Wenhao Diao is an Associate Professor in the Department of East Asian Studies and an affiliated faculty member in the interdisciplinary graduate program of Second Language Acquisition and Teaching at the University of Arizona. She received her Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University and her B.A. and M.A. from East China Normal University. As an applied linguist, she is interested in the identities, ideologies, and (in)equities that Chinese language learning and teaching (re)produce and (re)distribute. Her research has primarily focused on the phenomenon of study abroad -- particularly going to and from China More recently she has examined Chinese learning during the secondary to postsecondary transition. Her work has been funded by the U.S. Department of Education and the Chinese Language Teachers Association (USA). She was awarded a Fulbright-Hays grant in 2017 for her prosposed project that connects educators in the U.S. with their peers in China. Her articles have appeared on journals such as Applied Linguistics, Modern Language Journal, System, and so on. With her colleagues in the field, she has published an edited book entitled Language Learning in Study Abroad: The Multilingual Turn (Multilingual Matters, 2021) and a guest edited special issue themed Study Abroad in the 21st Century for the L2 Journal in 2016. Prior to joining the University of Arizona, she taught at Middlebury College, Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Virginia, and East China Normal University.
Diao, Wenhao
Associate Professor
In the 21st century, East Asia and the rest of the world are more connected not only economically and politically, but also academically. This course focuses on the phenomenon of study abroad, both to and from East Asia. We begin by examining the trends and policies of study abroad related to East Asia. We then move to examine the culture shocks and social challenges study abroad students of face, and the linguistic and identity issues and benefits that study abroad may entail. We also focus on a variety of case stories (Chinese students overseas, international students in China, Japanese returnees, etc.), through which students will learn to critically analyze the phenomenon of study abroad.