My name is Wendy Li. I received my B.A. in Teaching English as a Foreign Language at Jiangxi Normal University, China, in 2010. After graduation, I worked as an English teacher in an international high school in Shenzhen, China, for two years. This teaching experience led me to pursue a master degree in TESOL at Lancaster University, UK, in 2013. For my M.A. thesis, under the supervision of Dr. Patrick Rebuschat, I conducted a study examining the effectiveness of automatic input enhancement on Chinese English learners’ acquisition of English articles through the use of a web-based CALL system. My experience as a researcher inspired and motivated me to further my academic inquiry about second language learning and teaching. I joined the SLS program at Michigan State University in Fall 2015. I’m currently a Ph.D. candidate working on my dissertation. 

My main research interests include language teacher identity and emotions, ethics in applied linguistics, second language socialization, and multilingual and multimodal literacy practices. For my two qualifying research papers, I conducted (1) an eye-tracking study on the effectiveness of written output on promoting English learners’ attention to the target linguistic structure, and (2) a case study on the identity construction of two Chinese teachers of English working in the private English training industry in China. One article based on this study was published in a special issue of The Journal of Asia TEFL in 2017. 

During my time in the SLS program, I worked as a research assistant for Dr. Xiaoshi Li on the acquisition of Chinese perfective aspect marker LE using a sociolinguistic variationist approach. I have also worked closely with Dr. Peter De Costa in several projects, including a) the development of AAAL ethics guidelines; b) language teacher emotion research, which led to multiple publications, including a special issue published in the Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics; c) the academic socialization of international students in the US universities, funded by the Language Learning Dissertation Grant Program and MSU’s Creating Inclusive Excellence Grants. In addition to publications, we also shared our work at several major conferences in the field of applied linguistics (e.g., AAAL, TESOL, CCCC, and SLRF). Built on the collaborative work with Dr. Peter De Costa, my dissertation explores Chinese international students’ multilingual and multimodal literacy practices in the US university through a language socialization perspective. 

Aside from the research experience, I’ve had opportunities to teach content courses at MSU. I taught Pedagogical Grammar (LLT 346) and Language Teaching Methods (LLT 307) at the undergraduate level. I also taught the online module of Second Language Learning (LLT 361). The teaching experience has afforded me opportunities to discuss language learning and teaching with students who were interested in becoming language teachers and help them prepare for their future teaching career.