Our community of teacher educators conducts research, teaches and advocates in areas related to language, literacy and culture across the entire education system. We also research and teach children’s literature, multimodal digital literature and advocate for multimodal literacy education to prepare children for compelling literacy skills in the digital era. We have specific expertise in school-age education as well as adult, community and higher education.
We have a rich experience gained from working with diverse language and cultural groups, including linguistic minorities, immigrant and refugee communities, transnational students, EAL/D (English as an additional language/dialect) /EFL (English as foreign language)/ESL (English as second language) students, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders peoples. We are acutely aware of the politics of colonisation and assimilation and issues of educational disadvantage, and our work seeks to resist the disenfranchisement that these politics cause.
We explore how deficit framings – set against dominant assumptions about educational background, linguistic heritage, affiliation and expertise, and student and family capacity – create implicit and explicit barriers for engagement and success in multilingual educational communities in Australia and internationally. We identify ways to empower students, teachers, teacher educators, curriculum developers and policymakers with critical awareness and resources in response to the challenges associated with language, literacy, literature and culture in education.
Themes and signature projects
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ARC Linkage project – with Doctor Sally Baker, Professor Massimilano Tani and Dr Claire Higgins
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Led byÌý,Ìý Professor Andy Gao,Ìý,Ìý, Dr Lisa Gilanyi, Dr Hang Nguyen, Trang Hoang.
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Led by Doctor Ellen Lee and Doctor Thu Ngo
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Led by Doctor Thu Ngo and Professor Len Unsworth (ACU)
Research team – who we are
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Academic staffÌý
- Associate Professor Andy Gao
- Associate Professor Kevin Lowe
- Dr RoseÌýAmazan
- Dr Sally Baker
- Doctor Ellen Lee
Researchers
Expertise
Topics
Theoretical frameworkÌý
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Ìý
Language Education Policy (e.g. medium of instruction, CLIL, language curriculum)
Ìý
Language Teacher Education
Ìý
Language Learning strategies (e.g. SLA)
Ìý
Social cultural theory
Ìý
HoaÌýNguyen
Ìý
Language Teacher Education & Professional Development
Ìý
Social cultural theory SallyÌýBaker
Ìý
Equity in higher education
Academic Literacies and oracy,
Supporting Culturally and Linguistically Marginalised Migrants and/or Refugees (CALMMR) in higher education
Educational transitionsÌý
Ìý
Advocacy:
Refugee education
Higher education equity
Ìý
Critical sociological concepts:Ìý
- Academic Literacies (Lea & Street)
- Hospitality (Derrida)
- Graduate capitals (Tomlinson)
- ‘Cruel optimism’ (Berlant)Ìý
- Student engagement (Kahu & Nelson)
- Wilfulness (Ahmed)
Ìý
ThuÌýNgo
Ìý
Multimodal literacy: language, body language, image and sound
Ìý
Digital literacy: technology in language teaching & learning
Ìý
Language educationÌý
Ìý
Children’s literature
Ìý
- Systemic Functional Linguistics/ Semiotics
- Literature studies
- Film studies
Ìý
Ìý
Ìý
Honorary staffÌý
- Professor Anne Burns
- Associate Professor Pauline Gibbons
- Dr Michael MichellÌý
- Dr Greg VassÌý
Casual staff
- DrÌýLisaÌýGilanyi
- DrÌýSaraÌýMashyekh
- Katherine Thompson
- David Coombes
- RubeeÌýMcManus
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- Professor Bonny Norton (University of British Columbia)
- Professor Jim Cummins (University of Toronto)
- Professor Constant Leung (King’s College London)
- Professor Jo Lo Bianco (University of Melbourne)Ìý
- Professor BrianÌýPaltridgeÌýUniversity of Sydney
- Professor Zhu Hua (University of Birmingham)
- ProfessorÌýYongyanÌýZheng (Fudan University)
- Dr Cathie Burgess (USyd)Ìý
- Associate Professor Neil Harrison (Macquarie)
- DrÌýMairinÌýHennebry-Leung (University of Tasmania)
- Dr Laura GrassickÌý(University of Leeds)Ìý
- Dr Hang Nguyen (Vietnam National University)
- Dr Lan AnhÌýTran (VietnamÌýNational University)
- Dr Obaid Hamid (University of Queensland)
- Professor Len Unsworth (Australian Catholic University)
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- FelipeÌýBalotin
- Priyanka Bose
- JieÌýFan
- Alex Harper
- NoryaniÌýNeniÌýBintiÌýAhmadÌýJamain
- FernaditaÌýJayanti
- JiaoÌýLi
- Ting LiuÌý
- Jamila AlÌýMaawaliÌý
- Hanna MorrisonÌýÌý
- EunÌýKyong ParkÌý
- BitaÌýDwiÌýRahmaniÌý
- Rodrigo F. Arellano 
- JunjunÌýRamdaniÌýÌý
- Alice SunÌý
- SusanneÌýStanyer
- Anna Xavier
Name
Thesis Topic
Supervisor 1
Supervisor 2
Research interests
Hengxi Wang
ESP teacher identity construction in China
Andy Gao
Jasper Hsieh
TESOL
Noryani Ahmad
The Implementation of Systemic Functional Linguistics in Enhancing Anakytical Wtiting Skills among ESL Engineering Undergraduates
Dennis Alonzo
Chris Davison
SFL, Second Language Acquisition
Muhammad Iqwan Sanjani
Family Language Policy, Translanguaging, Transnational Families, Migrants
Sally Baker
Andy Gao
Language Policy, Multilingualism, Translanguaging
Bita Dwi Rahmani
Teacher Feedback Literacy
Dennis Alonzo
Chris Davison
feedback practices, language assessment, language testing, teacher professional development
Nina Inayati
Exploring Language Teachers and Learners’ Experience of Online Informal English Language LearningÌýin Indonesian Higher Education Contexts
Andy Gao
Hoa Nguyen
informal language learning, technology in language learning, autonomy in languageÌýlearning
Thi Hoa Le
Professional development for CLIL teachers
Hoa Nguyen
Tony Loughland
Ìý Yi Sun
The Professional Experience of Return TESOL Graduate Teachers in China
Andy Gao
Jasper Hsieh
TESOL pedagogy; teacher education; teacher professional development; educational leadershipÌý
Yixi Qiu (visiting scholar)
Transnational teachers' and students' epistemic participation in English medium instruction programs
Andy Gao
Yongyan Zheng
Multilingualism; Language policy & planning
Minghao Chen
Dual Roles of parent-teachers in the intersection of family language policy and language education policy
Andy Gao
Sue Starfield
Family language policy
Priyanka Bose
Understanding Family Language Policy Using Digital Communications Among Bengali Immigrants in Australia
Andy Gao
Sue Starfield
sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, discourse analysis, thematic analysis, multimodal discourse analysis
Hui Wang
Language Maintenance and Shift in Ethnic Russian Families: A Transnational Study on the Russian Chinese Diaspora in China and Australia
Anikó Hatoss
Andy Gao
Sociolinguistics, language shift
Alice (shuting) Sun
ÌýInternational students' experiences of and responses to assessment and feedback in Australian universities
Andy Gao
Chris Davison
Assessment and feedback, Higher Education, International student experience
Current activities
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Online, monthly (complemented by face-to-face seminars pre- and post-COVID19)
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Online monthly meetings includingÌýcollaboratorsÌýinÌýAustralia and overseas (complemented by face-to-face seminars pre- and post-COVID19)
Partners and collaborators
Courses andÌýprograms
- Master of Teaching, Bachelor of Education,Ìý
- Master of Education, Graduate Certificate of Education (TESOL)
- Master of Educational Leadership
- MEd (Research), EdD, PhD