Jim Chan

Profile

Jim Y.H. Chan is a Lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Leeds and a Senior Fellow of Advance HE (SFHEA). Before he moved to the UK, he was Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Hong Kong. He began his career as a secondary school Chemistry and English teacher. His research interests include English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), World Englishes (WE), Teaching English as an International Language (EIL) (curriculum/material/assessment design, pronunciation teaching, pragmatic competence), language use, attitudes and identities, multilingual/bilingual education (English-medium instuction, EMI, and Content and Language Integrated Learning, CLIL) and Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL). Some of his recent work has been published in TESOL Quarterly, Language Teaching Research, World Englishes, International Journal of Applied Linguistics, Language and Education, System, Language Assessment Quarterly, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, Journal of English as a Lingua Franca, Asian Englishes, RELC Journal and The Journal of Asia TEFL. His latest monograph, Developing Pronunciation Teaching for International Intelligibility, draws on research on language use, variation, attitudes and identity, and pedagogy to inform contextualised, intelligibility-oriented pronunciation teaching and teacher education in international settings.

Responsibilities

• Deputy MA TESOL Studies Programme Lead

Research interests

Research Interests

• English as a lingua franca
• World Englishes
• Language use, attitudes and identities
• Teaching English as an international language (pedagogy, assessment and materials design)
• Bilingual education policy and practice (e.g., English Medium Education, EMI; Content and Integrated Learning, CLIL)

Projects

1. Research Innovation Fund (2026-2027) (£2482.85) Developing Pragmatic Competence via a Virtual Exchange Programme: An ELF-Informed Intervention (Principal investigator)
2. British Council, Transnational Exploratory Grant (2025-2026) (£25,000) Joint postgraduate programme development between Turkey and the UK: removing barriers and sharing good practice (Co-Investigator)
3. HaSS Education Development Fund (2023-2024) (£2,996.21) Student-teachers’ COIL experience in teacher education: Opportunities, challenges and the direction ahead (Principal investigator)
4. Erasmus+, European Commission (2022-2023) (EUR 900,099) Foreign Language Teacher Training Capacity Development as a Way to Ukraine’s Multilingual Education and European Integration (MultiEd) (Project coordinator)
5. General Research Fund (GRF), Research Grants Council (2020-2023), HKSAR (HK$ 819,712) Language attitudes in teaching English and Chinese as a lingua franca: The choice of pedagogical models. (Principal investigator)
6. Standing Committee on Language Education and Research (SCOLAR), Research and Development Projects, HKSAR (2018-2022) (HK$2,355,439.8) Developing an intelligibility-oriented approach to teaching and assessing English pronunciation in Hong Kong. (Principal investigator)
7. Early Career Scheme (ECS), Research Grants Council (2016-2019) (HK$660,490) Developing a lingua franca approach for English language education in Hong Kong. (Principal investigator)
8. Insight Development Grant, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada (2016-2019) (CAD$64,999) How states promote global English. (Collaborator)
9. University Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research, The University of Hong Kong (2016-2018) (HK$149,891) English language Education in Hong Kong: Tracing the development of the changing ideologies and methodologies in curricula, assessments and textbooks. (Principal investigator)
10. Faculty Teaching Development Fund, The University of Hong Kong (2016-2019) (HK$ 77,250). Internationalising the MEd(LAC) Programme – Developing a Blended-Learning Mode. (Principal investigator)
11. Dean’s Innovation Fund, The University of Hong Kong (2016-2018) (HK$245,118). Leading Asia via the MSc-CLIL (Master of Science in Content and Language Integrated Learning) Programme. (Co-investigator)

Supervision of Completed PhD/EdD Dissertations

1. LIU, Zirui (PhD): Resisting Standard Language Ideology among Chinese Learners of English - Bridging the Gap Between Theory and Practice.
2. CHOI, Ying An Natalie (PhD): Critical Ethnography of Language Policy, Critical Discourse Analysis, Language Ideology.
3. QU, Jiaqi (PhD): Integrating Content and Language Learning: An Ethnographic Study of Instructional Practices and Professional Development.
4. CHIBA MEREU, Akiko (EdD): Managing Group Rapport: An Investigation of Disagreement in Academic ELF Group Discussion.
5. TANG, Wai Pong (PhD): Consonant cluster variations in Hong Kong English: An attitudinal study.
6. RUI, Xiaochen (PhD): Effects of Teacher Collaboration on Students' Language and Content Acquisition in a CBI Class at a Chinese University.
7. HO, Sze Long (EdD): Exploring effects of direct feedback and indirect coded feedback in an EFL classroom in Hong Kong.
8. YEUNG, Yuen Yi (EdD): Teachers' development through cross-curricular collaboration between English and subject teachers.
9. WANG, Weihong (PhD): Ideological Constructions of English in a Chinese University.
10. ZHU, Qiyun (PhD): Chinese Undergraduates’ Engagement with Peer Feedback: Perceptions and Practices.
11. NIU, Yilu (PhD): Regional Inequities in English Pronunciation Development in High Schools in Mainland China: An Ethnographic Case Study.
12. HUANG, Fanglei (PhD): The semiotic landscape of a university campus: Discursive place-making and ideological framing of a contemporary higher education institution in Hong Kong.

Qualifications

• PhD in Applied Linguistics
• MA in English Language Teaching
• MA in English Language Studies
• Postgraduate Diploma of Education
• BSc in Chemistry (Minor in Humanities)

Student education

My teaching covers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in English language education, applied linguistics, and TESOL. Areas of teaching include second language acquisition, sociolinguistics, English as a global language, language awareness, phonetics and phonology, language teaching methodology, language assessment, discourse analysis, and qualitative and applied linguistics research methods. I also teach courses on English language pedagogy and teacher education, undertake school practicum supervision, and supervise undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations, research projects, and doctoral research.