Dr Winfred XUAN is an Assistant Professor in the School of Education and Languages at Hong Kong Metropolitan University. Dr. XUAN obtained his Ph.D. in Systemic Functional Linguistics from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, in 2015. His research interests include systemic functional linguistics, applied linguistics, second language writing, English for academic purposes, and teaching English/Chinese as a second language. His works appear in The Journal of Babel, Functional Linguistics, Applied Linguistics Review, Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, and The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher.

Prior to joining Hong Kong Metropolitan University, he had been a full-time lecturer in the Division of Languages and Communication at College of Professional and Continuing Education, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU CPCE hereafter), where he taught a wide range of academic English, professional English and bilingual communication courses. He was a visiting Ph.D. at Georgetown University in the US, in 2012. He also served as a language instructor at Indiana University in the US, in 2008. In addition, he has participated in numerous international research projects on L2 writing studies, applied linguistics, and English for academic purposes. He also serves as an associate editor of journal of English as an international language, previously known as Asian EFL Journal.

• Applied Linguistics
• Second Language Writing
• Curriculum Design and Teaching Materials Development
• Systemic Functional Linguistics
• L2/Foreign Language Teacher Education
• Research Synthesis and Meta-analysis in Applied Linguistics

Funded projects:

Principal Investigator       2016-2018                                                                            

Project title: An Exploratory Investigation of Difficulties First Year Associate Degree Students Face in Learning Academic English—A Case Study.

Sponsor: College of Professional and Continuing Education, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. HK SAR, China. (Completed)

Co-Principal Investigator   2017-2018

Project title: Alignment Effects of the Continuation Task on L2 Chinese Writing

Sponsor: Innovative School Project in Higher Education of Guangdong (2017 WQNCX043), Department of Education, Guangdong Province, China, PRC. (Completed)

Co-Principal Investigator     2020-2023

Project title: Reading beyond borders: the role of linguistic skills in learning to read English in non-Western contexts

Sponsor: NWO Talent Program – Veni Scheme: The Dutch Research Council, the Hague, The Netherlands. (On-going)

Co-Principal Investigator     2021-2022

Project title: Developing an Efficient Pedagogical Model for Online Chinese as a Second Language Teaching based on Xu Argument.

Sponsor: The National Committee of Language, Ministry of Education. (On-going)

Professional Experience:

2019- Now Associate Editor of Asian EFL Journal                                                              

2018-Now Adjunct Professor in Business English School of Foreign Languages, Guangdong University of Finance, China

2019-Now Invited Expert of Teaching and Supervision Committee of Business English Department of Education Guangdong, China, PRC.     

Award:

2022 CPCE Active Researcher Award 

Invited Talks : 

2020, Systemic Functional Linguistics Interest Group (SFLIG) online Zoom seminar, How far have we come? Taking stock of accumulated knowledge in grammatical metaphor studies from Systemic Functional Linguistics : a research synthesis.

2019, School of Foreign Language and Culture, Guangdong University of Finance, Guangzhou, China. Systemic Functional Linguistics and L2 writing studies: A first step to link theory to practice.

2018, School of Foreign Languages Research Seminar, Guangdong University of Finance, Guangzhou, China. How far have we come? A Synthesis of Research on Grammatical Metaphor in Systemic Functional Linguistics

2018, School of Foreign Languages, Huizhou University China. Integrating linguistics research into daily teaching: insights from systemic functional linguistics.  

2016, CPCE Research Seminar, Division of Language and Communication, Hong Kong Community College, College of Professional and Continuing Education, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Application of appraisal framework to the analysis of ESL writing: A case study.