Keynote Speakers

These are our keynote speakers for the The 6th International Conference on Chinese Immersion Programs.

Ms. Stacy Lyon (连芯玫女士)

Stacy Lyon is a veteran educator who has served as the state director for the Utah Chinese Dual Language Immersion Program since 2013. Utah's 50/50 Chinese immersion model for K–12 students is the largest of its kind in the USA, and currently serves more than 15,000 students with 250 teachers across 13 districts.

Lyon has partnered with publishers to develop Chinese literacy curriculum and resources for immersion, and also feels an important goal of any Chinese immersion program is to help American students develop a deep curiosity for, and understanding of formal and informal Chinese culture. She has led collaborations with numerous overseas institutions and local organizations, such as American Academy of International Culture and Education, to provide online cultural study and exchange opportunities to DLI students in the Utah program.

Prior to her current role under the Utah State Board of Education, Lyon served as World Language Program Director at a K–9 public charter school in Utah. In this capacity, she taught Chinese for 7 years in a K–9 Chinese program she initiated and built over this period, and led the development and expansion of the K–9 Arabic and Spanish FLES programs. She is an experienced mentor and has worked with training teachers from Peru, Mexico, Jordan, Egypt, Taiwan, and China.

Ms. Lyon has a B.S. from Brigham Young University, an M.A. from the University of Washington, and administrator certification from Utah State University. She also studied international marketing at Western Oregon University, and the International Trade Institute at Portland State University. Lyon studied Chinese at Northeast Normal University in China, and has also completed various studies in French, Swedish, Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic languages.

Dr. Guofang Li (李国芳博士)

Dr. Guofang Li is a Professor and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Transnational/Global Perspectives of Language and Literacy Education of Children and Youth in the Department of Language and Literacy Education, University of British Columbia, Canada.

As a leading researcher in foreign and second language education internationally, Li has published 13 books and about 200 journal articles and book chapters in English and Chinese, and presented over 200 papers worldwide. Her work and contribution has been recognized by numerous national and international awards including the 2016 Mid–Career Award from the Second Language Research Special Interest Group (SIG), American Educational Research Association (AERA), the 2016 Carol Weinstein Outstanding Research Award, Classroom Management SIG, AERA, the 2013 and 2006 Ed Fry Book Award of the Literary Research Association (LRA), the 2011 Publication Award from ACPSS, the 2010 AERA Early Career Award, and the 2008 Social Context of Education Division Early Career Award of AERA.

Li is co–editor of Journal of Literacy Research and editor and co–editor of eight books and two themed journal issues. She serves on the editorial boards of several language and literacy journals, including Reading Research Quarterly, Reading Horizons, Asian Journal of English Language Teaching, and Research into Teaching of English; and other general education journals such as American Educational Research Journal, Journal of Family Diversity in Education, Frontier of Education in China. She has served a reviewer for many journals such as TESOL Quarterly, Bilingual Education Journal, Language Arts, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, Foreign Languages in China, Journal of Teacher Education, Journal of Teaching and Teacher Education, Educational Policy Analysis Archive (EPAA), Early Childhood Literacy Quarterly, Canadian Journal of Education, Journal of Pragmatics, and Language, Culture, and Curriculum. Finally, she regularly reviews book proposals and manuscripts for Routledge, Sage, Springer, Teachers College Press, Wiley and Sense Publishers.

Dr. LI Peize (李佩泽博士)

Dr. LI Peize, CEO & Chairman of the Board of Chinese Testing International Co. Ltd.

He has been engaged in the research, operation and global conduction of international Chinese language (Chinese L2) education, Chinese Proficiency Test (HSK), online Chinese education for 15 years. He is the leader of the research and development team of "HSK Test Syllabus", the designer of "HSK Standard Courses", the core member of the research team of "Chinese Proficiency Grading Standards for International Chinese Language Education", and the project leader in charge of Chinese language test item bank system and Chinese Plus online teaching platform.

His research interests include Chinese language tests, learning psychological environment, Chinese Language e–Learning (environment and resources development).

Ms. Lisa Huang Healy (黄丽娟女士)

Lisa Huang Healy, Executive Director, founder of American Academy of International Culture and Education (AAICE); former Associate Director of Chinese Language and Culture Initiatives from the College Board. With MA degree in Chinese Education from Middlebury College, and MS degree in Computer Science from the City College of New York, her previous work experience includes teaching K–16 Chinese and ESL as the New York State certified teacher, as well as the education administrator.

Lisa has planned and implemented numerous national teacher and student programs, such as National and international teacher training series, National Chinese Speech Contest, as well as National Chinese Language Conference and Chinese Guest Teacher Program. She has rich experience in teacher support, after working on the College Board Chinese Guest Teacher Program for over 10 years. She has worked with K–12 schools in more than 40 states to support k–12 Chinese programs and helped start and maintain k–12 Chinese programs nationwide. Her job includes teacher recruitment, training and supporting all year round with leading professionals in the field.

Lisa has led various material development projects in order to better support the Chinese teachers, including College Board material database, case studies, training handbooks and several publications such as "Survival Guide for International Chinese Language Teacher" (on Classroom Management Vol.1 and 2) (Higher Education Press 2019), "Survival Guide for International Chinese Language Teacher" (on Work Vol.1 and 2) (Higher Education Press 2018), authentic material textbook "Learning Chinese with Signs" (Far East Book Co., LTD 2011). Besides, she has served as the member of the Expert Advisory team of the "Cool Panda" Children's Chinese Teaching Resources (Higher Education Press 2018).

Dr. Ko–Yin Sung (宋可音博士)

Ko–Yin Sung is a Professor in the Department of World Languages and Cultures at Utah State University. She holds a Ph.D. in Culture, Literacy, and Language from the University of Texas at San Antonio. She is also a former Mandarin Chinese–English dual language immersion (DLI) teacher in North Carolina. Inspired by her DLI teaching experience, Dr. Sung's research focuses on learning and teaching in Mandarin Chinese–English DLI programs. Her recent research book, published by Multilingual Matters in 2019, discusses multiple aspects of Chinese DLI programs with a focus on the Utah model. The first part of the book focuses on the perceptions of parents, teachers, and school administrators toward the Utah model, teacher–parent communication, and DLI teacher identities. The second part of the book emphasizes classroom research at the elementary level, including teaching and learning strategies, corrective feedback and learner uptake and repair, translanguaging in authentic teacher–student interaction, and Chinese–character teaching. Dr. Sung's DLI research offers greater understanding of all entities involved in the Chinese DLI education process and helps fill the lack of research in DLI studies. After the completion of the research book, Dr. Sung expanded her DLI classroom research scope to comprise secondary students and the teaching of specific content–based subjects such as science and math.

Dr. Wenying Zhou (周文英博士)

Wenying Zhou is an Assistant Professor of Chinese in the Department of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures at Michigan State University. She earned her Master of Arts in Gifted Education from University of Connecticut, and her PhD in Educational Psychology and Educational Technology from Michigan State University. She has taught American students beginning to advanced Chinese classes in both online and face–to–face environments. In addition to her teaching, Wenying also provides synchronous and/or asynchronous workshops/training for pre– and in–service Chinese language teachers every year.

Wenying's research mainly focuses on Chinese immersion education, training Chinese language teachers in the U.S., and exploring effective ways in language instruction. Her recent research publications include two special issue research papers: one is about Chinese dual–language bilingual education teachers' pedagogical practices in American immersion schools on Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, and the other is about mobile assisted Chinese learning as a foreign language in Frontiers of Education in China. She has also contributed book chapters on content–based Chinese language instruction, use of authentic materials, developing intercultural awareness within teacher preparation program, and cross–cultural language teaching. She has also served as reviewers for many peer–reviewed journals, including Computer–assisted Language Learning, Foreign Language Annals, Language Teaching Research, etc. Currently she is working on improving the two Chinese Open Educational Resources textbooks: https://openbooks.lib.msu.edu/chs101/ https://openbooks.lib.msu.edu/chs102/