Professional Bio

Di Liang is Assistant Teaching Professor of Applied Linguistics and Assistant Director of the Intensive English Communication Program (IECP). He has taught Academic English courses and TOEFL, IELTs, and SAT preparation courses in China and the U.S. Prior to the IECP, Di held roles as an instructor, teacher educator, researcher, and student teacher supervisor in College of Education at Penn State. He has also served as an instructor of undergraduate-level Chinese language classes at the University of Pittsburgh. Di’s current research interest situates at the intersection of language education, teacher education, and social justice.

Selected Recent Publications

· Liang, D., & Cao, X. (2023). A day in the life of an English teacher: Narratives from English language teachers in a rural primary school in China. In P. C. Iida, E. Mikulec, & M. F. Agnello (Eds.), English language education in rural contexts: Theory, research, and practices (pg. 63-83). Brill. DOI: 10.1163/9789004549647_005

· Liang, D., & Cao, X. (2022). Teacher online ELT experiences in a rural primary school in China during COVID-19 pandemic. In C. N. Giannikas (Ed.), Transferring language learning and teaching from face-to-face to online settings (pg. 130-151). IGI Global. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-8717-1.ch007

· Han, S., Liang, D., & Haneda, M. (2021). A case study of two South Korean middle school EFL teachers’ practices: Instructional stances and use of classroom materials. Classroom Discourse, 12(1-2), 56-74. DOI: 10.1080/19463014.2020.1869572

Selected Recent Presentations

· Liang, D. (2023). Reconceptualizing the “world” in World Language education: Teaching through the lens of social justice. The 2023 American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) Conference, Portland, OR.

· McCausland, J. D., Liang, D., Cunningham, A., & Whittington, N. (2023). Pain, vulnerability, and joy in the learning of novice teacher educators. The American Educational Research Association (AERA) 2023 Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL.

· Liang, D., Luo, Y., & Haneda, M. (2022). Enacting dialogic teaching through embodied actions: A case of one U.S. elementary school teacher. The 2022 American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) Conference, Pittsburgh, PA.

· Cao, X., & Liang, D. (2022). Teaching English during COVID in a rural Chinese primary school. The TESOL 2022 Convention & English Language Expo, Pittsburgh, PA.