Prof. Dr. Jianwei Xu

I am currently an Assistant Professor in Multilingual and Intercultural Communication teaching modules in both BA and MA programmes of Applied Linguistics. I hold a BA in English (Yunnan Normal University, China), an MA in Language Education in TESOL in 2000 and a PhD in Linguistics/Applied Linguistics in 2005, both from La Trobe University, Australia. My research interests mainly reside in the following areas: a) linguistic diversity and language learning and teaching, with the focus on the implications of multilingualism for shaping new perspectives on language learning, communication and interaction, and intercultural understanding; b) cultural diversity, intercultural communication and intercultural education; c) heritage language education in multilingual and multicultural settings. 

I have a keen interest in understanding the role of culture in learning and teaching, identity making and negotiation in the context of border crossing and transnational space. I have most recently been involved in projects that are committed to addressing either linguistic diversity and inclusion in education in multilingual and multicultural societies or interculturality in higher education. Two such projects include a BeTalky project (2021-2022) granted by Brussels government on ‘A Cooperative e-platform for the Teaching of Minority Languages in Brussels’ and a project on ‘Making Internationalization an Intercultural Endeavour: Practices and Processes of Engaging in Intercultural Dialogues and Developing Interculturality’ (2024-2028), granted by VUB research council. I also serve as an associate editor for the open access, peer-reviewed and copy-edited journal 'New Perspectives on Languages', which focuses distinctly on research of/for underrepresented languages, minoritized and endangered languages, less widely taught languages, and other smaller languages. 

In the wider research circle, I am a member of the International Association for Languages and Intercultural Communication (IALIC) and The British Chinese Language Teaching Society, both based in the UK. Next to the above roles, I remain active in advising on the Chinese language programme within the department. I also support the development of academic English literacy of the university’s academic members of staff through the coordination of the Interuniversity Test of Academic English at VUB’s Academic Language Centre (ACTO).