Xuesong Gao

The University of New South Wales, FASS, School of Education, Faculty Member

The University of Hong Kong, Faculty of Education, Faculty Member

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I am an EAL teacher educator at the School of Education, University of New South Wales Australia. I have been involved in language teacher education in a variety of contexts. I have directed teacher education programmes at the University of Hong Kong and led professional development seminars on autonomous language learning, language learning strategy and reading for language teachers in places such as Hong Kong, mainland China and Taiwan. My research interests include international students’ educational experiences, language learner autonomy, language education policy and language teacher education. Over the years, I have been promoting sociocultural perspectives to understand language learners’ strategy use and language teacher identities. Relevant publications have appeared in journals such as English Language Teaching Journal, Journal of Language, Identity and Education, Language Teaching, Language Teaching Research, Studies in Higher Education, System, Teaching and Teacher Education, and TESOL Quarterly. I have received a total of 1.73 million Hong Kong dollars from competitive research funding bodies including Research Grants Council (Hong Kong), Sumitomo Foundation (Japan), and the Standing Committee for Language Education and Research (Hong Kong) to support my research. I co-edit System: An International Journal of Educational Technology and Applied Linguistics for Elsevier. I am a co-editor for the English Language Education book series at Springer. In addition, I serve on the editorial boards of journals including Asia Pacific Education Researcher, Journal of Language, Identity and Education, and Teacher Development. I was the Faculty’s Outstanding Young Researcher (2015) at the Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, a co-recipient of TESOL Award for an Outstanding Paper on NNEST issues (2012-2013), and have been named as one of 30 Up and Coming at TESOL International’s 50th anniversary.
Phone: +852 2857 8239
Address: Room 408D Hui Oi Chow Science Building
Faculty of Education, the University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong

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Books by Xuesong Gao

Identity, Motivation and Autonomy in Language Learning

by Xuesong Gao and Garold Murray

Through the use of qualitative research methods, the authors explore the complex, contingent, and... more Through the use of qualitative research methods, the authors explore the complex, contingent, and dynamic nature of motivation, identity, and autonomy-both for language learners and teachers-in many different parts of the world. Importantly, they also look for relationships among the three constructs. This is precisely the integrative approach that should be encouraged as we seek to understand the lived experience of individuals.
Diane Larsen-Freeman, Professor of Education, Professor of Linguistics, Research Scientist, English Language Institute, University of Michigan

There is no doubt that identity, motivation and autonomy are closely related concepts, yet this link has typically been underrepresented in the literature. This rich collection of papers offers to redress this by examining how the language learner’s agency, will and self interact in a wide range of cultures and contexts, and how they jointly shape learner behaviours and classroom practices. A particular strength of the anthology is that it offers a good balance of discussions of the latest theoretical approaches (such as complex dynamic systems theory and sociocultural approaches) and data-based investigations in which we can hear the voices of real learners in real classrooms. Readers will find that the issues are covered in impressive breadth and depth: there is something for everybody in this useful and insightful volume and I am convinced that nobody will leave it ‘empty-handed’. Highly recommended.
Zoltan Dornyei

Strategic Language Learning: The roles of agency and context

This monograph reports on a longitudinal inquiry into mainland Chinese undergraduates' language l... more This monograph reports on a longitudinal inquiry into mainland Chinese undergraduates' language learning experiences in an English medium university in a multilingual setting with a focus on their strategic language learning efforts. This book examines the issue as to what extent language learners' strategic learning efforts depend on their 'choice', if 'the element of choice' is the defining characteristic of language learners' strategic learning behaviour. The inquiry, using a qualitative and ethnographic research approach, reveals dynamic interaction between learners' agency and contextual conditions underlying the participants' strategic learning process. Such understanding informs pedagogical efforts to foster individual learners' capacity for strategic learning and their capacities in opening up and sustaining a social learning space for exercising their strategic learning capacity or utilizing their strategic learning knowledge.

Papers by Xuesong Gao

Learning English to fly: A study of Chinese cargo airline pilots’ learning engagement

English Today

Due to a growing concern with the English language competence of international airline pilots, a ... more Due to a growing concern with the English language competence of international airline pilots, a growing body of research has been conducted on issues related to the International Aviation English Test, which pilots need to pass in order to fly on international routes (e.g. Jones, 2003; Ragan, 1997; Seiler, 2009). This paper contributes to this research by reporting on a mixed method inquiry into Chinese pilots’ engagement with learning English for aviation. The study involved a survey of 165 pilots working for a major Chinese cargo airline, and follow-up interviews with two of the surveyed participants (one senior and one junior) to explore their International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) test preparation and learning engagement. The findings of the study indicate that policy-makers and relevant English language education specialists need to develop tailor made courses that will better help these pilots to improve their command of English and thus ensure aviation safety.

Pre-service and In-service Secondary School Teachers’ Knowledge about Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Attitudes toward Students with ADHD

International Journal of Disability, Development and Education

‘Unruly pupils’ in pre-service English language teachers’ teaching practicum experiences

Journal of Education for Teaching, 2012

The teaching practicum is a pivotal event for pre-service teachers to experience the transition f... more The teaching practicum is a pivotal event for pre-service teachers to experience the transition from being students to being teachers. This paper examines the emergence of &amp;amp;amp;#x27;unruly pupils&amp;amp;amp;#x27; as a central concern for pre-service English language teachers in their teaching practicum. The inquiry relates the pre-service teachers&amp;amp;amp;#x27; perceived challenge of &amp;amp;amp;#x27;unruly pupils&amp;amp;amp;#x27; to the mediation of contextual conditions and processes as well as the marginal positions in which they found themselves during the teaching practicum. The ...

The ideological framing of ‘dialect’: an analysis of mainland China's state media coverage of ‘dialect crisis’ (2002–2012)

Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 2014

Shifting Constructions of Role Models for English Learners in China

Changing English, 2014

Motivated by Visions: Stories from Chinese Contexts

International Perspectives on Motivation, 2013

The �falling� language standards and teachers� professional vulnerability in Hong Kong

Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 02671521003637146, May 7, 2010

There has been a widespread belief that teachers in Asian contexts including Japan and China are ... more There has been a widespread belief that teachers in Asian contexts including Japan and China are well protected by a tradition that reveres teachers. However, in Chinese contexts, cultural traditions have been found to undermine the teaching profession, together with educational reforms and societal changes. This paper reports on an inquiry that explored the social censure of teachers, especially language teachers in Hong Kong. The inquiry took advantage of an Internet discussion concerning the &amp;#x27;falling&amp;#x27;language standards, a ...

Review of the book Language learner autonomy: policy, curriculum, classroom

Mapping the terrain of learner autonomy: learning environments, learning communities and identities

Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 17501229 2012 738017, Mar 6, 2013

Article usage statistics combine cumulative total PDF downloads and full-text HTML views from pub... more Article usage statistics combine cumulative total PDF downloads and full-text HTML views from publication date (but no earlier than 25 Jun 2011, launch date of this website) to 07 Nov 2012. Article views are only counted from this site. Although these data are updated every 24 hours, there may be a 48-hour delay before the most recent numbers are available.

�Cantonese is not a dialect�: Chinese netizens� defence of Cantonese as a regional lingua franca

Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, Jul 6, 2012

This article reports on an inquiry into Chinese netizens&amp;#x27; online discussions related... more This article reports on an inquiry into Chinese netizens&amp;#x27; online discussions related to the &amp;#x27;Protecting Cantonese Movement&amp;#x27;in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, on the Chinese mainland. It interprets the ideological discourses used by Chinese netizens in online discussions to protect the status of Cantonese, a regional variety of the Chinese language. These netizens were found to have drawn on the international prestige and traditional heritage of Cantonese in arguing for maintaining its status as a regional lingua franca. ...

Primary English teaching: an introduction to language, literacy and learning, edited by Robyn Cox, London, SAGE, 2011, xii + 161 pp., £19.99 (paperback), ISBN 978-1-84-920196-4

Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 13664530 2012 674297, Feb 1, 2012

Primary English teaching is an excellent collection of chapters on key issues in the primary Engl... more Primary English teaching is an excellent collection of chapters on key issues in the primary English language classroom. As a teacher educator, I was thrilled to have this book even though I work in a context that is quite different from England. The book is written in an accessible language and updated with recent theoretical developments in the field of second language acquisition. The editor and contributors in the book have done an amazing job in communicating complex theories and research findings in ways that can be easily ...

Parental strategies in supporting Chinese children’s learning of English vocabulary

Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 02671522 2011 602102, Oct 12, 2012

Abstract This paper reports on parental involvement as experienced by a group of elite secondary ... more Abstract This paper reports on parental involvement as experienced by a group of elite secondary school pupils in learning English vocabulary on the Chinese mainland. It highlights the variety of strategies that Chinese parents adopted to support, sustain and enhance these pupils&amp;#x27; efforts to learn English vocabulary. They functioned as critical agents regulating and controlling their children&amp;#x27;s learning process and provided social opportunities for them to deepen/widen their engagements with English. These parents also mediated ...