Abstract
While the hiring of international faculty is increasing among competitive universities, some universities face a major challenge in doing so - their foreign hires do not speak the primary language of instruction of that university. This study examines the host country language skills of expatriate academics in two countries - Korea and Japan.
Specifically, this study investigates (a) the study effort invested and (b) the language proficiency achieved by native English-speaking professors on tenure track positions. Expatriate faculty had several predictors of their language learning success.
Specifically, the well-known factors facilitating language learning played important roles. The findings are discussed within the framework of socio-cultural adjustment and career prospects that exist for expatriate professors in Korean and Japanese higher education.