Current Students
Raymond Pai is a doctoral candidate in LLED and the Director of the Cantonese Program in Asian Studies at UBC. He has considerable expertise in the teaching/learning of English (as L2), Mandarin, and Cantonese. He completed his MA at Brigham Young University. His SSHRC-funded dissertation focuses on adult learners of Cantonese in Vancouver.
Senyao Shen is a doctoral candidate in LLED exploring socialization among Chinese families in metro Vancouver and the interplay of English, Chinese regional dialects, and Mandarin. She is also part of our current SSHRC Chinese media study.
Former Students
Dmitri Detwyler was a doctoral student in LLED with longstanding interests in the learning and use of Chinese and in Chinese language textbooks. He is now a lecturer at Georgia State University.
Liam Doherty
Liam was a PhD student in Modern Language Education at UBC, having completed an MA in Asian Studies at the University of Toronto and an M.Ed. in MLED at UBC. His SSHRC-funded PhD research examined mentoring (peer socialization) within informal, online Chinese language learning groups/sites. He is currently a sessional instructor in Asian Studies (Chinese functional grammar, Cantonese) and is part of an ongoing research project on Chinese media contexts for language education.
Ai Mizuta
Ai completed her PhD in Modern Language Education at UBC in 2017. She examined the (fraught) history of Chinese language education among Canadians of Chinese heritage across three timescales. Her dissertation is titled: MEMORIES OF LANGUAGE LOST AND LEARNED: PARENTS AND THE SHAPING OF CHINESE AS A HERITAGE LANGUAGE IN CANADA.
Tim Anderson
Tim Anderson completed his Ph.D. in LLED in 2016 and is now Assistant Professor at the University of Victoria. With other CRCLLE members he co-authored the book Learning Chinese: Linguistic, Sociocultural, and Narrative Perspectives, and the Global Chinese (journal) article featured on this website’s home page on changing representations of Chinese language education in English news media. His PhD research focused on Chinese transnational students in Canadian graduate programs.
Rachel Wang
Rachel Wang was an MA and PhD student in Modern Language Education at UBC and was the coordinator of the Centre for Research in Chinese Language and Literacy Education at tUBC for several years. Snow lives and works in Boston, MA, where she is completing her PhD at the University of Massachusetts. She co-authored two publications while connected with CRCLLE: a book (Learning Chinese: Linguistic, Sociocultural, and Narrative Perspectives) and a journal article on media representations of Chinese language learning.
Fiona Bewley completed her MA in Asian Studies on representations of culture in Chinese language textbooks.
Shuang Li completed her MA on motivation of Mandarin-L1 students to learn Cantonese-L2 at a Canadian university.
Bin Zheng
Bin completed her MA degree in Asian Studies (Chinese applied linguistics) at UBC working with Dr. Duanduan Li and Dr. Patricia Duff on Chinese heritage-language learners’ literacy and instructors’ feedback on their writing. She is now a lecturer in Chinese language & literature at UBC.
Roma Ilnyckyj
Roma’s MA thesis examined the relationship between Chinese language learning and identity formation, especially in relation to gender, race, and social positioning. She was a co-author of the book, Learning Chinese: Linguistic, Sociocultural, and Narrative Perspectives. Following her graduation from UBC she became a professional editor.
LEARNING AS LAOWAI: RACE, SOCIAL POSITIONING, AND CHINESE LANGUAGE ACQUISITION IN CHINA
Hong Jiang
Hong’s MA study was a historical analysis of Chinese Heritage Language Education in British Columbia. Following her graduation, and after obtaining her B.Ed. in teaching mathematics and Mandarin, she moved to California.
Thesis: A SOCIO-HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF CHINESE HERITAGE LANGUAGE EDUCATION IN BRITISH COLUMBIA
Ella VanGaya
Ella Lester/VanGaya completed her MA Thesis on identity development, language crossing, and (especially) different approaches to narrative inquiry in a Chinese as an additional language. From 2008 to 2009, Ella worked as graduate academic assistant for CRCLLE and contributed to CRCLLE’s establishment and development. She also co-authored the book Learning Chinese: Linguistic, Sociocultural, and Narrative Perspectives.
Thesis: LEARNING CHINESE: THREE AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NARRATIVES
Lorita Chiu
Lorita completed her MA in Asian Studies on textbooks for Chinese heritage language learners. She subsequently pursued doctoral studies at the University of Calgary.
Sabina Lecki
Sabina Lecki graduated from LLED’s Modern Language Education Program, completing a thesis on “The Non-native speaking Modern Language Teacher: Language Practices, Choices, and Challenges.” Thesis: The non-native modern language teacher : Language practices, choices, and challenges
Elliott Yates
Elliott completed his M.A. degree in Asian Studies, focusing on Chinese as an additional language. His interests include advanced/heritage-language learning of Chinese, and especially reading acquisition, reading choice, and literacy education. Drawing on his background in computer science and engineering, as well as his interest in advanced learning of Chinese, his thesis looked at how technology might be used to capture the linguistic development of complexity, accuracy and fluency. He is currently working at Harvard University.