Lecturer
- BA in English Studies (First Class Honours), The University of Hong Kong
- PGDE in English Language Teaching, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
- MSc in Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition (Distinction), University of Oxford
- EdD in English Language Education, The University of Hong Kong
Juan joined the Centre for Applied English Studies in 2012. He teaches on a wide range of academic literacy and English for specific purposes courses at undergraduate level and supervises dissertations/portfolios for the Centre’s Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics (MAAL) programme. He also teaches an elective course (Vocabulary Teaching and Learning) for the Master of Arts in Teaching English as a Second Language [MA(TESOL)] programme jointly offered by the Faculty of Education and CAES.
He has served on a number of committees at the Centre and held key coordination/administration roles. Externally, he also regularly serves as an examiner/marker trainer/test setter for large scale English proficiency tests.
His academic interests include vocabulary acquisition, the effects of formulaic sequences on perceived L2 speaking proficiency, the issue of modality in vocabulary measurement and the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and L2 listening proficiency. His doctoral thesis is titled “Modality and the Nature of Speaking Task as Mediators of the Effects of Collocation Knowledge on Perceived Speaking Proficiency in English as a Second Language”.
He has also been conducting research on the impact of the use of GenAI tools on the critical thinking skills of university students in Hong Kong.
He has served as a manuscript reviewer for international peer-reviewed journals such as System and International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching (IRAL).
In-House Committees:
Teaching and Learning Committee
Other Major Administrative Roles:
Current administrative roles:
- Teaching Support Manager – Communication Intensive Courses (CiC), CAES
- Member- Quality Assurance Team, Teaching and Learning Committee (TLC), CAES
Previous administrative roles:
- Programme Coordinator – English-in-the-Discipline Courses for the Faculty of Social Sciences (2022-2025)
- Member – Teaching and Learning Committee (2019-21)
- Deputy Coordinator of the Writing Centre (2019-21)
- Timetabling Officer (2018-21)
- Deputy Programme Coordinator of ED Courses for the Faculty of Medicine (2018-19)
- Member – Director’s Advisory Group (2017-19)
- Deputy Programme Coordinator – Core University English (2015-18)
Selected Publications / Presentations:
- Wang, W.F., Wakeland, L., Datwani, D. Chan, L., Thomas, G., Scanlon, S., Castillo, J.T., Boynton, S. (2025). Wikipedia article writing. In W.F. Wang (Ed). English for Medical Communication: A Guide for Course Design (pp. 167-185). Routledge.
- Castillo, J.T., Chai, A., Hui, J. (2024, June). (Un)Critical Engagement with GenAI: Investigating Hong Kong Social Sciences Undergraduate Students’ Critical Response to GenAI Outputs in a Speech Delivery Course. Paper presented at Engagement in the Digital Age: International Conference on Language and Teaching. Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong.
- Kwan, V., Chai, A., Datwani, D., Castillo, J.T. (2023, June). The instruction of metadiscourse in an English-in-the-discipline course. Paper presented at the AHKLC Annual Symposium 2023, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong.
Grants / Awards / Other Achievements:
- Recipient – CAES Teaching Relief Scheme: An investigation of social sciences undergraduate students’ critical response to GenAI outputs in a speech delivery course at the University of Hong Kong, 2023-2024, Semester 1 (Principal Investigator)