1. Faculty of Social Sciences
  2. School of Education
  3. People
  4. Profile
Xuechun Huang

Xuechun Huang

Profile

I am a full-time PhD researcher at the School of Education specialising in second language vocabulary teaching and learning. I am also the Event Coordinator at the Open Applied Linguistics Research Network. I hold a Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature from Sun Yat-sen University in China. Later, I obtained an MSc in Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition from the University of Oxford. I have won the Best Student Work-in-progress Presentation Award at the BAAL Vocabulary SIG Annual Conference 2024.

I am a teaching assistant at the University of Leeds for an undergraduate module, Technology-enhanced Language Learning, and a joint graduate module, Foundations in Educational Research/Research with Children and Young People. I have been selected as one of the first mentees in the 'Behind the Scenes' Early Career Researcher Scheme of Review of Education.

Research interests

My research interests include vocabulary teaching and learning, translanguaging, and open scholarship in applied linguistics. My current PhD research draws on corpus linguistics and experiments to understand vocabulary learning materials and activities. More specifically, I am looking at how teachers can use different combinations of activities to help students learn the most from the input.

Publications

  • Huang, X. (accepted). Review of Plonsky, L. (Ed.) (2024). Open science in applied linguistics. Applied Linguistics Press. AAALGrads: The American Association for Applied Linguistics Graduate Student Council Newsletter.
  • Huang, X., & Chalmers, H. (2023). Implementation and effects of pedagogical translanguaging in EFL classrooms: a systematic review. Languages, 8(3). https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8030194 [Open Access]

Presentations

  • Liu, M., Al-Hoorie, A. H., Hiver, P., Huang, X. & Shaahdadi, M. (2024, August). Open Applied Linguistics: Towards a culture of open scholarship in applied linguistics. Paper presented at the International Association of Applied Linguistics (AILA) conference, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
  • Huang, X. (2024, July). Testing the Four Strands principle on vocabulary learning for EFL Learners. Work-in-progress presentation at the BAAL Vocabulary SIG Annual Conference, Leeds, UK.
  • Huang, X. (2024, March). Teachers’ implementation of translanguaging in EFL classrooms: a systematic review. Poster presented at the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) Annual Conference, Houston, Texas, USA.
  • Huang, X. (2024, February). Teachers’ implementation of translanguaging in EFL classrooms: a systematic review. Invited talk at Dissertation Inspiration Symposium, School of Education, University of Leeds, UK.

Qualifications

  • MSc Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition, University of Oxford
  • BA English Language and Literature, Sun Yat-sen University
  • CELTA (Pass A), Cambridge Assessment English
  • Teaching Knowledge Test (all five modules), Cambridge Assessment English
  • China National Teacher Certification (High School English)

Research groups and institutes

  • Centre for Language Education