Prof. Dr. Jianwei Xu

Jianwei Xu holds a BA in English (Yunnan Normal University, China), an MA in Language Education in TESOL and a PhD in Linguistics/Applied Linguistics from La Trobe University, Australia. Her main research interests lie 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. She has 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. She is a core member of the BXL-Ling Linguistic Heritage Team that is committed to addressing heritage language education in Brussels through a BeTalky project granted in 2021-22. She is currently an assistant professor of multilingual and intercultural communication in the Department of Linguistics and Literary Studies where she supervises PhD and MA students in the area of international Chinese language education, the maintenance of Chinese in multilingual contexts, intercultural communication in various settings, and linguistic and cultural mediation in context. In the wider research circle, Jianwei is a member of the International Association for Languages and Intercultural Communication (IALIC) and The British Chinese Language Teaching Society, both based in the UK. Besides the above roles, Jianwei is active in advising on the Chinese language programme within the department. She also supports 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).