Dr. Xiaoyun Wang

Area of Study / Keywords

Interactional Linguistics Second Language Interaction Classroom Interaction

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About

My name is Xiaoyun Wang (汪小韫). I am an applied linguistics researcher specializing in multimodal interaction, interactional competence, and second language interaction. I am a recipient of a SSHRC Canada Postdoctoral Research Award (CPRA). 

I received my PhD and MA from the University of Alberta and my MEd from the University of San Diego. I was also a visiting scholar at the Centre de linguistique appliquée, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. I currently serve as Assistant Editor of Chinese Language and Discourse. I am also co-editing the volume Multilingualism in Educational Settings: Ethnomethodological Conversation Analysis Perspectives, contracted with Routledge.

My broader scholarly interests include classroom interactional competence, multilingualism, longitudinal conversation analysis, and Mandarin interaction.

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Research

My research examines how people use language, gaze, body movement, prosody, and material objects to recognize and accomplish social actions in everyday and educational interaction. I am particularly interested in how interactional competence develops among second language users and how participants with different linguistic backgrounds visually monitor one another, anticipate emerging actions, and coordinate their responses moment by moment.

My current research uses mobile eye-tracking and multi-angle video recordings together with Multimodal Conversation Analysis to investigate social action in Mandarin interaction. My SSHRC Canada Postdoctoral Research Award project compares the interactional practices of L1 Mandarin speakers and heritage Mandarin speakers. My SSHRC Insight Development Grant project focuses specifically on how L2 Mandarin learners at different proficiency levels develop interactional competence in recognizing and offering assistance.

My research also addresses multilingualism in L2 education, classroom interactional competence, and L1 Mandarin interaction.

Featured research: The Unspoken Science of Helping Others, The Quad, University of Alberta.

Started: 2026-08-01

Supported by my SSHRC Insight Development Grant, this project examines how L2 Mandarin learners develop interactional competence in offering assistance during collaborative activities. The study focuses on L2 Mandarin learners at different proficiency levels. By comparing their interactional practices, the project traces the development of L2 interactional competence, with particular attention to the recognition, timing, and design of offers of assistance.

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Started: 2026-02-01

Collaborative research with Hongyin Tao (UCLA) investigating composite bodily holds and their interactional functions in everyday Mandarin conversation. 

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Started: 2026-01-15

Co-editing, with Stephen D. Looney (Penn State University), Multilingualism in Educational Settings: Ethnomethodological Conversation Analysis Perspectives, under contract with Routledge. Bringing together ten chapters, the volume examines how multilingualism is oriented to, managed, and made relevant in educational interaction from emic and ethnomethodological conversation-analytic perspectives.

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Started: 2025-04-05

Invited talk presented at the Peking University Education Forum, No. 315, Peking University. The talk explored how micro-analytic research on classroom interaction can inform language teacher education by making visible the interactional practices through which teaching and learning are accomplished.

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Started: 2025-05-01

Collaborative research with Qian Shen (Zhongnan University of Economics and Law) examining how teachers use multimodal resources to display stance and affiliation in Chinese-as-a-second-language classroom interaction. The project focuses particularly on third-positioned positive evaluations and their roles in managing publicness, participation, and affiliation.

Xiaoyun Wang

Language and Education. 2026 July; 10.1080/09500782.2025.2560483

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Xiaoyun Wang, Xiaoting Li, Shui Li

Classroom Discourse. 2025 July; 10.1080/19463014.2024.2335945

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Xiaoyun Wang, Xiaoting Li

Social Interaction. Video-Based Studies of Human Sociality. 2024 February; 10.7146/si.v6i3.142895

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Bulletin suisse de linguistique appliquée. 2023 January;

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Xiaoyun Wang

Chinese Language and Discourse. 2020 November; 10.1075/cld.20011.wan

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