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Cambridge Language Sciences

Interdisciplinary Research Centre
 

Prof Yongcan Liu

Research

Broadly speaking, Yongcan’s research is based on two sociocultural theoretical frameworks: (1) Lave and Wenger's Community of Practice (CoP) theory, focusing on the ideas of participation, distributed cognition and situated practice; (2) Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory (SCT) of mind, which takes a socio-cognitive view and mainly deals with issues such as mediation, cognitive regulation and potential development. He brings together these two theoretical perspectives to understand the social nature and processes of second language teaching, learning and teacher development. Yongcan also has a long-standing interest in combining linguistic and social analysis in educational research. He has been involved in a series of linked projects on bilingual EAL children's language development, social integration and educational achievement. The findings of the EAL Assessment Project have been published as 'The EAL Assessment Framework for Schools', which is made available for all primary and secondary schools in England to assess bilingual children and to support teaching, planning and monitoring in schools. He is co-investigator of a flagship policy project on multilingualism funded by AHRC, crossing the disciplines of arts, literature, linguistics, education, neuroscience and health.

Publications

Key publications: 

Wang, T., & Liu, Y. (2017). Dynamic L3 selves: A longitudinal study of five university L3 learners’ motivational trajectories in China. The Language Learning Journal.

Liu, Y., Fisher, L., Forbes, K., & Evans, M. (2017). The knowledge base of teaching in linguistically diverse contexts: 10 grounded principles of multilingual classroom pedagogy for EAL. Language and Intercultural Communication, 17(4), 378-395.

Liu, Y. (2013). The social organisation of talk-in-interaction at work in a language teacher professional community. Learning Culture and Social Interaction, 2(3), 195-207.

Liu, Y. and Xu, Y. (2013). The trajectory of learning in a teacher community of practice. Research Papers in Education, 28(2), 176-195.

Liu, Y. and Xu, Y. (2011). Inclusion or exclusion?: A narrative inquiry of a language teacher’s identity experience in the ‘new work order’ of competing pedagogies. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27(3), 589-597.

Publications (from Symplectic)

Journal articles

2024

  • Rutgers, D., Evans, M., Fisher, L., Forbes, K., Gayton, A. and Liu, Y., 2024. Multilingualism, Multilingual Identity and Academic Attainment: Evidence from Secondary Schools in England Journal of Language, Identity and Education, v. 23
    Doi: 10.1080/15348458.2021.1986397
    •
  • Fisher, L., Evans, M., Forbes, K., Gayton, A., Liu, Y. and Rutgers, D., 2024. Language experiences, evaluations and emotions (3Es): analysis of structural models of multilingual identity for language learners in schools in England International Journal of Multilingualism, v. 21
    Doi: 10.1080/14790718.2022.2060235
    •
  • Forbes, K., Evans, M., Fisher, L., Gayton, A., Liu, Y. and Rutgers, D., 2024. ‘I feel like I have a superpower’: a qualitative study of adolescents’ experiences of multilingual identity development during an identity-based pedagogical intervention Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development,
    Doi: 10.1080/01434632.2024.2313564
    •
  • Zhou, Y. and Liu, Y., 2024. A “positive” turn in heritage language education: Multilingual children’s voices on language learner well-being System, v. 125
    Doi: 10.1016/j.system.2024.103446
    •
  • Li, X. and Liu, Y., 2024. Mind the gap: English teachers’ perceptions and practices of integrating social media into language classrooms in China System, v. 125
    Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2024.103434
    •
  • Zhou, Y. and Liu, Y., 2024. Language learner well-being in heritage language learning: conceptualisation, measurement, and a pathway to flourishing International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism,
    Doi: http://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2024.2419428
    •
  • Jin, C. and Liu, Y., 2024. Diagnosing and promoting learners’ L2 inferential reading development through hybrid computerised dynamic assessment in the Chinese EFL classroom Computer Assisted Language Learning,
    Doi: http://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2024.2421521
    •

    2023 (Accepted for publication)

  • Li, M. and Liu, Y., 2023 (Accepted for publication). Head, Help, Heart, Hand: Primary School Students’ Feedback Literacy in Second Language Writing Assessing Writing,
    •

    2023

  • Zhou, Y. and Liu, Y., 2023. Theorising the dynamics of heritage language identity development: a narrative inquiry of the life histories of three Chinese heritage speakers Language and Education, v. 37
    Doi: 10.1080/09500782.2022.2068351
    •
  • Li, Z. and Liu, Y., 2023. Theorising language learning experience in LOTE motivation with PERMA: A positive psychology perspective System, v. 112
    Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2022.102975
    •

    2022

  • Shao, J. and Liu, Y., 2022. Written corrective feedback, learner-internal cognitive processes, and the acquisition of regular past tense by Chinese L2 learners of English Applied Linguistics Review, v. 13
    Doi: http://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2019-0131
    •
  • Wu, X. and Liu, Y., 2022. Emergent LOTE motivation? The L3 motivational dynamics of Japanese-major university students in China Applied Linguistics Review,
    Doi: http://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2021-0074
    •
  • Fu, Z. and Liu, Y., 2022. Promoting L2 writing development via a concept-based approach to teaching genre: A sociocultural intervention study in Chinese EFL writing classrooms Language Teaching Research,
    Doi: http://doi.org/10.1177/13621688221114363
    •

    2021

  • Xie, Y. and Liu, Y., 2021. Who do you hang out with? How Chinese students' social networks relate to their perceived oral proficiency gains during study abroad experiences Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education, v. 6
    Doi: http://doi.org/10.1075/sar.18014.xie
    •
  • Leung, C., Evans, M. and Liu, Y., 2021. English as an Additional Language Assessment Framework: Filling a Void in Policy and Provision in School Education in England Language Assessment Quarterly, v. 18
    Doi: http://doi.org/10.1080/15434303.2020.1869745
    •
  • Forbes, K., Evans, M., Fisher, L., Gayton, A., Liu, Y. and Rutgers, D., 2021. Developing a multilingual identity in the languages classroom: the influence of an identity-based pedagogical intervention Language Learning Journal, v. 49
    Doi: http://doi.org/10.1080/09571736.2021.1906733
    •

    2020

  • Davidson, R. and Liu, Y., 2020. Reaching the world outside: cultural representation and perceptions of global citizenship in Japanese elementary school English textbooks Language, Culture and Curriculum, v. 33
    Doi: http://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2018.1560460
    •
  • Choi, K. and Liu, Y., 2020. Challenges and strategies for ELF-aware teacher development ELT Journal, v. 74
    Doi: http://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccaa036
    •
  • Guo, J. and Liu, Y., 2020. Navigating the complex landscape of cross-epistemic climates: migrant Chinese language teachers’ belief changes about knowledge and learning Teacher Development, v. 24
    Doi: http://doi.org/10.1080/13664530.2020.1794951
    •
  • Fisher, L., Evans, M., Forbes, K., Gayton, A. and Liu, Y., 2020. Participative multilingual identity construction in the languages classroom: a multi-theoretical conceptualisation International Journal of Multilingualism, v. 17
    Doi: http://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2018.1524896
    •
  • Chen, C. and Liu, Y., 2020. The role of vocabulary breadth and depth in IELTS academic reading tests Reading in a Foreign Language, v. 32
    •

    2019

  • Evans, M., Fisher, L., Forbes, K. and Liu, Y., 2019. The form and functions of newcomer EAL students’ speech in English: patterns of progression and communication in semi-structured interview dialogue Language and Education, v. 33
    Doi: 10.1080/09500782.2018.1445756
    •

    2018 (Accepted for publication)

  • Liu, Y., 2018 (Accepted for publication). Situated teacher learning as externalising and mobilising teachers’ tacit knowledge through talk in a language teacher professional community Research Papers in Education,
    Doi: http://doi.org/10.1080/02671522.2018.1452956
    •

    2017 (Accepted for publication)

  • Wang, T. and Liu, Y., 2017 (Accepted for publication). Dynamic L3 selves: a longitudinal study of five university L3 learners’ motivational trajectories in China Language Learning Journal, v. 48
    Doi: http://doi.org/10.1080/09571736.2017.1375549
    •

    2017

  • Liu, Y., Linda Fisher, , Karen Forbes, and Michael Evans, , 2017. The Knowledge Base of Teaching in Linguistically Diverse Contexts: Ten Grounded Principles of Multilingual Classroom Pedagogy for EAL Language and Intercultural Communication, v. 17
    Doi: 10.1080/14708477.2017.1368136
    •

    2016 (Accepted for publication)

  • Evans, MJ. and Liu, Y., 2016 (Accepted for publication). The Unfamiliar and the Indeterminate: Language, Identity and Social Integration in the School Experience of Newly-Arrived Migrant Children in England Journal of Language, Identity, and Education,
    Doi: http://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2018.1433043
    •

    2016

  • Liu, Y., 2016. The emotional geographies of language teaching Teacher Development, v. 20
    Doi: http://doi.org/10.1080/13664530.2016.1161660
    •
  • Chang, SY. and Liu, Y., 2016. From problem-orientedness to goal-orientedness: Re-conceptualizing communication strategies as forms of intra-mental and inter-mental mediation System, v. 61
    Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2016.07.009
    •
  • Liu, Y. and Evans, M., 2016. Multilingualism as legitimate shared repertoires in school communities of practice: students’ and teachers’ discursive constructions of languages in two schools in England Cambridge Journal of Education, v. 46
    Doi: http://doi.org/10.1080/0305764X.2015.1091441
    •

    2013

  • Liu, Y., 2013. The Social Organisation of Talk-in-Interaction at Work in a Language Teacher Professional Community Learning, Culture and Social Interaction,
    •

    2012

  • Liu, Y. and Xu, Y., 2012. The trajectory of learning in a teacher community of practice: A narrative inquiry of a language teacher's identity in the workplace Research Papers in Education,
    Doi: http://doi.org/10.1080/02671522.2011.610899
    •

    2011

  • Liu, Y. and Xu, Y., 2011. Inclusion or exclusion?: A narrative inquiry of a language teacher’s identity experience in the ‘new work order’ of competing pedagogies Teaching and Teacher Education, v. 27
    Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2010.10.013
    •

    2010

  • Xu, Y. and Liu, Y., 2010. Teacher assessment knowledge and practice: A narrative inquiry of a Chinese EFL teachers’ experience TESOL Quarterly: a journal for teachers of English to speakers of other languages and of standard English as a second dialect, v. 43
    Doi: http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1545-7249.2009.tb00246.x
    •

    2009

  • Xu, Y. and Liu, Y., 2009. Teacher Assessment Knowledge and Practice: A Narrative Inquiry of a Chinese College EFL Teacher's Experience TESOL Quarterly, v. 43
    Doi: http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1545-7249.2009.tb00246.x
    •

    2006

  • Liu, Y. and Fisher, L., 2006. The development patterns of modern foreign language student teachers’ conceptions of self and their explanations about change: Three cases Teacher Development, v. 10
    Doi: 10.1080/13664530600922203
    •
    Theses / dissertations

    2021 (No publication date)

  • Choi, K., 2021 (No publication date). Investigating Global Englishes-oriented teacher development through the lens of transformative learning theory: A study of South Korean elementary EFL teachers’ experiences
    • Book chapters

    2018

  • Liu, Y., Leug, C., Davidson, C., East, M., Evans, M. and Green, M., 2018. Using assessment to promote learning: Clarifying constructs, theories and practices.
  • Leung, C., Davison, C., East, M., Evans, M., Liu, Y., Hamp-Lyons, L. and Purpura, JE., 2018. Using assessment to promote learning: Clarifying constructs, theories, and practices

    • 2017

  • Duff, PA., Liu, Y. and Li, D., 2017. Chinese heritage language learning: Negotiating identities, ideologies, and institutionalization
    Doi: http://doi.org/10.4324/9781315727974
    •

    2010

  • Liu, Y. and Fisher, L., 2010. ‘What have we learnt after we had fun?': An activity theory perspective on cultures of learning in pedagogical reforms
    Doi: http://doi.org/10.4324/9780203860106-22
    •
  • Liu, Y. and Fisher, L., 2010. Cultural-historical perspectives on teacher education and development
  • Liu, Y. and Fisher, L., 2010. 'What have we learnt after we had fun?': An activity theory perspective on cultures of learning in pedagogical reforms
    Doi: http://doi.org/10.4324/9780203860106
    •
    Reports

    2014

  • Arnot, M., Schneider, C., Evans, M., Liu, Y., Welpy, O. and Davis-Tutt, D., 2014. School Approaches to the education of EAL students: langauge development, social integration and achievement
  • Arnot, M., Schneider, C., Evans, M., Liu, Y., Welpy, O. and Davis-Tutt, D., 2014. School Approaches to the education of EAL students: langauge development, social integration and achievement
    • Professor of Applied Linguistics and Languages Education
    Departments and institutes: 
    Faculty of Education

    Affiliations

    Classifications: 
    Academic Staff

    Study at Cambridge

    About the University

    Research at Cambridge