n the past few decades, the number of Chinese students pursuing higher education abroad has increased rapidly and steadily. According to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS, 2013) nearly a fifth of all international mobile students in the UK were Chinese in 2010. Compared to studying at home universities in China, it is rather challenging for these students to study abroad. Apart from the high tuition fees for international students, the living expenses in the UK are about 50% higher on average than in China (NUMBEO, 2014). Besides these significant costs, Chinese international students are also facing other challenges such as a language barrier, homesickness and possible culture shock. Study failure is a major concern for these international students. An early and accurate detection of international students at risk of study failure will be beneficial to both students themselves and the host universities. Many factors other than language ability, such as appropriate learning strategies in the new learning environment, motivation, general acculturation ability and intelligence, are important to international students’ academic achievement. However, there is a consensus among researchers that English language ability is the most important factor for academic achievement (Graham, 1987; Bellingham, 1993; Johnson & Ngor, 1996; Reid, Kirkpatrick & Mulligan, 1996; Volet & Renshaw, 1996; Briguglio, 2000; Brooks & Adams, 2002; Lee & Greene, 2007). We therefore focus on English language ability in the present study.