Email

khychen@um.edu.mo

Tel

(853) 8822 4505

Office

E7-2023

Consultation Hours

Tuesday 3-5pm or by appointment.

Katherine Hoi Ying CHEN

Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics

Director of the English Language Centre

.

Introduction

As a sociolinguist and linguistic anthropologist, my research and teaching are interdisciplinary in nature. I draw on theories and knowledge from linguistics, anthropology, psychology, and neurosciences to study the nexus of discourse, identity, and ideology. My projects include the discourse and application of mindfulness, language identities and ideologies in multilingual Hong Kong, the gender stereotypes of Kong Girls, and the autobiographical voices of Indonesian Chinese transnationals. See my research profile for more.

Before joining UM, I worked at the School of English of the University of Hong Kong, and at the Department of Linguistics and the English Language Institute of the University of Michigan. At Michigan, I trained international PhD students to be English-medium instructors for diverse disciplines.

My current research and teaching focus on mindfulness, see the Mindfulness Research & Teaching Group at UM for our projects. We’re offering free 8-week online Mindfulness courses for research postgraduate students in Macau and Hong Kong.

Education

PhD & MA Linguistics, University of Michigan

MPhil & BA (Hons) English, University of Hong Kong

Additional Professional Training

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy Foundational Teacher Training, Trauma-sensitive Mindfulness Training, Oxford Mindfulness Centre

Teaching and Supervision

PhD Supervision (Please note I am currently not recruiting new PhD students).

Undergraduate courses

  • EELC2011 English Speaking for Academic Research
  • EELC1003 Academic English
  • HONR1000 Honours Project

Honorary Associate Professor, University of Hong Kong School of English

Teaching Excellence Award, University of Hong Kong Faculty of Arts

Barbour Scholar, University of Michigan

Michigan Teaching Fellow, University of Michigan

Linguistic Society of America Institute Fellow

  • Discourse Analysis of Mindfulness-based Intervention. Macao SAR Government DSEDJ Specialized Subsidy Scheme for Macao Higher Education Institutions in the Area of Research in Humanities and Social Sciences of Higher Education Fund. PI.
  • Ethnography of Indonesian Chinese Transnationals. Hong Kong SAR Government Research Grants Council General Research Fund (GRF), and University of Hong Kong Seed Funding. PI.
  • Multilingual transnationals in Hong Kong. Hong Kong SAR Government Research Grants Council General Research Fund (GRF), and University of Hong Kong Seed Funding. PI.
  • English in Multilingual Asia. University of Hong Kong Faculty of Arts Louis Cha Fund. PI.
  • Communicating Genetic Risk and Uncertainty across an Individual’s Lifespan vis-à-vis Family: A Discourse Analytic Study of Genetic Counselling in Hong Kong. Hong Kong SAR Government Research Grants Council General Research Fund (GRF) Co-I. PI: Olga Zayts.
  • Migration, Social Class and Language Education in Hong Kong: the Case of Secondary School Students with South Asian and Mainland Chinese backgrounds. Hong Kong SAR Government Standing Committee on Language Education and Research (SCOLAR) Research and Development Projects Co-I. PI: Miguel Pérez-Milans.

Chen, K (2018) Ideologies of Language Standardization: The Case of Cantonese in Hong Kong. In James Tollefson and Miguel Pérez-Milans (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Language Policy and Planning. UK: Oxford University Press.

Chu, S., Zhang, Y., Chen, K., et al. (2017) The effectiveness of wikis for project-based learning in different disciplines in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education. Vol 33, pp. 49-60. The Netherlands: Elsevier. SJR Q1.

Chen, K (2016) The transnational journey and multilingual repertoire of an Indonesian Chinese couple in Hong Kong: the story of one family, three places, and multiple languages. In Li Wei (ed.) Multilingualism and the Chinese diaspora, pp. 237-254. UK: Routledge.

Chen, K (2015) Styling bilinguals: Analyzing structurally distinctive code-switching styles in Hong Kong. In Gerald Stell and Kofi Yakpo (eds.) Code-switching at the crossroads between structural and socio-linguistic perspectives. pp.163-183. Germany: Mouton de Gruyter.

Chen, K & Kang, A (2015) Demeanor indexicals, interpretive discourses and the “Kong Girl” stereotype: Constructing gender ideologies in social media. The Journal of Language and Sexuality. Issue 4:2. pp. 193-222. USA: John Benjamins Publishing Co. SJR Q3.

Kang, A. and Chen, K. (2014) Stancetaking and the Hong Kong Girl in a shifting heterosexual marketplace. Sage: Discourse & Society. 25(2) pp. 205-220. SJR Q1.

Chen, K. (2008) Positioning and repositioning: Linguistic practices and identity negotiation of overseas returning bilinguals in Hong Kong. Multilingua 27 (1-2), pp. 57-75. SJR Q1.

Documentary Film (2005, 2017) Multilingual Hong Kong: A Sociolinguistic Case Study of Code-switching. USA: Films Media Group.

Invited Talks

Chen, K. 2022 “Mindfulness for wellbeing and English language teaching: an exploration”, Public Lecture, Department of English Language Education, The Education University of Hong Kong.

Chen, K. 2021 “Transnationality and language worlds of a family of Indonesian Chinese” Public lecture, Ministry of Education Bay of Bengal Countries Research Centre, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics.

Chen, K. 2021 “How can mindfulness improve teacher wellbeing” Keynote, the Macao Association for the Advancement of English Language Teaching Conference.

Chen, K. 2021 “Our beliefs about the English languages, and why do they matter?” Public lecture, Department of English Language Education, The Education University of Hong Kong.

Chen, K. 2020 “Kong Girl Stereotypes in Language and Gender Studies” Guest lecture, MA anthropology class, Department of Anthropology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Chen, K. 2019 “Transnational identities and ideologies in Hong Kong”. Plenary, Ancestry and Language Symposium, University of Sydney, Australia.

Chen, K. 2017 “Language ideologies and identities in Hong Kong”. In Center for Language Education, South University of Science & Technology of China, China.

Chen, K. 2015 “The politics of daily life: a gender stereotype in Hong Kong”. In the Department of English, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Chen, K. 2015 “Language and identity in two mobile communities in Hong Kong”. In Worldwide Universities Network “Understanding Globalisation – Margins and Peripheries” Research Group Workshop on “Contemporary Chinese mobilities”. The University of Cape Town, South Africa.

Joint Admission Examination for Macao Four Higher Education Institution English paper UM chief examiner (since 2018).

CET 4&6 UM deputy chief examiner (2018, 2019, 2020).

UMFAH representative to collaborate with Macao DSEDJ on local school English teacher workshops and community adult English teaching (since 2018).

Academic community services:

Organizing Committee member: Sociolinguistics Symposium (HKU); American Anthropological Association Society of Linguistic Anthropology Inaugural Spring Conference (U Penn); Sociolinguistics of Globalization (HKU); New Ways of Analyzing Variation (U Mich); Michigan Linguistic Society annual meetings (U Mich), Michicagoan Conference in Linguistic Anthropology (U Mich).

Grant proposal reviewer: Hong Kong RGC

Routledge book proposal reviewer

Former associate editor of Journal of Language, Culture, and Society by John Benjamins.

Journal reviewer: Language in Society, Journal of Sociolinguistics, Applied Linguistics, International Journal of Bilingualism, AILA Review, Multilingua, World Englishes, Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, Springer Encyclopedia of Language and Education, Sage Ethnicities, UCLA Issues in Applied Linguistics.