Awardees for the Stephen Evans Awards 2025

This year, two Postdoctoral Fellows received The Stephen Evans Best Thesis Award 2025. They are: WU Xiaoyan Ivy. The title of her thesis is “Mainland Chinese students’ psychological adaptation to Hong Kong: an intergroup communication perspective”; and ABOH Sopuruchi Christian. The title of his thesis is “Accent and Social Evaluation: A Sociolinguistic Analysis of Language Attitudes and Stereotypes in University Settings in Nigeria”. One PhD student received The Stephen Evans Best Paper Award 2025. PELTONEN Lucas John. The title of his paper is “Linguacultural Competence in Business English Communication: The Case of a Business English Textbook in China”.  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 our Department’s website (HERE).

The human touch in digital care: Overcoming AI perception challenges in healthcare - Opinion article by Dr Max Dunn

With rapidly aging populations across the globe, as well as an increasingly short supply of healthcare personnel, healthcare systems are struggling to provide quality care to everyone who needs it. To address this issue, new and improved Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems have the potential to relieve the burden on healthcare systems as well as improve patient care. However, implementing AI in healthcare needs to be done with caution, and managing patient perceptions of AI as well as developing human-like linguistic features in AI is crucial in order to fully leverage the benefits of AI in this sector. When people think of AI, one common perception of this technology is a sort of all-knowing and genius entity with competencies that far outpace humans. However, this impression is not found universally across all domains. In the research I lead in our lab, people consistently find AI doctors to be less competent and trustworthy than human doctors, even when the AI doctors perform to the same standard as human doctors. Furthermore, when AI doctors do not mimic the speech patterns of their patients (a common linguistic pattern found in human-to-human communication), people view AI doctors as even less competent and trustworthy. These results are concerning, as quality patient care stems largely from the quality of patient-doctor relationships, whereby relationships characterized by a high degree of trust lead to better patient outcomes. Therefore, negative perceptions of AI doctors may cause patients to be hesitant to follow their healthcare recommendations, or patients may even be unwilling to seek out medical treatment from healthcare systems which use AI. Fortunately, there are a couple of straightforward ways to mitigate the issue, at least partially. The first is to educate patients on the strengths that AI has in providing healthcare. Patients trust human doctors to a greater extent due to the very apparent schemas that they have of doctors, such as the fact that doctors need to undergo rigorous education, training, and examination, as well as promising to uphold ethical and moral standards when providing healthcare services. Most people have much less clear schemas of AI in healthcare, and thus do not know exactly how to think about AI in this domain and how much to trust AI. Therefore, briefing patients on the AI tools they will be interacting with is important, for example by highlighting how a particular AI has been trained on massive amounts of data that no one doctor could ever be exposed to, as well as having diagnostic accuracy rates that consistently outperform humans. The second method is to develop AI tools that are linguistically similar to humans. One linguistic phenomenon that is relevant here is called linguistic alignment, which is the tendency for people to mimic the linguistic behavior of their conversational partner, such as reusing the sounds, words, and sentence structures that their partner uses. More linguistic alignment has been found to increase trust and sociality between dialogue partners, and in my research AI doctors that linguistically aligned with their patients were perceived more positively than AI doctors that did not linguistically align. Therefore, developing AI that can analyze the linguistic behavior of patients and then use similar styles of speech in interactions with patients could increase trust and the overall quality of the patient-doctor relationship, leading to better health outcomes overall. All in all, encountering AI in healthcare settings will increasingly become the norm and not the exception, making it crucial to understand patient perceptions of this technology in order to provide human-centered and effective healthcare. We strive to push forward this goal in the International Research Centre for the Advancement of Health Communication (IRCAHC - https://www.polyu.edu.hk/ircahc/) within the Department of English and Communication at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Two BAEAL students join the Global Millennium Fellowship Class of 2025

We are thrilled to announce that Joyce Jiayi Chen and Cora Wenxi Zhu, Year 4 students in our BA (Hons) in English and Applied Linguistics (BAEAL) programme, have been selected as Millennium Fellows in the Class of 2025! The Millennium Fellowship, co-run by the United Nations Academic Impact and the Millennium Campus Network, is a semester-long leadership development programme that convenes, challenges, and celebrates bold student leadership advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on campus and in communities. This year, from a record-breaking pool of over 60,000 applicants from 7,500+ campuses worldwide, just 4% were selected, and among them were Joyce and Cora. As part of the Fellowship, more than 4,000 Millennium Fellows across 290+ campuses in countries like the USA, Nigeria, the UK, Australia, India, Kenya, and beyond will participate in this transformative four-month leadership journey, each undertaking a project addressing one or more of the SDGs, applying their learning to create tangible social impact. We are incredibly proud of Joyce and Cora for representing PolyU and our Department on the global stage. Please join us in congratulating them on this remarkable accomplishment!