Dr. Lillian Wong

Lillian is an accomplished educator with notable achievements in teaching, coordination, scholarship and leadership within the field of English language education, fostering a culture of excellence and innovation.

In the realm of teaching, Lillian has extensive experience in EAP, ESP, ELT, TESOL and Applied Linguistics, engaging students across undergraduate, postgraduate and teacher education levels. At undergraduate level, Lillian has taught a wide range of courses on English for Academic and Specific Purposes over the years. At postgraduate level, she teaches Information Technology in Language Teaching and Learning, Second Language Curricula and has supervised 38 dissertations and 73 projects and portfolios on the MA in Applied Linguistics and MA TESOL programmes to successful completion since 2005. Lillian has also taught Ph.D. and M.Phil. students various English courses including thesis writing since 2008. She has been involved in teacher education for over 20 years, supporting continuing professional development of thousands of teachers nationally and internationally.

As a coordinator, Lillian effectively led the English for Arts Students programme for 5 years, spearheading curriculum innovation and implementation. During her 7 years in the role as coordinator of the English programme in the Graduate School, she conceived a number of courses and workshops for advancing graduate students’ written and oral communication skills for scholarship and research. Over the years, Lillian has coordinated the Postgraduate Diploma in English Language Teaching, and a range of large-scale in-service English teacher development programmes commissioned by the Hong Kong Education Bureau. She has recently established and led the CAES Educational Training Initiative.

Lillian has a sustained record of engagement in Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Her doctoral research investigated innovation and change in English Language Education, teacher professional development, and teaching and learning with information technology. She has completed 19 applied research projects, delivered 170 presentations, including 65 conference plenary and invited speeches around the world, and published 5 co-/edited books, including Innovation and Change in English Language Education (Routledge, 2013), Faces of English Education: Students, Teachers and Pedagogy (Routledge, 2017), Specialised English: New Directions in ESP and EAP Research and Practice (Routledge, 2019) and The Bloomsbury Handbook of Discourse Analysis (2nd Edition) (Bloomsbury, 2021), Best practices in English teaching and learning in higher education: Lessons from Hong Kong for global practice (Routledge, 2024). Her articles have appeared in high-impact SSCI indexed journals, including TESOL Quarterly, ReCALL and System. She has professional and research interests in innovation and change in language education, teacher professional development, technology in English Language Teaching and Learning, curriculum design and materials development, postgraduate thesis writing, data driven learning, EAP and ESP. She had also served on the Editorial Team of the Hong Kong/Asian Journal of Applied Linguistics from 2007 to 2018 and is on the Editorial Board of Discourses on Culture.

Lillian has diverse leadership experiences. She has been Principal or Co-Investigator of 14 funded projects for innovative teaching, learning, and advancement. The most recent projects she has led include Enhancing disciplinary postgraduate thesis writing via a data-driven learning approach (Teaching Development Grant) and Hong Kong Continuing Professional Development Hub (HKCPD Hub) for University English Teachers (University Grants Committee). She was the founding Chair of the Research and Professional Development Committee (RPDC) and Coordinator of the Language Education SIG at CAES, both for 7 years.

Lillian was chair of various conferences, including the Academic English Symposium “Research into Practice in the Four-year Curriculum” (June 2012), International Conferences “Faces of English: Theory, Practice and Pedagogy” (June 2015) and “Faces of English 2: Teaching and Researching Academic and Professional English” (June 2017), and HKCPD Hub Virtual International Conference “Innovative teaching and research in English Language Education” (January 2021).

Lillian has been actively involved in the TESOL International Association since 2000, taking various key leadership roles to help advance the expertise of English teaching professionals in multilingual contexts worldwide. She was member then Chair of the TESOL Professional Development Committee (2003-2007), tenured on the TESOL Board of Directors (2012-2015), the central governance body composed of 12 members elected by 13,000 members worldwide and was member then Chair of the TESOL Research Professional Council (2017-2021) among others. She was a recipient of TESOL Leadership Mentoring Award.

Lillian is driven, innovative, visionary and dedicated. She is committed to excellence and succeed in what she sets to achieve and makes strategic plans to accomplish targeted goals. Lillian continually strives for her professional growth as an effective teacher, leader and teacher educator. She is passionate about supporting other teachers to make the most of their skills through research, scholarship, professional development and collaboration to provide the best learning opportunities for their students.