This article reports on a survey of the language learning strategies used by a group of Hong Kong learners. The aims of the study were to investigate levels of strategy use among the group, and to examine levels of association between strategy use and language proficiency. The SILL questionnaire (Strategies Inventory of Language Learning) by Oxford (1990, pp. 293-300) was used. SILL consists of six categories of strategies: memory, cognitive, compensation, metacognitive, affective, and social. The results showed that compensation and metacognitive strategies were the most used, while affective and memory strategies were the least used. Previous examinations of the nature of the relationship between strategy use and proficiency, and ways of measuring this are discussed. In this study, it was found that there was significant variation in proficiency in relation to eleven out of a possible fifty strategies. Of these, nine were in the cognitive category, one in the compensation category, and one in the social category. The article concludes by questioning the appropriateness of using the SILL and proficiency measure in tandem as a way of establishing a clear relationship between strategy use and proficiency, and suggests directions that might be pursued in language learning strategy research.

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The concept of Business English has undergone some major shifts in the last few years because of a number of developments, such as advances in genre theory and the coming together of English for Business Purposes and Business Communication, inspired by the realization that there is a gap to be bridged between the academy and the globalized business world. Drawing on advances in the analysis of business discourses, especially in applied genre analysis, this state-of-the-art review revisits the frameworks currently used in English for Business Purposes and Business Communication (or, more generally, Professional Communication) to suggest an integration of the two approaches for the design of English for Business Communication (EBC) programmes. The study incorporates an extensive review of much of the relevant published work in all the three areas mentioned above to identify some of the main issues in EBC, and illustrates a gradual shift in the rationale for the design and implementation of EBC programmes.

This article tracks the socialization of a Chinese intern into a Hong Kong PR company and considers the factors that enabled her to move toward acquiring the discourse of the profession. Taking a case study approach, the research is based on a detailed daily journal written by the intern during her internship, and two interviews. Over the 3-month period of the internship, her written discourse changed considerably, revealing the extent of her socialization into the organization. Specifically, the intern's writing changed from detailed general descriptions of her activity to discourse resembling that of PR practitioners. The study demonstrates the power of the workplace as a context for learning, yet data show that the academy, by providing tools for understanding and reflecting on organizational culture, also has a role to play in socialization processes.