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Yan Liu

Associate Professor of the Practice of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
Asian & Middle Eastern Studies
2204 Erwin Road, John Hope Fra, Box 90414, Durham, NC 27708
2204 Erwin Road, John Hope Fra, Box 90414, Durham, NC 27708
Office hours W: 1:30-3:30 PM  

Overview


Dr. Yan Liu is an Associate Professor of the Practice and Director of the Chinese Program in the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (AMES) at Duke University. She received her Ph.D. in Second Language Acquisition from Carnegie Mellon University. Since joining Duke in 2013, Dr. Liu has been teaching and coordinating intermediate Chinese courses for non-heritage students and advanced Chinese courses for heritage students.

In recent years, her focus has been on course development, pedagogy innovation, and teaching material development, leading her to develop "Chinese Translation and Interpretation" (CHINESE 332) for third-year Chinese heritage students and "Understanding China and the U.S.: Stereotypes, Conflicts, and Common Challenges" (CHINESE 450S), an interdisciplinary course for both Chinese international students and advanced-level Chinese students. Additionally, she has been teaching and developing Chinese CLAC (Curriculum across Languages and Cultures) courses, including "Voices in Global Health: Mandarin Tutorial" (GLHLTH 270T/AMES 270T), "Voices in the Environment: Mandarin Tutorial" (ENVIRON 269T-3/CHINESE 269T), and "Voices in Public Policy: Mandarin Tutorial" (PUBPOL 273T-3/CHINESE 273T). In 2022, she also offered Chinese Sociolinguistics, a course cross-listed by AMES and the linguistics program. Dr. Liu's teaching approach incorporates community-based learning, service-learning, visual arts, games, fake-news analysis, and DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) to enhance her students' learning and provide an equitable learning environment for her students. In recognition of her commitment to service-learning, Dr. Liu won the "Betsy Alden Outstanding Service-Learning Award" in 2020. 

Dr. Liu’s main research interest lies in teaching and learning Chinese as a second language (L2), a foreign language, or a heritage language. To be specific, she has conducted research on L2 reading in Chinese, writing in Chinese as a heritage language, Chinese assessment, Chinese language pedagogy, and Chinese curriculum development. Her research work has been published as journal articles or book chapters. In addition, she has presented her research in many prestigious conferences, such as, the annual conferences of the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL), the National Chinese Language Conference (NCLC), the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), the Chinese Language Teachers Association (CLTA), and some international conferences on Chinese teaching and learning. She is also a reviewer for Routledge, the Journal of Chinese as a Second Language, the International Journal of Chinese language Teaching, and Studies in Chinese Learning and Teaching, 

Dr. Liu is also an active member of the Chinese Language Teachers Association (CLTA), providing services to the organization in various capacities. She was elected as a board member of CLTA in early 2022 and is currently serving on four committees. Additionally, Dr. Liu co-chairs two CLTA special interest groups (SIGs): the Content-based Chinese Language Courses at Advanced Levels SIG since 2020, and the Chinese Heritage Language Learning SIG since 2021. 

Current Appointments & Affiliations


Associate Professor of the Practice of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies · 2023 - Present Asian & Middle Eastern Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Director of the Chinese Language Program · 2023 - Present Asian & Middle Eastern Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Associate Professor of the Practice of the Program in Linguistics · 2025 - Present Linguistics, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

Recent Publications


针对华裔学生的美国大学中文教材

Journal Article Chinese as a Second Language (漢語教學研究—美國中文教師學會學報). The journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association, USA · December 31, 2023 摘要近些年来,美国大学中文课中传承语学习者的数量不断增加 (Xiang, 2016)。然而,现有的传承语教材数量比较少,且目前美国大学中文项目所使用的华裔中文教材也存在一定的局限性 (Luo et al., 2019)。因此,编写新的大学中文传承语教材势在必行。本文首先回顾了相关传承语教学以及中文传承语学习者的研究,然后对 ... Full text Open Access Cite

传承中文 Modern Chinese for Heritage Beginners Stories about Us

Book · April 21, 2023 The book starts with talking about individuals and families and then expands to the Chinese and Asian American communities in the U.S. and eventually to the entire American society, all from the unique perspective of Chinese American ... ... Cite

Boundary Crossing: Integrating Visual Arts into Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language

Chapter · March 15, 2023 This chapter reports on the author’s effort to cross disciplinary boundaries in teaching Chinese as a foreign language (CFL). It presents a mixed-methods study that examines student perceptions about, as well as the benefits and the challenges of, integrat ... Link to item Cite
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Education, Training & Certifications


Carnegie Mellon University · 2013 Ph.D.