Our community of teacher educators conducts research, teaches and advocates in areas related to language, literacy and culture across the entire education system. We also research and teach children’s literature, multimodal digital literature and advocate for multimodal literacy education to prepare children for compelling literacy skills in the digital era. We have specific expertise in school-age education as well as adult, community and higher education.
We have a rich experience gained from working with diverse language and cultural groups, including linguistic minorities, immigrant and refugee communities, transnational students, EAL/D (English as an additional language/dialect) /EFL (English as foreign language)/ESL (English as second language) students, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders peoples. We are acutely aware of the politics of colonisation and assimilation and issues of educational disadvantage, and our work seeks to resist the disenfranchisement that these politics cause.
We explore how deficit framings – set against dominant assumptions about educational background, linguistic heritage, affiliation and expertise, and student and family capacity – create implicit and explicit barriers for engagement and success in multilingual educational communities in Australia and internationally. We identify ways to empower students, teachers, teacher educators, curriculum developers and policymakers with critical awareness and resources in response to the challenges associated with language, literacy, literature and culture in education.
Themes and signature projects
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Led by Associate Professor Hoa Nguyen, Professor Andy Gao, Dr Dennis Alonzo, Emeritus Professor Sue Starfield, Dr Lisa Gilanyi, Dr Hang Nguyen, Trang Hoang.
Publications from this project
Nguyen HTM; Nguyen HTT; Gilanyi L; Hoang TH; Gao X, 2025, 'Content Language Integrated Learning (CLIL): Teachers’ metacognitive understanding of pedagogical translanguaging', Learning and Instruction, 97, pp. 102085, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2025.102085
Nguyen HTM; Nguyen HTT; Gao X; Hoang TH; Starfield S, 2024, 'Developing professional capacity for Content Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) teaching in Vietnam: tensions and responses', Language and Education, 38, pp. 118 - 138, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2023.2260374
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Led by Doctor Thu Ngo and Professor Len Unsworth (ACU)
Past Projects
Indigenous literacy education - Literacy for Life Foundation
With Doctor Rose Amazan and Associate Professor Kevin Lowe
Research team: who are we?
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Academic staff
- Professor Andy Gao
- Associate Professor Hoa Nguyen
- Dr Troy McConachy (Research group convenor)
- Dr Thu Ngo
- Dr Lisa Gilanyi
- Dr Katrina Kemp
- Dr Jasper Hsieh
- Dr. Tanya Kwee
- Dr Luan Nguyen
Researchers
Expertise
Topics
Theoretical framework
Andy Gao
Language Education Policy (e.g. medium of instruction, CLIL, language curriculum)
Language Teacher Education
Language Learning strategies (e.g. SLA)
Social cultural theory
Ecological perspectiveHoa Nguyen
Language Teacher Education & Professional Development Social cultural theory
Positioning theoryTroy McConachy
Intercultural learning in education, especially language teaching.
Language teacher education (from an intercultural perspective)
Language and literacy development
L2 pragmatics & intercultural pragmatics
Teacher and learner identity
Internationalisation of the curriculum
- Theories of intercultural learning (e.g. intercultural competence, intercultural learning, intercultural adaptation etc.)
- Sociocultural theory
- Intercultural pragmatics
Thu Ngo
Multimodal literacy: language, body language, image and sound
Digital literacy: technology in language teaching & learning
Language education
Children’s literature
- Systemic Functional Linguistics/ Semiotics
- Literature studies
- Film studies
Lisa Gilanyi Language teacher education
Language and literacy development
Family language practices
Communication skills
Using interpreters/translators in qualitative research
- Bourdieu’s theory of capital
- Language investment
Jasper Hsieh Language Policy and Planning (e.g.
Bilingual education, EMI, CLIL)
Language teacher education
International students
Social cultural theory
TESOL, educational design and educational technology
Katrina Kemp Literacy pedagogy (especially creative, arts-informed strategies)
Early literacy and language development
HPGE and differentiation
Curriculum change and impacts on teaching / learning (especially on literacy learning)
Phenomenology Tanya Kwee Language education
Teacher training and professional development
STEM education and education for sustainable development
Luan Nguyen Instructional design
Teacher education and development
Educational technology
Honorary staff
- Professor Anne Burns
- Emeritus Professor Chris Davison
- Emeritus Professor Sue Starfield
- Associate Professor Pauline Gibbons
- Dr Michael Michell
- Dr Greg Vass
Casual staff
- Katherine Thompson
- David Coombes
- Rubee McManus
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- Professor Bonny Norton (University of British Columbia)
- Professor Jim Cummins (University of Toronto)
- Professor Constant Leung (King’s College London)
- Professor Jo Lo Bianco (University of Melbourne)
- Professor Brian Paltridge University of Sydney
- Professor Zhu Hua (University of Birmingham)
- Professor Yongyan Zheng (Fudan University)
- Dr Cathie Burgess (USyd)
- Associate Professor Neil Harrison (Macquarie)
- Dr Mairin Hennebry-Leung (University of Tasmania)
- Dr Laura Grassick (University of Leeds)
- Dr Hang Nguyen (Vietnam National University)
- Dr Lan Anh Tran (Vietnam National University)
- Dr Obaid Hamid (University of Queensland)
- Professor Len Unsworth (Australian Catholic University)
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Name
Thesis Topic
Supervisor 1
Supervisor 2
Research interests
Hengxi Wang
ESP teacher identity construction in China
Andy Gao
Jasper Hsieh
TESOL
Noryani Ahmad
The Implementation of Systemic Functional Linguistics in Enhancing Anakytical Wtiting Skills among ESL Engineering Undergraduates
Dennis Alonzo
Chris Davison
SFL, Second Language Acquisition
Muhammad Iqwan Sanjani
Family Language Policy, Translanguaging, Transnational Families, Migrants
Sally Baker
Andy Gao
Language Policy, Multilingualism, Translanguaging
Bita Dwi Rahmani
Teacher Feedback Literacy
Dennis Alonzo
Chris Davison
Feedback practices, language assessment, language testing, teacher professional development
Exploring language teachers and learners’ experience of online informal English language learning in Indonesian higher education contexts
Andy Gao
Hoa Nguyen
Informal language learning, technology in language learning, autonomy in language learning
Professional development for CLIL teachers
Hoa Nguyen
Tony Loughland
CLIL teacher professional learning Vahid Bahrami EALD teacher identity development and well-being Hoa Nguyen Andy Gao Language teacher/learner psychology (e.g., individual differences, identity, motivation, cognition)
Language teacher professional development
Bilingual education
Faisal Mustafa Language teachers’ TPACK in rural areas in Indonesia Hoa Nguyen Andy Gao English language education, technology in language teaching, language testing, and linguistics. Li Xu Language teacher engagement in research in China Hoa Nguyen Tony Loughland Teacher research, ESP Dewi Wardah Mazidatur Rohmah Mentoring conversation for language teachers in Indonesia Hoa Nguyen Andy Gao Mentoring and positioning theory Merlyn Nelloe AI in language education Hoa Nguyen Andy Gao Language education Yi Sun
The professional experience of return TESOL graduate teachers in China
Andy Gao
Jasper Hsieh
TESOL pedagogy; teacher education; teacher professional development; educational leadership
Minghao Chen
Dual roles of parent-teachers in the intersection of family language policy and language education policy
Andy Gao
Sue Starfield
Family language policy
Priyanka Bose
Understanding Family Language Policy Using Digital Communications Among Bengali Immigrants in Australia
Andy Gao
Sue Starfield
Sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, discourse analysis, thematic analysis, multimodal discourse analysis
Hui Wang
Language Maintenance and Shift in Ethnic Russian Families: A Transnational Study on the Russian Chinese Diaspora in China and Australia
Anikó Hatoss
Andy Gao
Sociolinguistics, language shift
Alice (shuting) Sun
International students' experiences of and responses to assessment and feedback in Australian universities
Andy Gao
Chris Davison
Assessment and feedback, Higher Education, International student experience
Rifki Irawan
Enhancing the teaching and learning of multimodal critical literature and literacy in preservice TESOL teacher program
Thu Ngo
Louise Ravelli
Andy Gao
Systemic Functional Linguistics, Social semiotics, film study, technology education
Fang Xia
An SFL perspective on tertiary EFL textbooks and Its implications in SFL oral communication teaching
Thu Ngo
Andy Gao
Louise Ravelli
Troy McConachy
Systemic Functional Linguistics, TESOL education, textbook design
Alisha Phonie
Understanding and improving the (multimodal) text comprehension and response outcomes of secondary students in Regional NSW
Thu Ngo
Louise Ravelli
Systemic Functional Linguistics, Literacy education, Differentiated Literacy instructions
Chintya Artilla
Investigating critical thinking in international students’ written tasks
Thu Ngo
SFL, critical thinking, writing
Hien Tran
Vietnamese English language learners’ oral communication skills development
Troy McConachy
Hoa Nguyen
Reflection, oracy, intercultural competence
Current activities
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Online, monthly (complemented by face-to-face seminars pre- and post-COVID19)
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Online monthly meetings including collaborators in Australia and overseas (complemented by face-to-face seminars pre- and post-COVID19)
Courses and programs
- Master of Teaching, Bachelor of Education,
- Master of Education, Graduate Certificate of Education (TESOL)
- Master of Educational Leadership
- MEd (Research), EdD, PhD