Qianqian Zhang-Wu

Assistant Professor of English; Director of Multilingual Writing

A passionate researcher, a devoted educator, and a nerdy applied linguist, Dr. Qianqian Zhang-Wu’s research focuses on multilingualism, multilingual writing, translingualism and TESOL. Her work appears in high-impact, peer-reviewed journals, such as TESOL Quarterly, College English, Journal of International Students, Journal of Education, Language and Education, and Journal of Second Language Writing among various others. Dr. Zhang-Wu’s single-authored book Languaging Myths and Realities: Journeys of Chinese international Students was published by Multilingual Matters in 2021. This book has won three influential national and international awards, including the 2023 CCCC Research Impact Award, 2023 CCCC Advancement of Knowledge Award honorable mention, and 2022 CIES-SAIS Best Book Award. Through a vigorous study of Chinese undergraduate students’ translingual lives, her monograph raises critical issues of social justice for multilingual international students, contributing to discussions on monolingualism and racism in American higher education. Dr. Zhang-Wu’s work was recognized by national and international professional organizations. She was the recipient of NCTE Research Foundation’s CNV fellowship, CIES Best Dissertation Award (SAIS-SIG), and CCCC Scholars for the Dream Award among other honors. Currently, Dr. Zhang-Wu serves as the Historian/Secretary in CCCC SLW-SIG, and she is working on her co-edited 2023 special issue in Journal of Language, Identity, and Education while preparing for her second research monograph. Multilingual in Mandarin Chinese, English and Japanese, Dr. Zhang-Wu is also an affiliated faculty at the Asian Studies Program at Northeastern University. Dr. Zhang-Wu received her Ph.D. from the Lynch School of Education at Boston College and her M.S. Ed in Educational Linguistics (TESOL) from the University of Pennsylvania.

Awards & Honors

2023 CCCC Research Impact Award
2023 CCCC Advancement of Knowledge Award honorable mention
2022 CIES-SAIS Best Book Award
2021 Best Dissertation Award, Comparative and International Education Society (CIES)
2021 Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) Scholars for the Dream Award
2020-2022 NCTE Research Foundation Cultivating New Voices Among Scholars of Color (CNV) Fellowship
2020-2021 Hong Liu China Studies Research Award
2019-2020 Office of the Provost Full-Time Faculty Professional Development Fund
2017 AERA Bilingual Education Research SIG Travel Award, American Education Research Association
2014 TESOL Spirit Award from the Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania.

Selected Publications

Zhang-Wu, Q. (forthcoming, 2023). (Re)Imagining Linguistically Responsive Instruction in Superdiverse College Composition Classrooms: A Cross-Case Study of Three Multilingual International Students. Research in the Teaching of English.
Zhang-Wu, Q. & Jones, C. (2022) Anti-racist translingualism: investigating race in translingual scholarship in US Writing and rhetoric studies over the past decade, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, DOI: 10.1080/13670050.2022.2153009
Zhang-Wu, Q. (2022). Rethinking Translingualism in College Composition Classrooms: A Digital Ethnographic Study of Multilingual Students’ Written Communication Across Contexts. Written Communication.
Zhang-Wu, Q. (2022). Once a Chinese International Student and Now an English Professor: An Autoethnographic Self-Inquiry of Journeys Against Linguicism and Monolingual Ideologies. Journal of International Students.
Tian, Z. & Zhang-Wu, Q. (2022). Preparing Pre-service Content Area Teachers Through Translanguaging. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education.
Zhang-Wu, Q. (2022). “Keeping Home Languages Out of the Classroom!”: Examining Multilingual Writers’ Perceptions of Translingual Writing in an Asynchronous College Composition Class. Journal of Multilingual Theories and Practices.
Zhang-Wu, Q. (2022). Multilingual Students’ Perspectives on Translanguaging in First-Year Undergraduate Writing Classrooms. TESOL Journal. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesj.651
Zhang-Wu, Q. (2021). (Re)Imagining Translingualism as a Verb to Tear Down the English-Only Wall: “Monolingual” Students as Multilingual Writers. College English.
Zhang-Wu, Q. & Brisk, M. (2021). “I must have taken a fake TOEFL!”: Rethinking Linguistically Responsive Instruction Through the Eyes of Chinese International Freshmen. TESOL Quarterly.
Zhang-Wu, Q. (2021). Rethinking Chinese International Students in American Higher Education: “Raceless” and “Linguistically Incompetent”?. Educational Research and Development Journal, 24(1), 16-20.
Zhang-Wu, Q. (2021). Preparing Monolingual Teachers of Multilingual Students: Strategies That Work. In U. Lanvers, A. Thompson., & M. East (Eds.). Language Learning in Anglophone Countries. (pp. 463-484). Palgrave Macmillan.
Zhang-Wu, Q. (2021). Languaging Myths and Realities: Journeys of Chinese International Students. Multilingual Matters, Bristol, UK.
Poe, M. & Zhang-Wu, Q. (2020). Super-Diversity as a Framework to Promote Social Justice: Designing Program Assessment for Multilingual Writing Outcomes. Special Issue of Composition Forum: Promoting Social Justice for Multilingual Writers on College Campuses.

Related Schools & Departments

Education

Ph.D. in Curriculum & Instruction, Boston College
M.S. Ed in Educational Linguistics (TESOL), The University of Pennsylvania
Contact

q.zhang-wu@northeastern.edu
Address

435 Holmes Hall
360 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
Office Hours

M & Th 10:30-11:30am

Courses

Course catalog

Advanced Writing in the Technical Professions

ENGW 3302

Offers writing instruction for students in the College of Engineering and the College of Computer and Information Science. Students practice and reflect on writing in professional, public, and academic genres—such as technical reports, progress reports, proposals, instructions, presentations, and technical reviews—relevant to technical professions and individual student goals. In a workshop setting, offers students an opportunity to evaluate a wide variety of sources and develop expertise in audience analysis, critical research, peer review, and revision.
First-Year Writing for Multilingual Writing

ENGW 1102

Designed for students whose first or strongest language is not English. Students study and practice writing in a workshop setting; read a range of texts in order to describe and evaluate the choices writers make and apply that knowledge to their own writing; explore how writing functions in a variety of academic, professional, and public contexts; and write for various purposes and audiences in multiple genres and media. Offers students an opportunity to learn how to conduct research using primary and secondary sources and to give and receive feedback, to revise their work, and to reflect on their growth as writers.

Red tulips bloom in the foreground of a mural created by artist Silvia López Chavez that swirls and dives along a formerly gray entrance to Ruggles Station

Writing in Global Contexts

ENGL 2760

Explores the various ways that linguistic diversity shapes our everyday, academic, and professional lives. Offers students an opportunity to learn about language policy, the changing place of World English in globalization, and what contemporary theories of linguistic diversity, such as translingualism, mean for writing. Invites students to explore their own multilingual communities or histories through empirical or archival research.