The group investigates how technology shapes linguistic research and language pedagogy, with a particular focus on the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on language teaching and learning. It builds on established strengths in AI and multilingualism, corpus technologies for language learning, computational linguistics and natural language processing (NLP), and computer-mediated communication.
Its members have published extensively in high-impact, peer-reviewed journals, conference proceedings and book chapters, and have secured competitive internal and external funding from sources including the MoE, the National Key Lab Fund, the Ruijin–XJTLU Joint Project, the XJTLU Key Programme Special Fund, the Research Development Fund, the Teaching Development Fund, the Suzhou Science and Technology Project and the HSK International Research Fund. Their research outcomes have generated both academic and societal impact.
Prof Minjie Xing is Professor of Chinese at the University of Manchester and serves as Programme Director for Joint Degrees in the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures. She is a National Teaching Fellow and a Principal Fellow of Advance HE in the UK. Her research and teaching expertise lie in Business Chinese, multimodal language learning, and the application of artificial intelligence in language education. She serves on the editorial and review boards of four ESCl-indexed journals and was honoured with the Reviewer of the Year Award for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Visiting Fellow AY2023-24
Dr Meilin Chen
Dr Meilin Chen is a Lecturer at Hong Kong Baptist University. She teaches discipline-specific English academic writing to students from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels as well as other courses related to language learning or research. She is interested in corpus linguistics, learner corpus research, English for academic purposes, critical discourse analysis, data-driven learning, and corpus-assisted discourse analysis. Her publications have appeared in journals such as Discourse and Society, English for Specific Purposes, International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, and System.
Virtual/Visiting Fellow AY2022-23
Prof Hua Chen
Prof Hua Chen is a professor of Applied Linguistics, Nanjing University. She serves as executive committee members in a number of language associations in China. Currently, she is undertaking one key NSSFC project and one provincial research grant. Her research interests include second language acquisition, ELT, ESP, etc.
The group investigates how technology shapes linguistic research and language pedagogy, with a particular focus on the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on language teaching and learning. It builds on established strengths in AI and multilingualism, corpus technologies for language learning, computational linguistics and natural language processing (NLP), and computer-mediated communication.
Its members have published extensively in high-impact, peer-reviewed journals, conference proceedings and book chapters, and have secured competitive internal and external funding from sources including the MoE, the National Key Lab Fund, the Ruijin–XJTLU Joint Project, the XJTLU Key Programme Special Fund, the Research Development Fund, the Teaching Development Fund, the Suzhou Science and Technology Project and the HSK International Research Fund. Their research outcomes have generated both academic and societal impact.
Members
Visiting Fellow AY2025-26
Prof Mingjie Xing
Prof Minjie Xing is Professor of Chinese at the University of Manchester and serves as Programme Director for Joint Degrees in the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures. She is a National Teaching Fellow and a Principal Fellow of Advance HE in the UK. Her research and teaching expertise lie in Business Chinese, multimodal language learning, and the application of artificial intelligence in language education. She serves on the editorial and review boards of four ESCl-indexed journals and was honoured with the Reviewer of the Year Award for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Visiting Fellow AY2023-24
Dr Meilin Chen
Dr Meilin Chen is a Lecturer at Hong Kong Baptist University. She teaches discipline-specific English academic writing to students from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels as well as other courses related to language learning or research. She is interested in corpus linguistics, learner corpus research, English for academic purposes, critical discourse analysis, data-driven learning, and corpus-assisted discourse analysis. Her publications have appeared in journals such as Discourse and Society, English for Specific Purposes, International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, and System.
Virtual/Visiting Fellow AY2022-23
Prof Hua Chen
Prof Hua Chen is a professor of Applied Linguistics, Nanjing University. She serves as executive committee members in a number of language associations in China. Currently, she is undertaking one key NSSFC project and one provincial research grant. Her research interests include second language acquisition, ELT, ESP, etc.