Semester Two 2012 Joint Winners
Doctoral Studies Research Student Award - 2012 ArchivePage archived at: Mon, 10 December 2012 09:47:52 +1000
Winner: Elaine Ng
Paper title: Cognitive advantages of writing in two languages: bilinguals, biliterates and monolinguals
Elaine Ng’s doctoral thesis examines the cognitive effects of bilingualism and biliteracy on the writing process of Chinese-English bilingual, Chinese-English biliterate and English monolingual high school writers, with a focus on the conversion between the writers’ thoughts and their writing known as the formulation process. Her supervisors are Dr Marie Stevenson and Dr Lindy Woodrow.
Elaine started her career path in Australia, as a high school teacher in ESL (English as a Second Language) and Chinese. She then pursued an area of specialty in education for bilingual and biliterate students. This was coupled with various teaching exposures in the relevant field, including governmental and independent high schools, community language schools, intensive English centres, classes that cater for students with special needs and tutorial classes at the University of Sydney for the Master of Education (TESOL) program.
Elaine has a passion in teaching and genuinely enjoys working with students.
On a personal note, Elaine is also passionate in classical and contemporary music. A seasoned pianist, she is slowly training herself to be a drummer and, someday, a bassist, too.
Winner: Hua Zhong
Paper title: Learning to use a word: What receptive vocabulary knowledge is needed for its productive use
Hua Zhong is a PhD candidate whose current research interests include second language vocabulary acquisition, assessing vocabulary knowledge, and the interface between receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge. Her study explores the construct of vocabulary knowledge along the receptive and productive continuum and examines the relationship between receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge over time. Her supervisors are Dr David Hirsh and Dr Aek Phakiti.
She has previously taught English as a Foreign Language at high school level in China and currently tutors in the Master of Education (TESOL) program at the University of Sydney. In addition to teaching, Hua is also passionate about research. She holds a position as a research assistant in the fields of TESOL and educational psychology. She was awarded NSW IeR Research Student Grant in 2012.