Xiaohong ‘Sharon’ Wen, Ph.D.
Professor, Applied Linguistics and Chinese Language Acquisition
Director, Chinese Studies

Email: xswen@central.uh.edu

Xiaohong ‘Sharon’ Wen is a professor of applied linguistics and Chinese language acquisition. She has been the director of Chinese Studies at UH since 1994. She has founded and built the Chinese Studies program from one elementary Chinese course into an interdisciplinary Bachelor of Arts program and a minor in Chinese studies. In addition to the degree programs, Chinese Studies also offers a faculty-led Summer Study Abroad Program and annual scholarships for study abroad and excellence in Chinese Studies at both undergraduate and graduate levels.

Wen has conducted a series of empirical studies from both the quantitative and qualitative perspectives. Her publications address L2 learning motivation, L2 Chinese acquisition of Chinese, interlanguage pragmatics, heritage language and research-based instruction. Her L2 Chinese motivation instruments have been widely adopted in L2 research, including English, Spanish, Arabic and Chinese languages. Her empirical studies have been reprinted and translated into Korean and Chinese. She is the principal investigator for several major federal and internal grants. Practically, her research findings bear on issues such as learner factors, learning processes and strategies, and methods to connect research with classroom instruction.

Wen’s research publications include more than 40 articles, mostly in peer-reviewed journals. Her recent books are: "The Acquisition of Chinese as a First and Second Language" (2021); "Studies on Learning and Teaching Chinese as a Second Language" (2019); "Teaching Chinese as a Second Language: Curriculum Design and Instruction" (2015); "Studies of Chinese Language Acquisition by English Speakers" (2012); and "Chinese as a Second Language Acquisition and Instruction" (2008).

Wen is a guest professor at four prestigious universities in China and Taiwan. She has received awards including the Sydney B. Karofsky Teaching Prize from Bowdoin College, the Lence Award for Teaching Excellence and the Global Faculty Award from the University of Houston. She is an AP Chinese Consultant for the College Board and is currently the co-chair on the AP Chinese Development Committee. She has served and is serving on the editorial boards of JCLTA and CASLAR (Chinese as Second Language Research), Journal of Chinese Language Studies 汉语教学学刊, International Chinese Language Education 国际汉语教育, and national and international boards of directors for academic associations including CLTA-US, IACL (International Association of Chinese Linguistics) and the International Society for Chinese Language Teaching (世汉教学学会).

Selected Publications

A. Books

2021. "The Acquisition of Chinese as a First and Second Language" Editor & Author. MDPI Switzerland

ISBN 978-3-03943-270-7 (Hbk); ISBN 978-3-03943-271-4 (PDF)
? 2021 by the authors; CC BY license

Links:Chapter 1: The Acquisition of Chinese as a First and Second Language. 

2019. "Studies on Learning and Teaching Chinese as a Second Language". Editor & Author. London, UK: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. ISBN: 978-0-8153-8232-4 (hbk), 978-0-8153-8240-9 (pbk)

Links:

2015. "Teaching Chinese as a Second Language: Curriculum Design and Instruction", Chief Editor & Author. The Press of Beijing Language and Culture University. Beijing, China. Chicago, USA. ISBN: 978-1-62575-017-4. 364 pages.

Link:

2012. 《汉语作为第二语言的习得与教学》"Chinese as a Second Language Acquisition and Instruction". 384 pages. 北京大学出版社 The Peking University Press. Beijing, China. ISBN 978-7-301-21446-6/H 3162.

Link:

2008.《汉语作为外语的习得研究: 理论基础与课堂实践》 "Studies of Chinese Language Acquisition by English Speakers: from Theories to Practice", 375 pages. 北京大学出版社 The Peking University Press. Beijing, China. The book was reprinted in 2010.

Link:

B. Selected Journal Articles & Book Chapters

2024. . Journal, Frontiers in Psychology, pp 1-12. Front. Psychol. 15:1452547. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1452547 

2023. 发展与挑战: 从一个大学的中文项目看美国 中文教育的发展. CASLAR (Journal, Chinese as Second Language Research by de Gruyter) pp 259-278,

2022. , Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, DOI:10.1080/01434632.2022.2044340. pp. 1-18. Taylor & Francis Group.

2020. First author - coauthored with M. Piao. System 90, 102216. pp. 1-13. Elsevier. 

2020. The acquisition of Chinese as first and second language. Languages, 5, 32; pp. 1-11. doi:10.3390/languages5030032.  

2019. . "Studies on Learning and Teaching Chinese as a Second Language", 1-14. Ed. X. Wen & X. Jiang. London, UK: Routledge.

2019. ."Studies on Learning and Teaching Chinese as a Second Language", 38-64. Ed. X. Wen & X. Jiang. London, UK: Routledge.

2018. . In "Routledge Handbook of Chinese Second Language Acquisition", 352-372. Ed. C. Ke. London, UK: Routledge.

2018. in "Explorations in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language", 59-74. Ed. X. Yang & W. Ka. Cheng & Tsui publishing.

2017. . 美国的汉语国际传播：学生、课程、教师. "Studies on Chinese Language International Development"《汉语国际传播研究》2, 11-25. The Commercial Press, China.

2014. (Co-authored with Yu and Xie). Journal of Chinese Language Teachers Association. 1, 1-49.

2014. . A book chapter in Z. Han (Ed.) "Second Language Acquisition of Chinese: A Series of Empirical Studies". PP. 30-57, Multilingual Matters.

2013. . 汉语学习 "Chinese Language Learning". 2 86-94

2013. . 世界汉语教学 "Chinese Teaching in the World". 4. The Press of the Beijing Language and Culture University. 73-85.

2012. . Journal of Chinese Linguistics. 216-240. The Chinese University Press of Hong Kong.

2011. Heritage Language Journal, 8(3), 41-66.

2011. .  世界汉语教学 "Chinese Teaching in the World". 4. The Press of the Beijing Language and Culture University. 538-553.

2011. 国际汉语 "Chinese Language in the World", 1 (Journal’s Initial Issue). 中山大学出版社The Sun Yatsen University Press, China. 20-28.

2010. Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association. 45:2, 73-99.

2009. . In M. Everson and Y. Xiao (Eds.) Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language: Theories and Applications. pp. 131-150. Cheng & Cui Publishing, Boston. 

2008. .  汉语学习 "Chinese Language Learning". 2, 76-84.

2008. . Journal of Chinese Linguistics. The Chinese University Press of Hong Kong. 36:2, 249-273.

2007. . "Chinese Teaching in the World", (A special issue to celebrate the journal’s 20th anniversary 世界汉语教学：创刊20周年纪念专号). 3 , 108-119. The Press of the Beijing Language and Culture University, China.

2007. .  In 崔希亮 (Ed.) Chinese Language Education: International Interactions. pp. 83-106. 商务出版社 The Commercial Press, Beijing, China.

2006. . Journal of Chinese Language Studies, 2. 48-67. 北京大学出版社 The Peking University Press, China.

2006. . Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association. 41:3, 89-114.

2001. , Co-authors: C. Ke, X. Wen, & C. Kotenbeutel, Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association. 36:3, 25-60.

2000. . 第六届国际汉语教学论文选 Selected Articles of the Sixth International Symposium Chinese Language Teaching. Eds 胡明扬，鲁健冀，张德鑫. pp. 195-203. Beijing: Beijing University Press.

1999. . Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association. 34:3,1-22. 

1999.  . In Chu, M. (Ed.) "Mapping the Course of the Chinese Language Field". pp. 121-150. The Chinese Language Teachers Association Monograph Series, Vol. III.

1998. . Educational Resources Information Center ( ERIC) on Language and Linguistics. ED 427 540, FL 025 736.

1997. . Foreign Language Annals. 30:2, 235-252.

1997.  I.T.L. Review of Applied Linguistics. 115-116: 1-26.

1996. Multimedia contextual cues and listening comprehension: the interactive multimedia listening comprehension program. Educational Resources Information Center ( ERIC) on Language and Linguistics. ED 406 835, FL 024 491.

1995.  .  International Journal of Applied Linguistics. 5:1, 45-62. 

1995. Chinese language learning Motivation. Educational Resources Information Center ( ERIC) on Language and Linguistics. ED391 373.

1995. . Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association. 30:2, 127-145.

1994. . International Journal of Psycholinguistics. 10:2, 127-145.

1992. .  Language Teaching and Linguistic Studies. 3: 49-65. The Press of Beijing Language Institute, China.

1992. . Chinese Teaching in the World. No.1, pp. 45-48; No.2, pp. 147-153. Co-author with J. Zhang. The Press of Beijing Language and Culture University, China.

1989. Co-author with J. Zhang. Linguistic Analysis. 17: 3-4, 200-216.

C. Translated and Selected Articles

2006. 主题突出与汉语存在句习得研究 Topic prominence in the acquisition of Chinese existential sentences by English-speakers. In 王建勤 (Ed.) "Studies on Acquisition of Chinese as a Second Language". pp. 295-310. 商务出版社The Commercial Press, Beijing, China.

2005. Acquisition of Chinese aspect: An analysis of the interlanguage of learners of Chinese as a foreign language, in the book "Linguistic Research in Teaching Modern Chinese". pp. 67-101.  Korea Education Commission. (The article was translated and reprinted in Korean).

2005. Second language acquisition of the Chinese particle le, in the book: "Linguistic Research in Teaching Modern Chinese". pp. 105-139.  Korea Education Commission. (The article was translated and reprinted in Korean).

1995. The acquisition of Chinese existential sentences. "Chinese Teaching in the World". 32:2, 52-59. The Beijing Language Institute Press, China. (The article was translated in Chinese).

1993. An abstract of “Comparison of first and second language acquisition”. The Almanac of Chinese Linguistic,中国语言学年鉴. p.218. In李行键 (Ed.), 语文出版社Yuwen Press.