Financial Literacy: The Impact of The Foreign-Language Effect on Risk-Taking Values, Financial Attitudes, and Behavior of Hong Kong Secondary Students

Students in Asia usually receive financial literacy education in English. This study examines the foreign-language effects of financial literacy education both at home and school among secondary school students in Hong Kong (n= 1011). The study investigates the influence of language on students’ risk-taking values, financial attitudes (conscientious and entitlement), and their subsequent financial behavior (saving, planning, and protection). Structural equation modeling results indicate significant positive connections between learning in English in school and the home language, student risk-taking values, and their conscientiousness and financial behavior. However, we also found that language effects were far more complex than only foreign-language effects, and entitlement has much less significance in an Asian context like Hong Kong. Although financial literacy is more accessible if students are taught in their native language, using English as the medium of instruction develops students’ financial literacy in many other aspects, including their information access to valuable financial resources circulated worldwide. This paper explains why students who are proficient in English tend to be risk-takers but are nonetheless also conscientious in protecting themselves against financial losses. We propose that additional support in studying financial literacy in English is necessary to improve students’ financial literacy in contexts where English is not the native tongue.Query