HUI Wai Yi Diane

Diane is an experienced educator and researcher in discourses, literacies, applied linguistics and assessment. She has taught courses and conducted research in multidisciplinary settings in Hong Kong, the US and the UK. Before joining OUHK, Diane worked at two universities in the past 12 years, where she conducted discourse and literacy research, and taught undergraduate and professional courses to English major undergraduates, pre- and in-service teachers and academic staff from the Education Bureau (EdB), Hong Kong. Her research involved collaborations with local and international researchers through professional networks, and aimed at contributing capacity-building into the changing English, language and linguistics.

Diane’s research is conceptually grounded in semiotic and discourse theories from sociocultural perspectives, and more recently through critical and new literacies, and literacy transformation in applied linguistics. Her research interests include also sociocultural engagement of English language and discourses within networked communities, changing English with popular cultural texts mediated by digital-media technologies, and genre-based English. She has recently completed three projects. The three-year “Learning from new literacies” project (ECS #359813, funded by RGC) has generated 13 scholarly outputs, including one book project contracted by Springer (Contract #64774), two journal articles, two conference papers, one GRF proposal, 6 conference presentations and one new course (ENG 3389 New Literacies in the Digital Age). A recent RGC’s final assessment of funded projects (July 2018) gave a “satisfactory” rating to the ECS project, the best of three rating options.

Besides, Diane is a professional and committed educator. She contributed substantially in areas such as curriculum development (including the development of new courses supported through ECS and TDG projects), knowledge exchange, pedagogical innovation and lifelong learning. Her teaching has significant impact not only at the department level, but also across the faculty and the university, as well as broader academic and particularly secondary school education communities (also knowledge exchange). For example, Diane delivered high-impact professional courses to train all in-service English teachers in school-based assessment (2007-2012; Hui, 2012) and student learning to academic staff at EdB (2011-2012; see Chan & Hui, 2012a, 2012b) as strategic initiatives in support of the DSE curriculum reform.

Also, she is a reflective and innovative teacher who puts a holistic approach to education and learning into practice. Her teaching practice is typically characterized by multimodality, innovation and flexibility to enrich students’ whole-person development, involving wider community engagement in various professional and cultural contexts. For example, in her teaching of English as a subject, she collaborated with local NGOs to foster student understanding and meaning-making of disciplinary-based knowledge through action projects scaffolded via a business-academic-community partnership, involving four local community collaborators (1. J-Life Foundation in Sham Shui Po, 2. Principal Chan Free Tutorial World in Tai Kok Tsui, 3. The Christian Action SHINE Centre in Tin Shui Wai and 4. Salvation Army in Tuen Mun). This approach to learning domain-specific knowledge is fresh and innovative in tertiary English education. Moreover, Diane has supervised and assessed final year projects and dissertations at undergraduate and postgraduate levels (M.Ed.) in addition to teaching practicum.

In addition to academic work, Diane contributed actively to departmental, faculty and university services. For example, Diane was an elected member of Senate to Lingnan University or LU (2013-2015) and a member of the Staff-Student Consultative Committee for the Department of English (2013-2016, LU). She served undergraduate admissions (2011-2012, 2016-2017, LU). She was an active member of the university community and had joined a variety of student activities, including the fund-raising events, graduation dinners, and sports events. Diane also served as a Senior Tutor at a student hall of residence with 320 diverse resident students (2014-2017, LU).

At an international level, Diane has served educational journals and international conferences as a journal editorial member, committee member, paper reviewer and session chair. She has also served as a member of the editorial board for the International Journal of Education and Psychology in the Community, a reviewer for the International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (ISI 2.692 in 2010), Journal of Applied Linguistics, Asian Journal of English Language Teaching, and Journal of TESOL Quarterly.

• Research interests: Literacy transformation in applied linguistics
• Research interests: Critical and new literacies enhanced by digital-media technologies, and their effects on academic literacies and achievements in tertiary-level English
• Research interests: Sociocultural engagement of English language and discourses within networked communities
• Research interests: Changing and mediated English with popular cultural texts, and genre-based English
• Course Taught: *Critical literacies
• Course Taught: *New literacies in the digital age
• Course Taught: *Varieties of English (Genre-based English)
• Course Taught: Models of speech and writing (Genre-based English)
• Course Taught: Intercultural communication
• Course Taught: Professional communication
• Course Taught: First and second language acquisition
• Course Taught: Educational psychology
• Course Taught: Sociology of education
• Course Taught: *Understanding and fostering student learning for 21st century education
• Course Taught: School-based assessment (English).
  Note. *New courses (co-)developed by Diane.

Selected Research Grants

Selected Professional Awards and Recognitions

• Service to the Department, the Faculty and the University: 2013-2015 Elected member of Senate, Lingnan University.
• Service to the Department, the Faculty and the University: 2013-2016 Member, Staff-Student Consultation Committee for BA Contemporary English Studies, Lingnan University.
• Service to the Department, the Faculty and the University: 2011-2013 Panel Member, Admission Officer, Admissions Sub-committee in the Faculty of Arts, Lingnan University.
• Service to the Local Community: 2017 Collaborator, Collaborations with local NGOs in service learning via ENG 3206 Critical Literaices, Department of English, Lingnan University. (1. J-Life Foundation in Sham Shui Po, 2. Principal Chan Free Tutorial World in Tai Kok Tsui, 3. The Christian Action SHINE Centre in Tin Shui Wai and 4. Salvation Army in Tuen Mun).
• Service to the Local Community: Since 2014 Membership Representative for the Hong Kong Professional Teachers’ Union, Department of English, Lingnan University.
• Service to the Local Community: Since 2013 Committee Member, Hong Kong Alumni Club, Washington University in St Louis, USA.
• Service to the International Communities: Since 2010 Editorial Member, The International Journal of Education and Psychology in the Community, USA.
• Service to the International Communities: 2012 Member, Organizing Committee and Technical Programme Committee, the First International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering Education (TALE) in Hong Kong 2012, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), USA.
• Service to the International Communities: Reviewer (journals): International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (ijCSCL, ISI 2.692), USA; Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, USA; The Asian Journal of English Language Teaching (AJELT), Hong Kong; Journal of TESOL Quarterly, USA; Journal of Applied Linguistics, Hong Kong; Journal of New Horizons in Education, Hong Kong; International Journal of Learning, Australia.
• Service to the International Communities: 2006-2009 Member, Mentoring Committee, Division K, AERA, USA.