Faculty Publications and Conference Presentations

<p>The present study investigates whether congruency facilitation and figurative interference—two counteractive effects—persist in L2 collocational processing when both congruency and figurativeness are present. A primed lexical decision task was administered to 44 L1-Chinese L2-English learners and 40 L1-English speakers to assess response times for figurative congruent collocations, along with their matched literal congruent and figurative incongruent collocations. Results showed that while collocational priming was absent, both congruency facilitation and figurative interference emerged, with their effects modulated by L2 proficiency. Specifically, in low-proficiency learners, congruency facilitation appeared to outweigh figurative interference, whereas in high-proficiency learners, figurative interference became more pronounced as L1-based facilitation was suppressed. These findings suggest that L2 learners initially rely on their activated L1 semantic network but gradually shift toward developing L2 collocational representations as proficiency increases, though these representations may remain weak and insufficient to facilitate collocate access.</p>

<p>Through case studies of the translanguaging performances of three Latinx bilingual students in U.S. classrooms, as well as an examination of the languaging actions of Hongkongers involved in virtual and public life during a period of social change and protest, the chapter demonstrates how speakers transgress language constraints imposed by institutions and nation-states by expanding or suppressing elements in their repertoire to signify and speak. The chapter shows how speakers' translanguaging creates networks of signification for what had been rendered as indecible/unspeakable by the logic of a colonial, global capitalist society.</p>

<Abstract of the presentation>

  In today's world, where IT and AI utilization are advancing, educational activities are transforming, and the creation of teaching materials has significantly evolved. There is a growing demand for materials and tools that allow learners to study freely, anytime and anywhere. Canva is an online tool that enables anyone to create professional-looking designs using a rich variety of resources. It allows for the condensation of teaching materials, making short, focused learning possible. Additionally, as an e-learning tool, it provides the flexibility to study anytime, anywhere, making it suitable for students to adapt to the changing times.

 ＜発表要旨＞

　Canvaを使っての教材作成－教材の作成とWell-being

　IT 化、AI 活用の進む今日、教育活動は変容し、教材作成も大きく変わってきた。いつでもどこでも自由に学習ができる教材やToolが求められる。　Canvaは誰でも、豊富な素材を活用してプロのようなデザインが作成できるOnline Tool である。教材を凝縮でき、短時間集中学習が可能である。また、e-Learningとして、いつでもどこでも学習が可能である。学生は、時代の流れに応じた学習が可能である。　教師は自分らしい教材が創れ、Teaching ＆ Learningの新しい姿を同僚とも分かち合えると考える。

＜本発表についての概略＞　

Zoomによるオンライン・ライブ開催
開催日時：2026年3月21日（土）21:00～23:00（日本時間）
言語　　：日本語
参加資格：世界中の日本語教育・学習者
参加費　：無料
申込締切：2026年3月13日（金）23:59（日本時間）

Web page：https://kokusaionline.wixsite.com/kouryukai2026

Programme

https://kokusaionline.wixsite.com/kouryukai2026/schedulehttps://kokusaionline.wixsite.com/kouryukai2026/schedule

　Canvaを使っての教材作成－教材の作成とWell-being<br/><br/>　IT 化、AI 活用の進む今日、教育活動は変容し、教材作成も大きく変わってきた。いつでもどこでも自由に学習ができる教材やToolが求められる。　Canvaは誰でも、豊富な素材を活用してプロのようなデザインが作成できるOnline Tool である。教材を凝縮でき、短時間集中学習が可能である。また、e-Learningとして、いつでもどこでも学習が可能である。学生は、時代の流れに応じた学習が可能である。　教師は自分らしい教材が創れ、Teaching ＆ Learningの新しい姿を同僚とも分かち合えると考える。<br/><br/> Creating Educational Materials Using Canva – The Creation of Materials and Well-being<br/><br/> In today's world, where IT and AI utilization are advancing, educational activities are transforming, and the creation of teaching materials has significantly evolved. There is a growing demand for materials and tools that allow learners to study freely, anytime and anywhere. Canva is an online tool that enables anyone to create professional-looking designs using a rich variety of resources. It allows for the condensation of teaching materials, making short, focused learning possible. Additionally, as an e-learning tool, it provides the flexibility to study anytime, anywhere, making it suitable for students to adapt to the changing times.

The Hong Kong Education Bureau has implemented various measures to support the integration of South Asian ethnic minorities into local communities. One such measure is providing Chinese language education in primary and secondary schools, as proficiency in Chinese is considered crucial for social mobility. The measure has been implemented for a decade; positive outcomes are to be expected. However, official data about the Chinese proficiency level of South Asian ethnic minorities is limited. With the increase in the number of South Asian students from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri-Lanka successfully entering higher education institutions in Hong Kong, there is a need for language teachers to find out more about the current situation of this learner group and reflect on current curriculum and pedagogy. This study investigates the issues of reading acquisition of South Asian students, aged 18 to 22, and from various academic disciplines, with prior knowledge of traditional Chinese characters and Cantonese, in an English as a medium of instruction Hong Kong university in their Chinese language learning, specifically in intermediate Chinese reading and writing courses. Preliminary results show that the South Asian students acknowledge the advantage of their prior knowledge, that is, understanding of radicals and the full handwriting ability of a traditional characters, while having some difficulties in recognising simplified characters such as characters which are totally different in form. Practitioners can enhance their awareness and understanding of students’ learning backgrounds and difficulties to facilitate their learning. Additionally, relevant learning materials, such as comparisons of traditional and simplified radicals and the basic rules for Chinese character conversion could be supplemented to assist students.

Recently (March 31, 2026) I delivered a presentation on "Teacher Well-being" at a CUHK with an audience of educators, and have recorded a version to share with CLE colleagues here.

This talk brings together both research and practice, with a focus on what teacher well-being means in our current Hong Kong context and why it matters for student learning. It begins by outlining the local landscape, where increasing workload, emotional demands, and structural pressures are contributing to sustained strain on teachers (Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers, 2024; Ip, 2025; Lau & Chan, 2025). This framing highlights that teacher well-being is not only an individual issue, but a broader systemic concern.

The second part draws on a systematic review of 14 studies examining teacher burnout and student outcomes. Across studies, higher levels of teacher burnout were generally associated with lower student academic achievement, with effects observed across cross-sectional, longitudinal, and a small number of experimental designs (Madigan & Kim, 2021). In contrast, findings for student motivation, well-being, and classroom relationships were more mixed and primarily based on cross-sectional evidence, suggesting that these outcomes are less conclusive and require further investigation. Overall, the review indicates that teacher burnout is most consistently linked to how students perform, reinforcing the importance of teacher well-being as part of effective teaching and learning.

The third section draws on large-scale international data from PISA 2018, including over 90,000 students across 19 countries/regions, linked with teacher data at the school level. The findings show that teacher well-being is positively associated with students’ life satisfaction and positive affect, and negatively associated with negative affect, even after controlling for background factors such as socioeconomic status and gender (Nalipay et al., 2024). This provides evidence that teacher well-being may extend beyond the individual, shaping students’ emotional experiences through classroom climate and daily interactions.

The final part of the session shifts toward application, offering a set of practical, research-informed strategies that can be integrated into everyday teaching. These focus on building small, sustainable habits, engaging in intentional forms of rest that support recovery, and establishing boundaries that protect time and energy over time (Lemon, 2022).

I’m sharing this recording as a resource for colleagues who are interested in both understanding the evidence and reflecting on how it might translate into their own teaching practice.

Thank you for reading and watching!

References:

Ip, Y. (2025). Hong Kong must care for its teachers before it’s too late. South China Morning Post.

Ip, Y. (2025). Stress facing Hong Kong teachers and students is a collective problem we cannot ignore. South China Morning Post.

6,500 teachers quit Hong Kong schools in last academic year, bringing total to nearly 12,000 since 2021. (2024). South China Morning Post.

Hong Kong’s overworked preschool teachers clock median of 55 hours per week: Survey. (2025). South China Morning Post.

Lemon, N. (2024). Habits, boundaries and you. In The 'how' of self-care for teachers: Building your teacher wellbeing toolkit. Routledge.

Madigan, D. J., & Kim, L. E. (2024). Does teacher burnout affect students? A systematic review of its association with academic achievement and student-reported outcomes. International Journal of Educational Research.

Nalipay, M. J. N., King, R. B., & Cai, Y. (2024). Happy teachers make happy students: The social contagion of well-being from teachers to their students. School Mental Health, 16, 1223–1235. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-024-09688-0

<p>A phrasal verb (PV) is a type of formulaic language that is ubiquitous in informal English discourse but notoriously challenging for English language learners. With many learners struggling to develop knowledge of formulaic language, this study investigated whether they make measurable PV gains over time and which factors in a study-abroad environment facilitated the development of PVs. Seventy-five mixed-L1 foundation students in the UK were tracked over the first two terms in an academic year. They completed a productive PV test, a receptive PV test, an Updated Vocabulary Levels Test, a language contact questionnaire, and a social network survey when studying abroad. Using descriptive statistics, paired-samples t-tests, and mixed-effects modelling, the findings indicate that the participants made only small gains in PV knowledge in two terms of study abroad. Interestingly, they made larger gains in productive knowledge than receptive knowledge, suggesting that they consolidated existing knowledge more than acquiring new PVs. Overall vocabulary knowledge, PV corpus frequency, and language contact significantly predicted PV knowledge, while semantic transparency and L2 social networks did not. Overall vocabulary knowledge and L2 social networks predicted PV gains. This study reveals that the developmenet of PV knowledge is relatively slow and incremental during study abroad. Thus, high-quality L2 interaction may be necessary for international students to develop PV knowledge in such contexts.</p>

This essay examines the potential impact of paid-for or premium language models, where some students may be able to afford advanced models generating superior outputs while others could face inequities due to financial constraints. It explores how this dynamic can exacerbate the digital divide, challenge traditional as well as more recent assessment methods in language education, and discusses strategies that hold promise in navigating these complexities in the era of Generative AI within the context of higher education.

This essay examines the potential impact of paid-for or premium language models, where some students may be able to afford advanced models generating superior outputs while others could face inequities due to financial constraints. It explores how this dynamic can exacerbate the digital divide, challenge traditional as well as more recent assessment methods in language education, and discusses strategies that hold promise in navigating these complexities in the era of Generative AI within the context of higher education.