Associate Executive Director
- BA (Hons.), Hong Kong Polytechnic University
- MRes in Applied Linguistics, Lancaster University
- PhD in Applied Linguistics, Lancaster University
- Fellow, Chartered Institute of Linguists (FCIL)
- MIEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
- Chartered Linguist
Ken holds a degree in Translation and Chinese (1st Hon.) from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He further advanced his academic pursuits at Lancaster University, UK, where he earned both a Master of Research (MRes) and a PhD in Applied Linguistics. His research encompasses a diverse range of topics, including the assessment of reflection and independent learning, English as a lingua franca, English language learning experiences, genre analysis, and language education and policy. His scholarly work has been published in prominent SSCI journals such as Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, Higher Education, Journal of English for Academic Purposes, Language and Education, Oxford Review of Education, and System.
Ken’s academic interests also include discourse analysis, identities and roles in writing, social learning theory, particularly Community of Practice, and Systemic Functional Linguistics. In collaboration with colleagues from CAES and two other universities, he secured UGC funding for and successfully completed the collaborative project titled Online Project for the Improvement of University Speaking (OPTIMUS) (http://optimus.hku.hk).
At CAES, Ken primarily teaches on two MA programmes and supervises PhD students. He has supervised approximately 30 MA dissertations and 10 PhD theses to successful completion. Additionally, he has been awarded two Knowledge Exchange Grants to lead the development and evaluation of ProWriteHK (http://caes.hku.hk/prowritehk), a professional communication website aimed at the general public.
Ken recently completed a professional certificate in leadership and management in education via edX (University of Newcastle, Australia) and the U21 Global Leadership programme. Over the past two decades, he has held a variety of leadership roles within and beyond CAES, notably serving as the Programme Coordinator for the Postgraduate Diploma in English Studies (2012-2014), MA in Applied Linguistics (2018-2025) and as Deputy Programme Director for MATESOL since 2017. He also chaired the in-house Publicity and Outreach Committee (POC) for seven years. Externally, he has been invited by the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications (HKCAAVQ) to serve as a panel member in a number of accreditation exercises, and has participated in academic reviews and consultancy projects for various local and overseas institutions.
In-House Committees:
CAES Management Committee, Centre Resources Committee, Departmental Research Postgraduate Committee, Teaching and Learning Committee
Professional Affiliations:
- Chartered Institute of Linguists
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Other Major Administrative Roles:
- Member, MATESOL Board of Studies
- Deputy Programme Director, MATESOL
Selected Publications / Presentations:
- Lau K, . & Lin, C-Y. (forthcoming). Evaluative resources of a high-stakes academic event in MICASE: Implications for advanced academic literacy teaching and pedagogy. In A. Benati (Ed.), Bloomsbury Applied Linguistics volume 4: Language teaching and Pedagogy. Bloomsbury.
- Song, S. , & Lau, K. (2025). Writing Economics: Languaging and translingual resources of a multilingual postgraduate writer in EMI higher education. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2025.2470392 (SSCI)
- Lau, K. (2024). Criticality unpacked: A corpus-informed textual study. In Leung, Y.N. & Chen, Y.L. (Eds.), Selected Papers from the 33rd International Symposium on English Language Teaching and Learning (pp. 70-83). ETA-ROC
- Gardner, D. , Lau, K., Tseng, M-Y., Yu, L-T., & Yuan, Y-P. (2023). Language learning beyond the classroom in an Asian context: What works and what doesn’t? Studies in Self-Access Learning, 14(2), 106-135. (SCOPUS)
- Lau, K., Lin, C-Y., & Odle, E. (2021). “I’m just saying maybe…”: Engagement in dissertation defenses. Language and Education, 35(1), 1-21. (SSCI)
- Lin, C-Y., & Lau, K. (2021). “I found it very special and interesting”: Evaluative language in Master’s thesis defenses in Taiwan universities. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 53, 101035. (SSCI)
Grants / Awards / Other Achievements:
- TDLEG Project: Developing an online hub for supporting undergraduates’ AI-powered Multimodal Presentations in the Academic Context (AIMPAC) (Co-PI with V. Kwan)
- UGC Language Collaborative Fund [HK$2,380,000]: Online Project for the Improvement of University Speaking (OPTIMUS) (Co-PI with D. Gardner)
- (with David Gardner) Best Presentation Award and Excellent Paper Award by Chartered Institute of Linguists, Hong Kong Society for the paper “A new generation: Profiling Hong Kong tertiary English learners”
- Knowledge Exchange Grants: ProWrite: One Click to Success (2014-2015); Engage, Empower & Enhance: An Evaluation of the Impact of ProWriteHK (2015-2016)