Xuesong Gao

UNSW Sydney | UNSW · School of Education

This volume contributes to ongoing discussions of ethics in Applied Linguistics scholarship by focusing in depth on several different sub-areas within the field. The book is comprised of four sections: methodological approaches to research; specific participant populations and contexts of research; (language) pedagogy and policy; and personal and i...

Social network analysis (SNA) has recently drawn increasing scholarly attention in applied linguistics research in response to the social turn in the field. In this review, we analyze and identify the methodological characteristics and topical concerns of articles addressing SNA in Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) journals. Following the Prefer...

In recent years, China has implemented a national language policy promoting the use of Putonghua (Standard Chinese) in ethnic minority schools. This study investigates how mesolevel institutions (i.e., schools) have responded to this macro‐level national language policy change, and how the institutional policy changes have affected Korean‐Chinese b...

In recent years, research on enjoyment in foreign language (FL) learning has flourished. To help illuminate the existing scope of inquiry and guide future research, this paper presents a systematic review of 118 empirical studies on FL learning enjoyment published between 2014 and 2023. Each study was coded according to its research context, method...

As the number of foreign patients and the frequency of international academic exchanges increase, English proficiency has become increasingly essential for Chinese nurses in the treatment and nursing processes, clinical academic exchanges, and ongoing education. However, the overall English proficiency of Chinese nurses is generally inadequate, gre...

In recent decades, the concept of reflective practice has grown in popularity and importance in the fields of education and TESOL. Evidence suggests that teachers who systematically engage in this kind of practice gain new insights into their teaching and are able to improve the teaching–learning process in their classrooms. Indeed, in some context...

This chapter provides a summary of reflective practice in TESOL teacher education programmes in 14 countries. It highlights the important lessons we have learnt about integrating and promoting reflective practice in pre-service and in-service TESOL teacher education at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Reflecting on the contributions, we...

In a context of increasing deficit discourses about multiculturalism andmultilingualism, this study examined the racialised identities ofmultilingual Indonesian teachers in secondary schools in New SouthWales (NSW), Australia. Informed by the Douglas Fir Group Framework(2016), the study unpacked teachers’ socio-cultural, and linguistictrajectories...

Family language policy (FLP) impacts the maintenance of heritage language(s) in the family domain, where parents play a crucial role in making language-related decisions for their children. Globalisation, immigration, the COVID-19 pandemic, and digital communication have all affected FLP. Studies are now calling for examining how dispersed transnat...

In this study, we integrated corpus technology in pre‐service TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) teachers' technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) development in corpus technology, termed corpus‐based language pedagogy (CBLP), and highlighted the collaborative effort for knowledge building among participants for TPA...

Language teachers’ experiences of identity tensions present valuable opportunities for researchers to understand the complex role of professional identity in shaping language teachers’ instructional practice. This exploratory sequential mixed-method study reports on identity tensions as experienced by teachers of Chinese as an additional language (...

As emotion regulation receives increasing attention in the field of second language (L2) learning, related research home and abroad has yielded pioneering insights. The paper firstly sorts out the definition of emotion regulation and the major theoretical frameworks of emotion regulation, followed by a review of high-quality journal articles publis...

This study examines the evolution and regulation of group-level enjoyment of online collaborative language learning. Three Chinese undergraduate learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) collaborated to finish a series of English writing tasks via an online group enabled by WeChat, a popular social instant messaging app in Chinese-speaking co...

This review article examines how researchers name their study participants and how these naming practices reflect their application of the ethical principles of anonymity and confidentiality in qualitative research on language learners. To identify the variety of naming practices in use, we reviewed 181 journal articles that reported on qualitative...

This semester-long study examines teachers' responses to online teaching with a focus on the interplay between teacher emotions and agency enactment in a Chinese university. Analysis of the data from three-round interviews with 12 teachers revealed highly complex emotional trajectories, which were dominated by outcome emotions and characterised by...

Informed by the integrated model of emotion regulation in achievement situations, the study surveyed 363 Chinese postgraduate students􀆳 use of emotion regulation strategies in the process of writing and publishing English academic papers, and explored factors influencing the selection of emotion regulation strategies through 14 semi-structured inte...

This paper reports on an inquiry into a group of students’ Portuguese language learning with a focus on their access to economic, social, and cultural capital. The inquiry problematizes the traditional uncritical assumption of a shared pursuit of linguistic competence among students. Drawing on individual in-depth interviews with 14 participants at...

"The invited colloquium, “Researching Multilingually to Rethink EMI Policy and Practices”, organized by Xuesong Andy Gao (University of New South Wales) and Yongyan Zheng (Fudan University) took place on 18 March 2023, at the annual meeting of the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) in Portland, Oregon, USA. This colloquium consiste...

Language teachers are increasingly expected to design teaching materials that reflect locally appropriate cultural values and ideologies in different contexts. In response to the call for language teachers to engage with ideological representations as materials designers, this paper draws on an ecological perspective to investigate how language tea...

In this paper, we report on an international collaborative project designed to address the professional development needs of Vietnamese teachers for the implementation of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). We collected data on a group of CLIL Vietnamese teachers and leaders through online interviews. Drawing on Cultural-Historical Act...

Researchers have long problematized the prevalence of Eurocentrism in modern Western translation theory. Alternative theories have been developing across many contexts, including China. This review examines 153 theory-related articles in four leading indexed Chinese journals that publish studies on translation. We analyzed the selected articles to...

Family language policy (FLP) is increasingly recognised as a distinct domain of language policy concerned with the family as an arena of language policy formulation and implementation. While FLP is a relatively new research area, its conceptualisation of family and language practice requires re-examination due to social changes and technological de...

This paper aims to ‘map the terrain’ of EMI and CLIL in Asian schools by providing an overview of the contexts and focus areas of empirical research conducted in the last seven years (2015–2022). The findings highlight gaps in the existing body of literature, including a lack of research in primary school and early childhood contexts, limited resea...

Recent conceptualizations of language learning motivation have highlighted its dynamic and contextual nature. Yet the role of the L2 learning context in shaping motivation remains under‐explored. This study adopts an agency perspective to examine emerging motivational orientations across diverse medium of instruction settings. The present study rep...

This article presents reflections from 12 experts on language learners strategy (LLS) research. They were asked to offer their reflections in one of their domains of expertise, linking research into LLS with successful language learning and use practices. In essence, they were called upon to provide a review of recent scholarship by identifying are...

This scoping literature review aims to explore how language teachers incorporate technology into their teaching and learning experiences. It does this by reviewing studies related to language teachers’ technology use and applications of technology in technology-enhanced language education that were published between 2012 and 2022. By using the Pref...

Despite the increasing use of English as a medium of instruction (EMI), teachers who teach at EMI schools encounter significant challenges, such as difficulties in teaching content-subjects in English and students’ limited understanding of content presented in English. To examine the extent of these challenges, six early–full and 14 late–partial EM...

The promotion of the English language continues to be instrumental in helping China to engage with the world, but it has caused identity anxiety and cultural uncertainty among language learners. In this paper, we analyze data from a favorite-character-presentation task and an oral survey conducted with 82 preschool children in Shanghai. We found th...

The COVID-19 pandemic forced university-based language teachers to rely on technology for teaching. While the challenges of the rushed move to online teaching have been well documented, less is known about how teachers adapted to online teaching through professional development. This article focuses on the experiences of four English-language teach...

In this article, we synthesise research on language ideologies and language policies related to minority languages in China published in international journals between 2001 and 2022. We review 73 empirical studies published in English to examine research trends and identify issues in terms of what was studied, how it was studied and what was found....

In recent years, there has been a growing body of research on student voice in the context of higher education, generating significant insights for pedagogical improvement. This systematic literature review aims to examine studies on student voice from 2011 to 2022, specifically those concerned with assessment and feedback in higher education. The...

This paper reports on an inquiry that explored how a group of Nepali secondary school students discursively reconstructed and interpreted their English learning in Hong Kong. In the study we collected data from 30 participants through participatory observation, in-depth unstructured interview and taking field notes in two secondary schools. The ana...

This study, drawing on the theoretical model of investment, explores what motivates and encourages international students studying Chinese as a second language (CSL) to invest in their Chinese learning using Q sorting and interview data collected from 15 international undergraduate students studying in mainland China. The results reveal that: (1) C...

This study adopts a case study approach to examine how students write in English-medium instruction contexts. It also explores why they write in this way from the perspective of writer identity. Four Chinese university students’ EMI course essays, as well as their interview and stimulated recall responses were collected. The analysis results presen...

This paper reports on an exploratory study examining parental involvement in preschool-level English language learners’ use of smartphone apps in a Chinese context. The study aimed at understanding the challenges that Chinese parents experienced, and how they responded to these in their engagement with their children’s mobile-assisted language lear...

Returnee scholars are regarded as key agents to advance internationalisation in many non-Anglophone countries where internationalisation through the medium of English has raised concerns about the preservation of national language, culture, and identity. This study investigated how eight Chinese returnee scholars used their linguistic repertoires i...

Collaborative learning in online contexts is emotionally challenging for language learners. To achieve successful learning outcomes, language learners need to regulate their emotions and sustain positive emotions during the collaborative learning process. This study investigated language learners’ emotion regulation and enjoyment, the most extensiv...

This paper reports on a study that examined the process of two international doctoral students’ academic socialisation in Chinese universities. Drawing on the concept of academic socialisation and social network analysis, we analysed multiple types of data, including study-abroad social network questionnaires, concentric circles interviews, reflect...

This chapter reports on our inquiry into novice language teachers’ technology integration and its interaction with their professional identities during the first 2 years of teaching. In the study, we collected data through longitudinal interviews with seven Chinese language teachers in Hong Kong’s international schools. The analysis revealed that t...

The purpose of this study is to examine preservice Chinese language teachers’ cognition in teaching intercultural communicative competence. In the study we collected data through in-depth interviews with seven preservice teachers in a Master of Education program (Teaching Chinese as a Second Language, TCSL) at a university in Hong Kong SAR, China....

The outbreak of COVID-19 generated an unprecedented global push towards remote online language teaching and learning. In most contexts, language teachers and learners underwent a rapid switch to online instruction with limited resources and preparation. Their experiences demonstrate resilience, perseverance, and creativity under highly challenging...

This paper draws on an ethnographic research that examined Taiwanese international students’ identity movements before, during, and after their overseas education in Australia. Previous studies on nonnative-English-speaking teachers (NNESTs) studying TESOL in the West focused on the formation of their professional identity before and after the comp...

Culture plays an integral role in English language teaching (ELT) and is the reading components of ELT textbooks. This study explores the issue of cultural representation in ELT textbooks in India, which has received little attention in ELT research world-wide. By incorporating 10 ELT textbooks from four states, one national board from India, and a...

Through reviewing high-quality research articles published at home and abroad in the past 10 years, this study examines language teachers’ cognition of blended teaching and their teaching practice. The study indicates that, language teachers’ cognition of blended teaching, including the concept, teachers’ and students’ roles, and its constraints, i...

Mobile-assisted language learning has emerged as a valuable tool for L2 pronunciation learning as it offers ample opportunities for learners to perform authentic learning activities anytime and anywhere. However, the extent to which mobile devices may facilitate or enhance L2 pronunciation has yet to be systematically investigated. To address the r...

After the publication of World Declaration on Education for All and Framework for Action to Meet Basic Learning Needs by UNESCO in 1990, particular attention has been devoted to the quality of students’ learning. One of the principal ways to meet this objective has been educational measures where David Carless introduced learning-oriented assessmen...

Relational agency is pivotal for understanding how language teachers seek and utilize relational resources in different contexts and grow to be agents of change amid various educational challenges. This study explored how three university teachers of Chinese as a second language (CSL) enacted their relational agency to enhance their research capaci...

This report reviews studies on language teachers as materials developers in language education, particularly focusing on how language teachers act as materials users, materials analysts, and materials designers when engaging with language learning and teaching materials. We contend that the three dimensions of materials development – that is, mater...

The advocates of multi-competence theory argue that the L2 learners’ language system is unique because of the crosslinguistic influences of both languages. However, the influence of a foreign language on the learner’s L1 has not been extensively investigated. In order to address the gap, the present study sought to investigate the effects of EFL le...

Book Review: Individual differences in language learning: A complex systems theory perspective. Authors: Carol Griffiths, Adem Soruç. Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020. ISBN: 978-3-030-52900-0. Pages: 220.

This Element aims to elucidate the concept of language teacher agency by exploring the 'what' question, offering major conceptualisations of agency and explaining how they shape the way we approach teacher agency. The authors then continue with the 'why' question, and elaborate on the reasons that language teacher agency matters, based on a discuss...

Pedagogical translanguaging has emerged as an important strategy facilitating the sustainable use of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) in educational settings. This mixed-method study, conducted in an EMI finance classroom at an international school in Shanghai, China, investigates the translanguaging practices of students in classroom inter...

This article reports on a case study of Miho, a Japanese high school teacher, exploring her efforts to bridge research and practice in her use of motivational strategies. Drawing on Emirbayer and Mische’s conceptualisation of agency and Connelly and Clandinin’s theorisation on teachers’ personal knowledge, the study examined how this language teach...

This paper reports on our inquiry into how language teachers’ identities relate to their efforts to teach intercultural communicative competence. In the study, we collected data through in-depth interviews with and observations of 16 Chinese language teachers in Hong Kong’s international schools. The analysis revealed that the participants simultan...

Ushioda’s book advances an ethical agenda for research by posing a number of critical questions, not only for researchers of language learning motivation, but also for researchers in the field of applied linguistics. In this review, we share our interpretation of what the ethical research agenda advanced by Ushioda means for applied linguists and d...

Research has shown that the effectiveness of written corrective feedback (WCF) on writing performance depends on learners’ engagement with WCF and its associated motivational state. However, little research has examined the inner causal relationships between motivation, learner engagement with WCF, and writing performance. The current study fills t...

In this review of System's scholarship on the learning and teaching of languages other than English (LOTEs), we focus on 12 articles on language pedagogy and language learners, selected from a total of 208 relevant articles published in the journal (until 2020). The review affirms the journal's commitment to the dissemination of scholarship for lan...