Abstract
This chapter examines the impact of English proficiency on sociocultural and academic adaptation through the mediating effects of cultural intelligence. Data were generated by a web-based survey involving 530 Chinese students having participated in short-term exchange programmes in English-speaking countries. A partial least square structural equation modelling analysis was performed. The results revealed that English proficiency and the four dimensions of cultural intelligence explained 81.6% of the variance in academic adaptation and 15.9% in sociocultural adaptation, indicating that English proficiency and cultural intelligence significantly predicted the participants’ sociocultural and academic adaptation. The bootstrapping results indicated that the four dimensions of cultural intelligence partially mediated the relationship between English proficiency and academic adaptation, while only cognitive cultural intelligence serves as a mediator between English proficiency and sociocultural adaptation. The results confirmed the significant mediating role of multi-faceted cultural intelligence in the relationship between English competence and adaptation among Chinese students in short-term study-abroad programmes.
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The authors would like to thank Dr. Chen Duan and the office of academic affairs of the sampling institute for the kindly support in data collection.
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Yao, D., Tian, M. (2023). The Impact of English Proficiency on the Sociocultural and Academic Adaptation of Chinese Students in Short-term Exchange Programs: The Mediating Effects of Cultural Intelligence. In: Sahlane, A., Pritchard, R. (eds) English as an International Language Education. English Language Education, vol 33. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-34702-3_19
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