Research & Collaborations

Academic Research & Projects

Taipei Tech maintains detailed academic profiles of all faculty members. Please see below a list of Department of English faculty member academic profiles.

Past Projects

Late Nineteenth-Century Glocal Identities in fiction from The Glasgow Weekly Mail

NSTC Project by Dr. Sharin Schroeder

In "Imagined Local Communities," Graham Law discusses the regionally serialized novel as "reinforcing a sense of regional identity" but also as living in "tension with both sub- and supra-national identifications" (185). The Glasgow Weekly Mail was a particularly glocal paper, foregrounding its place of publication, Glasgow, in its name, but, in 1883, claiming the "largest circulation in Scotland" and highlighting the various prices for posting the paper within Britain, to America and the Colonies, and to India and China (2 June 1883, 4). In 1885, it advertised its recent rate of increase in circulation as "Unequalled by any Newspaper In the World" (7 Mar., 4). This project contrasts the Glasgow Weekly Mail and the Glasgow Weekly Herald as glocal papers. It focuses predominantly on The Glasgow Weekly Mail's role, noting the paper's attention in its fiction and news to the local community but also its growth into a paper that reported on emigration and global news, and its 1880s role as the most-widely read paper in Scotland-and one that was read by many emigrants outside of Scotland. Not only does the project focus on two writers' fiction who appeared frequently (often concurrently) in the 1880s, that of the Huntly-born expatriate Scot, George MacDonald (1824-1905), and that of Edinburgh native James Smith (1824-1887), it also uncovers the work of numerous other repeat authors in the paper, such as Frances Leyton, Charles Gibbon, and Alexander Murdoch. I compared Glasgow Weekly Mail fiction and news with that in the Glasgow Weekly Herald in the 1870s and 1880s, uncovering the fact that both papers spurred one another onto improvements, particularly at the time of the Franco-Prussian war, when both took on greater interest in providing international news (with maps) while simultaneously adding new features to the paper and improving the quality of fiction offered. While these Glasgow papers eventually fell prey to the trend of simultaneous serializations (with George MacDonald leading the way with Sir Gibbie [1878-79]), they nonetheless maintained a Scottish voice in their news and fiction well into the 1890s. This project provides the first near-complete index of both papers' fiction, analyzes the early fiction in both papers (particularly that of the first novel serialized in the Weekly Herald, Love and Treason), and examines the place of particular Scottish novels by MacDonald (Malcolm, The Marquis of Lossie, and What's Mine's Mine) in ongoing debates about crofters' land rights and emigration schemes.

L2 high-variability phonetic training: effects of adaptiveness, learner and vowel differences

NSTC Project by Dr. Yung-hsiang Shawn Chang

High-variability phonetic training (HVPT) has been shown to effectively enhance L2 phoneme perception, though its efficacy may be influenced by learner-internal factors such as L2 proficiency and perceptual aptitude, as well as by the degree of confusability of the targeted L2 contrasts. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an adaptive HVPT paradigm among L2 learners with varying levels of perceptual aptitude and across vowel contrasts of differing difficulty. Forty-three L1 Mandarin-speaking learners of English participated. Perceptual aptitude was assessed using a subset of the Modern Language Aptitude Test. Perceptual discrimination ability was measured before and after four training sessions, as well as six weeks post-training. The testing and training stimuli consisted of real monosyllabic words containing seven English vowel pairs: /i-?/, /e-?/, /?-a/, /e-a/, /u-?/, /o-?/, and /?-a/. The adaptive training implemented a staircase procedure that manipulated the speaking style of the training stimuli to vary difficulty levels: clear speech (Level 1), normal speech (Level 2), and fast speech (Level 3). Within each vowel block, participants began at Level 2 and were promoted to Level 3 after five consecutive correct responses or demoted to Level 1 after two consecutive incorrect responses. Same-different word discrimination data were analyzed using a mixed-effects logistic regression model, with group, test, vowel pair, perceptual aptitude, and L2 proficiency included as fixed effects. Results revealed a significant improvement in perceptual accuracy from pretest to posttest, with training effects maintained six weeks later. Perceptual performance was also significantly higher among participants with greater perceptual aptitude, both before and after training. A significant interaction between group and test was observed, indicating more perceptual gains among participants trained with the adaptive HVPT method. Additionally, a significant interaction between L2 proficiency and vowel pair was found: more proficient participants outperformed their less proficient counterparts in discriminating the /i-?/ and /e-?/ contrasts, though no such advantage was observed for the other vowel pairs.

Interdisciplinary Collaboration of ESP and EMI Lecturers in Higher Education: Multimodal Classroom Interaction and Professional Development

NSTC Project by Dr. Yen-Linag Lin

This study examines how collaboration between English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and English Medium Instruction (EMI) lecturers enhances EMI classroom interaction by analyzing interaction patterns before and after a semester-long ESP-EMI collaboration program. It also examines EMI lecturers' perceptions of the collaboration's impact on their classroom interaction and professional development. The study involved eight university lecturers, paired into four teams comprising one EMI and one ESP lecturer. Each team collaborated independently through joint discussions, classroom observations, co-planning, and co-teaching sessions. Data from video-recorded teaching sessions and semi-structured interviews were analyzed to assess verbal interaction features (e.g., teacher and student talk, turn-taking behavior) and non-verbal elements (e.g., eye contact, spatial positioning). By integrating both quantitative and qualitative evidence, this study provides a comprehensive understanding of changes in teacher-student interaction patterns. Notably, it offers valuable insights into the multimodal dimensions of classroom interaction, demonstrating how collaborative efforts can transform EMI teaching and learning. The study concludes with pedagogical implications and practical recommendations for the professional development of current and prospective ESP and EMI lecturers.

A corpus-based genre analysis of corporate governance reports

NSTC Project by Dr. Maggie Leung

Corporate governance has become a central issue in companies' management and operation in many countries worldwide, and corporate governance reports play a pivotal role in corporate transparency and accountability. Despite the growing importance of the corporate governance report, there are few studies investigating the report from a genre perspective. This study identifies and describes the discourse structure and generic features of corporate governance reports, based on Swales’ genre analytic approach and corpus-based approach to discourse analysis. A corpus of 50 corporate governance reports published by listed companies in Taiwan was compiled. Manual examination of the reports was conducted adopting move analysis to establish the macrostructure of the genre. The corporate governance report in Taiwan is characterized by highly standardized structure and the densely tabulated format. Corpus-based analysis focused on the most prominent move of the genre. The main findings reveal a nine-move prototypical macrostructure and the analysis of linguistic feature in the selected move shows both similarities with and differences from those found in other corporate reporting genres. The study presents and describes how the main communicative functions of the genre of corporate governance reports are realized through its macrostructure and generic features.

Investigating VR Engagement in Collaborative Learning: A Multimodal Analysis of Pre-Service Teacher Experiences

NSTC Project by Dr. Hsin-I Chen

This study analyzes pre-service teachers' VR-based collaboration (n=22) to design CLIL lessons, comparing high/low collaborative groups. Data includes interaction logs, recordings, and journals, focusing on verbal, spatial, and avatar interaction. Findings show high-collaborative groups use VR resources more effectively and sustainably, whereas low-collaborative groups show fragmented engagement. Results highlight how interaction with VR affordances shapes collaborative engagement.

Efficacy of training L2 English tense-lax vowel productions with ultrasound

NSTC Project by Dr. Yung-hsiang Shawn Chang

This study investigates the effectiveness of ultrasound biofeedback on Mandarin speakers learning English tense-lax vowel contrasts. It compares ultrasound training with auditory training across three sessions, evaluating improvement via native perception, formants, and tongue shapes. The research examines training efficiency and generalization, providing insights into L2 pronunciation training methods.

Revisiting Metacognitive Translator Training and Translation Crowdsourcing from the Perspectives of Collaborative Learning and Translation Revision

NSTC Project by Dr. Ya-Mei Chen

This project addresses the research gap regarding how voluntary translation crowdsourcing contributes to metacognitive trainer training. By integrating Global Voices Lingua into translation courses, it explores the impact of collaborative learning and revision, analyzing student data through screen recordings, logs, and reports at individual and collective levels.

ROAD-MAPPING English Medium Instruction (III): A Study on the Implications and Implementation of English Medium Instruction in Pre-Tertiary Education in Taiwan

NSTC Project by Dr. Han-Yi Lin

Following up on previous research, this project studies English Medium Instruction (EMI) at the pre-tertiary level in Taiwan. Utilizing the ROAD-MAPPING framework (Dafouz & Smit, 2014, 2020), it analyzes policy and interviews with stakeholders to investigate EMI's implementation, addressing roles of English, management, and participants' perceptions to understand the transition from secondary to tertiary education.

Immersive Telecollaboration: Social Interaction and Negotiation of Meaning in Immersive Social VR Platforms

NSTC Project by Dr. Hsin-I Chen

This study investigates how 30 L2 learners use verbal and nonverbal (gesture, gaze, posture) communication in a 12-week Taiwan-Spain VR telecollaboration. Using multimodal analysis, it examines negotiation of meaning in immersive environments, providing insights for language teachers on teaching strategies in VR, which is currently under-explored in L2 research.

Flourishing and Cultivating Mudan

Taipei Tech University Social Responsibility Project (USR) led by Dr. I-Chien Chen

This Taipei Tech USR project guides freshmen English majors to support rural revitalization in Mudan. Since 2017, students have engaged in field trips, connecting with locals to refine online English information, ultimately promoting the region's cultural, historical, and tourism value.

Immersive Telecollaboration: Social Interaction and Negotiation of Meaning in Immersive Social VR Platforms

NSTC Project by Dr. Hsin-I Chen

Flourishing and Cultivating Mudan

Taipei Tech University Social Responsibility Project (USR) led by Dr. I-Chien Chen

The Changes in Motivations and the Use of Translation Strategies in Crowdsourced Translation: Case Studies on Global Voices' and TED's Translation Projects

NSTC Project by Dr. Ya-Mei Chen

This project analyzes cause-driven crowdsourced translation via Global Voices and TED, examining volunteer motivations, translation strategies, and their correlation with organizational, social, and technological factors using mixed methods, activity theory, and field theory.

It involves a three-year study, contrasting these projects in the first two years and comparing them to outsourcing-driven translation (Facebook/Twitter from a 2015 project) in the third year regarding strategy usage and capital acquisition.

Speech-to-text applications and web user customization for Taiwan's National Education Radio Station

Industry-University Cooperative Research Project by Dr. Yung-hsiang Shawn Chang

This interdisciplinary project (2017/12/11-2018/08/31), continuing from a Golden Bell Award-winning 2016 project, aims to develop AI speech-to-text applications for the National Education Radio Station. The project creates a corpus of radio broadcasts for AI training in the "Formosa Grand Challenge: Artificial Intelligences" competition and plans to license the database for academic/commercial use. Key components include a searchable interface for the corpus and a Channel+ platform that uses automated transcripts for tailored content recommendations, supporting CSL education.

Co-speech Gestures in L1 and L2 Narratives and Conversations: The Role of Proficiency, Cognitive Loads and Cross-linguistic Transfer

NSTC Project by Dr. Yen-Liang Lin

This study analyzes co-speech gestures in English and Chinese, focusing on how L2 proficiency, cognitive load, and cross-linguistic transfer affect gesture production. Using a corpus-based approach with 40 Taiwanese learners, the project explores the "Thinking for Speaking" hypothesis by examining how speakers transfer L1 gestural encoding of motion to L2 and whether higher cognitive load impacts gesture frequency, offering insights into L2 cognitive development and multimodal communication.

A Comparison of the Modality Systems in Cebuano and Tagalog

NSTC Project by Dr. Michael Tanangkingsing

This project aims to build a Tagalog spoken corpus to advance discourse and pragmatic studies. It investigates Cebuano and Tagalog modal markers, including enclitic clusters and defective verbs, analyzing their forms, functions, and interaction with negation to supplement existing linguistic data. Finally, it seeks to compare modality across Philippine languages, sharing findings with researchers to develop a comprehensive grammar of modality.

Masquerade and Female Identity in Early Eighteenth-Century Novels: Study of Daniel Defoe's Roxana and Eliza Haywood's The Masqueraders

NSTC Project by Dr. Tsai-ching Yeh

This project examines how early 18th-century English masquerades acted as sites for challenging social hierarchies and exploring the "doubleness" of identity (as described by Terry Castle) for women. By analyzing Daniel Defoe's Roxana and Eliza Haywood's The Masqueraders, the study investigates female identity, empowerment, and the "self/other" dynamic in early novels.

Causative verbs in Amis and Puyuma and their lexicographic practice

NSTC Project by Dr. Jonathan Kuo

This study investigates Amis and Puyuma causative verbs to establish generalizations for lexicographical practice, addressing ongoing debates on causative formatives. By analyzing primary and secondary data through both generative and functional-typological approaches (including predicate decomposition and grammaticalization), the project aims to improve Formosan language documentation and support indigenous revitalization efforts.

French Connections UnKnit: Anglophones à la Mode

NSTC Project by Dr. Ping-Ta Ku

The provisional title—French Connections UnKnit: Anglophones à la Mode (hereafter referred to as FCUK)—hints at varied aspects that are essential to this project. To begin with, Anglophones refers to a clique of transatlantic writers sojourning in Paris during the first half of the twentieth century and frequenting Sylvia Beach's legendary bookstore Shakespeare and Company, while the French phrase "à la Mode" connotes both "modernist" and "fashionable." Secondly, the title bears a pronounced resemblance to the London-based high-street fashion retailer French Connection UK (also controversially branded as FCUK), yet the acronym "UK" now stands for UnKnit rather than the "United Kingdom"; such a semi-presence of the UK is symbolic, in the sense that the best anglophone writers of the period in Paris were either Irish (James Joyce and Samuel Beckett) or American (Djuna Barnes, Ezra Pound, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, among others). Last but not least, UnKnit not only echoes this project's emphasis on knit fabrics but also expresses a wish to loosen the impossible knot that ties up anglophone modernism and Paris, the emblematic "capital of modernity" (as has been seen in the title of David Harvey's magnum opus). Better yet, UnKnit refers not only to Freudian psychoanalysis (which was à la Mode among Surrealists in interwar Paris) and its fantasy to untangle the human unconscious, but also to the Möbius strip of the Lacanian sinthome, a topological concept pertaining to James Joyce's symptomatic writings in Finnegans Wake.

With its plural "Connections" FCUK also aims to highlight the fact the manifold facets of the reciprocal relationships amid the golden triangle—namely, anglophone modernists from both sides of the Atlantic, Paris as the singular modern capital during the interwar period (often referred to as the Jazz Age), and fashion (or la mode) as a concept, a practice, an industry, and, more pompously, a zeitgeist. In a nutshell, FCUK's central task is to unknit the following tangled mysteries:

What are the socio-economic and political factors that made Paris so gratifying to anglophone modernists during the Jazz Age?
How did these contemporary expatriates influence each other stylistically, intellectually, and economically?
To what extent was Freudian psychoanalysis complicit in the boom of fashion industry and unprecedented consumerism (especially when we think of his nephew Edward Bernays, who has been crowned as "the father of propaganda")?
Why anglophone flappers (such as Lucia Joyce and Zelda Fitzgerald) seemed more susceptible to schizophrenia and neurasthenia (which is thus nicknamed "Americanitis")?
Was la mode a liberating force that empowered women, ethnic minorities, and the colonised subaltern, or did it conceal an admiration for fascism (as we have seen in Salvador Dalí, Gertrude Stein, and Ezra Pound, among others)?

As can be seen in these questions posed above, FCUK aims to carry out an archaeology of la mode in a truly Foucauldian fashion. That is, FCUK dissects the formational history of la mode and reveals its nature as a complex of institutions where capital, power, and ideology are in action.

In this particular sense, FCUK is an organic extension of my doctoral project Quotidian Micro-Spectacles: Ulysses and Fashion, which is an archaeological study that excavates and exposes James Joyce the arch-modernist's ambiguous fondness for British fashion despite his resentment against the empire's colonisation and exploitation of his dear, dirty Dublin. Yet FCUK is tremendously more exciting than Quotidian Micro-Spectacles, as the enlarged scope of investigation now covers not only Joyce's contemporary anglophone modernists who inhabited Paris—the capital of modernity—but also different generations of francophone writers and thinkers who came before and after Joyce. While FCUK's scope of investigation seems all-encompassing, one unmistakable focus sets it apart from the other existing scholarship: sartorial fashion in historical context. Similar to what Quotidian Micro-Spectacles has achieved, FCUK wishes to rethink modernism by means of scrutinising the often overlooked material traces of its interplay with actual clothing.

ROAD-MAPPING English Medium Instruction: A Study on English Medium Instruction in Taiwanese University settings

NSTC Project by Dr. Han-Yi Lin

This project investigates the implementation of English Medium Instruction (EMI) in Taiwan, driven by global trends of internationalization and Englishization. Utilizing the ROAD-MAPPING framework (Dafouz and Smit, 2014), Dr. Lin examines six dimensions—including the role of English, management, and pedagogical practices—across different university types, analyzing how EMI is managed and perceived in the Taiwanese higher education landscape.

Writing the Borders: Defining Scotland and Fairyland in the Late Nineteenth Century

NSTC Project by Dr. Sharin Schroeder

This project examines how late-Victorian Scottish expatriate writers (Lang, MacDonald, Oliphant, Barrie, Stevenson) used folklore, fantasy, and journalism to define Scottish identity, bridging the gap between earlier Scottish literary traditions and the 20th-century Scottish Renaissance. Despite the perceived decline in 19th-century Scottish literature, this study argues for a sophisticated, fantasy-driven national tradition.

Dr. Schroeder will analyze journalism from periodicals like the Athenaeum and the Morning Post to explore how these writers shaped the perception of Scotland as a realm of fantasy. The project, which includes digitizing *Morning Post* columns, also aims to investigate the influence of this tradition on J.R.R. Tolkien's mythology and to examine serialized fiction in regional Scottish newspapers.