I am an Associate Professor in the School of Languages and Cultures at UQ (since 2017), formerly assistant professor at the Centre for Applied English Studies (CAES), University of Hong Kong (since 2014). I hold an MA TESOL from the University of London and an M.Phil/Ph.D in applied linguistics from the University of Cambridge, UK.
My areas of research and supervisory expertise include corpus linguistics and the use of corpora for language learning (known as 'data-driven learning'), as well as computer-assisted language learning, and English for General and Specific Academic Purposes. I have published over 50 articles to date in many leading Q1 journals in the field of applied linguistics, 10+ book chapters, 4 books, 3 MOOCs, and several textbook series.
I am the Editor-in-Chief for the Australian Review of Applied Linguistics (from 2024). I am also currently serving on the editorial boards of the Q1 journals IRAL, Journal of Second Language Writing, Journal of English for Academic Purposes, and System, as well as Applied Corpus Linguistics, a new journal covering the direct applications of corpora to teaching and learning.
I am Senior Lecturer in Endangered Languages, and convenor of the Graduate Certificate in Indigenous Language Revitalisation. I am also an active researcher, with several projects on Indigenous language revitalisation and maintenance in Central Australia and in Queensland.
My approach to both teaching and research is collaborative, community-guided and applied. This informed by my on-going self-reflexivity as a non-Indigenous woman and my experience living and working on unceded Kaurna, Arrernte, Warumungu, Warlpiri, Pintupi-Luritja country and, since moving to the University of Queensland in 2019, Jagera and Turrbal country.
I have supervisory expertise in Indigenous language revitalisation and the sociology of language, including languages in education, language policy and planning and language in the arts.
The research I am commited to generates both academic publications and high impact non-traditional research outputs. I have published 15 articles, 11 book chapters, 4 books, including a Warumungu learner's dictionary and a co-edited volume. I have co-developed and co-curated two exhibitions, created curriculum and learning materials, compiled a language teacher resource books and image bank for language, teaching, and co-authored commissioned reports and reviews in languages education and languages policy.
Dr Wenying (Wendy) Jiang taught at the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Alberta in Canada and The University of Western Australia in Perth before taking a position at School of Languages and Cultures at The University of Queensland in Australia. She is a specialist in Applied Linguistics, a graduate of Qufu Normal University (BA 1988, MA 1998) in China, University of Luton (MA 2001) in UK and The University of Queensland (PhD 2006) in Australia. She taught English at Taishan Medical University in China for more than ten years before switching to teaching Chinese as a foreign language in English-speaking countries such as the UK, Canada and Australia. She has been publishing regularly in the fields of second language acquisition, language teaching and learning, and computer assisted language learning (CALL) since 1992. Her monograph "Acquisition of Word Order in Chinese as a Foreign Language" was published by Mouton de Gruyter in 2009. Her article "Measurements of development of L2 written production: the case of Chinese L2" appeared in the journal Applied Linguistics in 2013 is a widely cited piece of publication.
My academic training is in language teaching and linguistics. I hold a BA/MA equivalent in Teaching Foreign Languages from Ryazan State Pedagogical University, Russia, MA in English with concentration in Linguistics and TESOL from East Carolina University, USA, and PhD in Linguistics from University of South Carolina. Before coming to UQ, I taught at tertiary level for 13 in three universities in Russia and USA. I have supervised teaching practicums and research projects at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels and have taught a range of Russian, English, Linguistics and Language Teaching courses.
My research interests lie at the intersection of Bilingualism, Second Language Acquisition, Sociolinguistics and Language Teaching. I am interested in cognitive, social and pedagogical implications of bilingualism in its broad sense and specifically in the similarities and differences between language development in foreign/second language learners and heritage speakers. I am interested in finding which linguistic phenomena are more difficult to acquire and why. I study factors that can potentially affect the success of bilingual language acquisition. The broad goal of my research is to gain a better understanding of how language works in the case of bilingual acquisition and, as a result, to inform classroom language pedagogy and policy.
Dr. Simone Smala is a senior lecturer in teacher education, educational psychology and multilingualism in education. Drawing from a background as a middle years and secondary teacher, Simone now focuses her research on Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in bilingual, immersion and TESOL settings, and the emerging world of Generative AI in K-12 education. Simone's research is based in socio-cultural learning theories, educational policy and blended learning.She publishes in both English and German and has extensive research connections in Europe and the USA.
