Kristin Elisabeth Hiller

I am an applied linguist and engage primarily in qualitative research. My current research interests include language policy and practices, as well as writing program administration and writing pedagogy, at transnational higher education (TNHE) institutions with an English medium of instruction (EMI). I am also interested in translanguaging and translingual practice as a way to conceptualize language, and how this conceptualization can help identify power structures, inequities, limitations, and opportunities in language policies and pedagogical practices.

I am currently working on two collaborative projects which I initiated in 2023. I created the Sino–Foreign JVU Language and Writing Research Network, which is a group of applied linguists, writing studies scholars, and specialists in TNHE who are applying an interdisciplinary approach to better understand writing, language, and cultural policies and practices in joint-venture universities (JVUs) in China that have an English medium of instruction (EMI). 

The second project is Interdisciplinary Student Projects in Intercultural Communication: A Case Study of EAP and Chinese Language Course and Assessment Collaboration. This project investigates the effect of a teaching innovation first implemented in Spring 2024 on undergraduate student learning in EAP and Chinese language courses. Students from EAP courses and CSL courses collaborated to identify and explore an intercultural issue at the university and produce a short bilingual video directed at the university community to address the issue. Our research questions focus on (1) integration among participating Chinese and international students, (2) the participating students’ intercultural awareness, and (3) specified language and writing skills. Though we are in the preliminary stages of analyzing data (from students' project products, written reflections, and focus group interviews), our early impressions are that the project benefitted students in terms of their development of intercultural competence and their ability to reflect on and apply theoretical knowledge.