Hongyi Zhao

Profile

I am currently a postgraduate researcher (PGR) with a special interest in corpus linguistics and vocabulary teaching and learning. I also work as a teaching assistant, research assistant and academic personal tutor at the Language Centre and the School of Education, University of Leeds.

Originally from China Mainland, I was born in a family of teachers, where both my grandma and mother teach English. My grandma taught me English when I was three. Her love, affection and passion to teaching English inspires me to be an English teacher like her. With her as my role model, I have been taking teaching positions for part-time jobs in various language institutions since I was an undergraduate student in China (2015-2019). I have taught different versions of school textbooks for primary and secondary students in China. Later I completed a Masters Degree of Arts at the University of Leeds in 2020, where I developed my interest in vocabulary and corpus research. I was also invited by the School of Education to share my experience of an international Taught Postgraduate (TPG) at Leeds with new students in 2021. After graduation, I became an IELTS teacher. I took the role to develop and teach IELTS courses on reading and writing. In teaching practice, I applied what I learned in vocabulary and corpus to my IELTS reading and writing sessions, but found that I would like to explore more on vocabulary and corpus fields. Therefore, I came back to Leeds in 2022 for further study.

Alongside my PhD research at Leeds, I played roles at the Language Centre and at the School of Education.

As A Language Tutor:

In summer 2023, I taught academic language to postgraduate students, helped with session material development and delivered a lecture on practical guide to corpus analysis. I worked on two modules, one on language for master studens (three groups, 20-25 students in each group) and the other on language for PhD or research postgraduates (17 students from 15 schools).

As A Teaching Assistant:

Academic Year 2023/24: I was a teaching assistant on two MA modules at the School of Education (one on language teaching methodology and the other on corpus linguistics). I cooperated with two tutors on language teaching methodology microteaching sessions for six weeks, and provided feedback for students on their teaching practice (two groups, 30 students in each group). In the six-week module about corpus, I also provided help for students on their corpus analysis software, answered their questions and guided them on analysing practice in sessions (two groups, 30 students in each group).

Academic Year 2025/26: I am now working on two modules on language teaching methodology, one for undergraduates and the other for postgraduates.

As A Research Assistant:

In early 2024, I joined the research project Reimagine essay-based assessment in the wake of ChatGPT: insights from corpus-based analyses of ChatGPT led by Dr. Huahui Zhao and Dr. Yen Dang, where I was a research assistant on corpus compilation. I managed to compile three corpora within three months based on needs of group leaders. Findings of this project were presented by Dr. Huahui Zhao at BAAL TEA SIG 2025 conference at University of Reading, 2025 July.

As An Academic Personal Tutor:

Academic Year 2024/25: I was an academic personal tutor of 18 taught postgraduates (TPGs) on TESOL Studies at the School of Education. I provided materials written by me to share tips of learning and living in Leeds.

Academic Year 2025/26: I will also take personal academic tutees this academic year.

Other Academic Network or Professional Skill Support:

In July 2024, I was a local committee member and held the BAAL VocabSIG 2024 conference at Leeds. In 2024 and 2025, I was invited to share my MA dissertation writing experience twice to TPGs of TESOL and TESOL Studies at TESOL Forum. In June 2025, I was invited to share my experience on PGR application with TPGs.

Outside the University, I have been cooperating with my friend in Malaysia to have voluntary online guidance on academic writing for postgraduates at his university since 2023, where I had sessions for postgraduates on Literature Review structure. In 2024, I was invited by one of my colleagues in China to design an online course on ESP and Radiology for 114 radiological doctors in hopistals in China. The one-year course included 52 sessions (recorded videos and live stream sessions delivered by me) on techniques of reading academic journal articles on Radiology. An 8-million-token corpus was compiled and used for this online course. Corpus-based language learning activities (e.g., disciplinary word list development and collocation analysis tasks) were especially designed for and integrated to this course. I also designed around 200 handouts for this online course through selecting and analysing reading materials (e.g., key vocabulary, key genre-/disciplinary-specific collocations, grammar and discourse).

As well as Chinese Mandarin and English I am able to speak basic French. In my free time I enjoy travelling. I have been to all 76 UK cities listed by the UK government, and main cities and regions around France. I also enjoy reading books on history and Chinese classical philosophy.

Professional Memberships:

I hold memberships at:

Centre of Language Education (CLER);

British Association for Applied Linguistics (BAAL);

International Association for Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL);

TESOL International Association;

Publink Extensive Reading Club (PERC), and

UK Association for Language Testing and Assessment (UKALTA).

Publications:

Dang, T. N. Y., Zhao. H., Stylinaou, E., Huang, X. and Zhang, A. (2025). Vocabulary Studies SIG: How to organize your first academic conference collaboratively and inclusively? Lessons from organizing the BAAL VocabSIG 2024 conference. BAAL News. 126, pp.19-23. Available from: baal.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/BAAL-News_2025_126.pdf

Zhao, H. (2023). 国外语言政策与规划著作年度扫 描（2022）. In: 中国语言生活状况报告 . edited by: 郭熙. 上海：商务 印书馆.

Stylinaou, E., Huang, X. and Zhao, H. (forthcoming). Why should Early-Career Researchers Organize an Academic Conference?. BERA blog.

Conference/Workshop Presentations:

Zhao, H. (2025). Corpus Analysis on Polysemy in Academic Written Logistics – A Comparison with the BNC. Vocab@Maryland 2025 Conference.

Zhao, H. (2025). Corpus Analysis on Polysemy in Academic Written Logistics – A Comparison with the BNC. IATEFL Annual Conference.

Zhao, H. (2025). Dissertation Inspiration Symposium: Progress in a Journey. TESOL Forum, University of Leeds.

Zhao, H. (2024). Corpus Analysis on Collocation in Old and New Secondary English Textbooks in China. The Second National Conference on Foreign Language Teaching Materials, China.

Zhao, H. (2024). Corpus Analysis on Text-oriented Lexical Bundles in Academic Logistics Articles. The Conference on Corpus Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, China.

Zhao, H. (2024). Corpus Analysis on Vocabulary in GenAI Assisted and Non-GenAI Writings. The Conference on Corpus Linguistics and Humanity, China.

Zhao, H. (2024). Corpus Analysis on Polysemy in Academic Written Logistics - A Comparison with the BAWE. The Fifth Asian-Pacific Conference on Corpus Linguistics (APCLC).

Zhao, H. (2024). Corpus Analysis on Vocabulary in Old and New Secondary English Textbooks in China. The First National Conference on Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Foreign Language Teaching Materials, China.

Zhao, H. (2024). Corpus Analysis on Polysemy in Academic Written Logistics. The 57th British Association for Applied Linguistics (BAAL) Conference.

Zhao, H. and Cao, Z. (2024). Vocabulary in Hui-style Architecture Academic Articles - What can Corpus Tell us. TeLLT and CoLLT 2024 Conference, Hong Kong, China.

Zhao, H. (2024). Dissertation Inspiration Symposium: It Is Good but Where to Start?. TESOL Forum, University of Leeds.

Zhao, H. (2023) How to Use Sketch Engine. Workshop at Language Centre – Language for Education, University of Leeds.

Zhao, H. (2023). Using VocabProfile to select texts. Workshop at Centre of Language Education, University of Leeds.

Leadership and Teamwork:

I was a member of local committee, together with other PGRs and school staff, to organize the BAAL VocabSIG 2024 Conference at the University of Leeds. I took the following roles in the conference organization: I was the leader of Keynote Speaker hospitality team; I was a member of material printing team where I designed the conference badges; I was a member of registration team where I managed the second-day registration; I also helped with setting equipment for poster presentation. To organize a conference is a good experience for PGRs like me. I developed skills of cooperation and strengthened the connections with other PGRs or scholars in the same research community. I also learned a lot from senior staff on conference organization approaches. After the conference, I co-authored two writing practices with other members of local committee to share our experience on organizing a conference. One of the writing practices was accepted and published on BAAL News.

During the Induction week of the academic year 2025/26, I am the volunteer for welcoming new students in TESOL studies. I led students for the campus tour (two tours, 30-40 students in all) to exploring main buildings (e.g., School of Education, main libraries, the gym and key buildings for sessions).

Research interests

My research interests lie within the area of English language vocabulary learning, teaching and assessment for L2 learners. I am particularly interested in academic and specialised vocabulary, by employing corpus methods for analysis. I am now addressing key questions related to corpus and vocabulary research, for example:

• What words and multi-word units do L2 learners need to know for communication in a specialised discourse (e.g., specific disciplines or trades)?
• What senses of words do L2 learners need to know for communication in a specialised discourse? To what extent are the senses different from those in everyday language or in general academic language?
• To what extent do the teachers realise the issue of polysemy? How do teachers and popular teaching materials help L2 learners develop such vocabulary knowledge?

My current research focuses on corpus-derived specialised word list development and polysemy analysis. I am also interested on lexical analysis in textbooks and assessment, vocabulary or collocation learning strategies, word part teaching and learning for L2 learners, and lexicography.

Qualifications

• 2019-2020 MA TESOL Studies, School of Education, University of Leeds, the UK
• 2015-2019 BA English Education, School of Foreign Languages, Chuzhou University, China
• Cambridge Academy of Translating UK TESOL Certificate (CAT-UK TESOL)