Faculty Publications and Conference Presentations

Short Descriptions

This project is an attempt to replicate the research entitled “Syntactic Complexity and Writing Quality in Students’ Technical Writing” conducted by KY, Joyce and Eric with students of the SENG. Using the same framework of this research on SENG students, we would like to investigate whether there are any linguistic differences between SHSS and SENG students in their academic writing, with a special focus on their writing of complex noun phrases. Results from our work will be compared to the SENG research findings to identify any cross-disciplinary differences or similarities in students’ writing.

Possible Benefits

A comparative cross-disciplinary research study to explore syntactic differences in students' writing will have pedagogical impact on ESP teachers and material writers.

Deliverables

We intend to do background reading and prepare a literature review of the study this summer. Since both Thomas and Amy are new to this area, time is needed to familiarise with published materials in this area, find out how the SENG research was conducted and understand the various analyses.

Short Descriptions

This project examines and makes recommendations for the initial assessment procedures in Adult Education in the United Kingdom. Teachers and learners are constantly making opinions about their development and formative assessment is one of the tools used to recognise it. In Adult Education, in addition to formative assessment, learners are expected to undergo initial assessment testing their level of knowledge/abilities in Language, Literacy or Numeracy. Within the Adult Education context, there are several initial assessment methods available. However, it is the providers who decide which methods are most appropriate for their learners, as different methods may be appropriate in different areas. This research project focuses on an Adult Education provider based in the Midlands, United Kingdom, and offers findings that test and sometimes refute the current theory about initial assessment. Two research methods were employed to achieve the aim and objectives. Firstly, secondary data was researched, secondly, the qualitative primary data was collected using in-depth focus groups. The research included both practitioners and learners who either conducted or experienced needs analysis processes in the adult learning context. The findings and recommendations of this research project propose the use of a more ethical and reliable way of conducting initial assessment in the Adult and Community Learning context.

Deliverables

Presentation of the research paper at the European Conference on Education in Paris in June 2022

Short Descriptions

One of my summer projects includes revising the MILE 5001 Second Language Acquisition course based on student feedback. I have gone over all the student comments in the SFQ and I note down below the themes that have emerged and the changes I can make in Fall 2022. 1) Slow down and reduce the reading materials particularly in the first 4 weeks. 2) Highlight the critical concepts in PPTs and tell students which topics are more important. 3) Create connections between theory and practice. 4) Add more linguistic/teaching related examples from real life. 5) Provide more guidance about the final assignment. Emphasize the significance of the process rather than the final product. 6) Consider adding group discussions. 7) Have more interaction with students. Based on those points, I will be revising the course materials and the assessments over the summer.

This idea of using AI transcription was originated by Kasina, who has been using the transcript from Zoom for giving feedback on speaking.

If we aren't on Zoom, we can get the transcript by uploading the video to YouTube or Word:

I use a template to give feedback:

Now I don't need to transcribe any part of the presentation to give specific feedback. It's much easier to highlight those parts in a transcript. If you don't mind watching the video after the presentation in class, you may try and see if this works for you.

Short Descriptions

My second project for the summer is a research publication I have been working on. I plan to finish writing it up and submit it to a top-tier journal for publication. Here is my abstract: The semantic and cognitive correlates of the syntactic mass-count distinction has been explored in various studies including a recent thematic issue in Glossa featuring six articles dedicated to exploring the phenomenon. The current study contributes to the existing literature by investigating whether second language (L2) learners of English with Mandarin and Cantonese first language (L1) backgrounds were on a par with natives speakers of English in pluralizing canonically mass and count nouns that differed with respect to properties such as atomicity, abstractness and concreteness. The results based on a Fill in the Gaps Task (FGT) indicated that the different properties of a noun influenced the degree of pluralization for L2 learners of English. More specifically, the results revealed that for L2 learners of English (1) mass-ness, non-atomicity and abstractness decreased the odds of pluralization of a noun; (2) atomicity had a larger effect on pluralization of a noun than abstractness on pluralization; and (3) abstractness in the context of nonatomicity did not have a large reduction in the odds of pluralization.

Short Descriptions

In our jobs as educators, we are often faced with the questions of what is a good lesson? How can we engage and motivate our students? What makes them remember what we have taught? These are consistent questions and challenges we face and ask ourselves regardless of how much experience we have, whether we are classroom teachers or Course leads or Materials writers and even whether have had a good or bad lesson (especially the latter!). Essentially, the learner is at the centre of all our work as educators and this informal investigation aims to build on our lesson observation study and explore these questions through the lens of active learning approaches and other related pedagogies, theories or approaches we can find along the way that might be useful, relevant and hopefully insightful for teaching and educating.

Possible Benefits

- Explore areas for best and shared practice in teaching engaging lessons - Incorporate strategies into Course design and materials for ECOMM courses, LANG2010 revisions and beyond

Deliverables

- Publish Mini-Cast on DPS to informally share findings - Summer EYE Workshop

Short Descriptions

Professor Chen (2019) pointed out that the Chinese language courses offered by tertiary institutions has gradually shifted from the learning of literary texts to the training of basic language skills and the composition of texts for practical purpose in 1980s. With the fast-growing economy in HK, business activities became more complex and diverse. Specially, after the handover, Chinese has been used more extensively in all areas of society to serve genuine communication needs between users of Chinese coming from different areas. The Chinese language used in the workplace has flourished in the past decades such as the writing of formal and informal letters in various business contexts, however, a little attention has been paid to the non-Chinese leaners. Given the current situation, there is a potential need for Chinese teaching faculty to develop the curriculum with a focus on the Chinese language used in the commercial settings. Besides, as one of the leading institutions in the region, UST will play a predominant role in the development of the Great Bay Area, which also offer some opportunities for the CLE Chinese team to extend its curriculum to the local community. Meanwhile, e-learning has become a new normal for students in the institutions of higher education, especially in the post-epidemic era. Some team members have accumulated considerable experience in designing and implementing the blended learning materials in the newly revamped C-com curriculum to non-Chinese students. As an innovative pedagogy, VR/AR apps for job interview skills has been well applicable to English business communication course in the CLE. The Business Chinese curriculum can also employ it in the blended learning design which will become a driving force for the non-Chinese learners’ high engagement in the process of self-directed learning. The VR apps for job interview skills in Cantonese or Putonghua will be applied in the curriculum. Based on the above rationale, the project aims at providing an extended curriculum of reading and writing for non-Chinese students (with a focus of business Chinese writing). It will complement the existing non-Chinese language curriculum in HKUST by providing the reading and writing components in blended learning mode. By establishing a virtual learning community online, students may learn not only on their own pace, but also with other non-Chinese learners physically (in the language class) and virtually (via the learning management platform, e.g. Canvas). The project team will apply for SCOLAR Promotion of Language to be financially supported to develop a non-credit business Chinese reading and writing courses for the general public. In designing the course with blended learning components, the deliverable will also be applicable for the HKUST non-Chinese curriculum as the extended curriculum to support students to learn reading and writing in CORE1411-1415. Reference: Sui Duen Chen (2019) Chinese for Specific Purposes in the Hong Kong Context, In Hongyin Tao & Howard Chen (Eds.), Chinese For Specific and Professional Purposes: Springer Link, https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-13-9505-5

Deliverables

1. A non-credit bearing non-Chinese reading and writing course for the public (supported by SCOLAR) 2. An extended curriculum for HKUST non-Chinese students for CORE1411-1415 (supported by CEI Blended learning funding)