Our Research
Dr. Ania Lian
The entire body of my research work is centred on pedagogy, with concepts, tools, and frameworks that I developed (or co-developed with colleagues and students) that are relevant to both early years and adult learning. Second language-learning and literacy are my key specialisations, with a focus on the use of technology to support learning. My work is interdisciplinary and, where relevant, draws heavily on recent research in neuroscience in order to design increasingly better-informed environments supporting student-centredness. Over the years, I have also expanded into areas of higher education policy, curriculum and pedagogy in Australia and globally.
My more recent grant ($25,000), Building primary students’ resilience (2013-2015), focused on the relationship between curriculum, pedagogy and research in wellbeing. The grant was part of a bigger scheme that supported development of the Health and Education nexus. Research that was conducted as part of the grant was interdisciplinary and focused on linking diverse disciplines, such as neuroscience, psychology, cultural studies in order to better understand factors that impact on and interact with students’ learning. In my research I engaged my coursework master students and together we developed a number of publications that attempted to theorise concepts such as feedback for transformative learning while integrating evidence from different fields that shed new light on concepts such as perception, comprehension, communication (especially writing), and feedback. In the light of this research, from a pedagogic perspective, it became apparent that the better we understand how cognition works, the more confident our children/ students. The corollary of this finding was that the less we understand, the more likely we are to take a narrow perspective on the challenges that children /students experience when grappling with problems at hand.
Later, while still building on the work informed by this grant, I developed the Reading for Emotion model. The model was published in 2017. The model is suitable for all contexts of study: schools, Early Childhood and university. One of my PhD students tested the model in Indonesia and obtained very promising results. My newly funded project ($15,000) with schools, Reflective teaching in NT Early Childhood contexts, is currently underway and it intends to further contextualise the understandings developed thus far against the literature, EC teacher experiences, policy makers and research of the colleagues involved in the project.
Those earlier studies gave rise to my more recent publications, that examined the concept of meaning and the process of meaning-making (two foundational concepts in education). This helped me show that the process of meaning-making cannot be separated from evidence from neuroscience, psychology and other disciplines. My more recent publications, one submitted to an international journal, Educational Philosophy and Theory (based on my September 2019 keynote to the International Conference on Innovative Research across Disciplines (ICIRAD) hosted by the Research and Community Service Institute of Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha, Indonesia), and another published in The European Legacy, while seemingly different, deal exactly with the concept an the process of meaning. My earlier attempt to create these links was in another keynote, ICOTTE 2018, published in a research journal published by Văn Hiến University, Văn Hiến University of Journal of Science, 6(1), where I had been appointed as Research Professor.
My frequent international keynotes (and word of mouth) have made me popular among international HDR students, and currently I have four HDR students, and four students who have already completed their dissertations and graduated or are about to graduate.
Recent publications
· Lian, A.B., Lor, T., Mak, N. (in preparation) Reflecting on the job of modernising higher education in Cambodia. Comparative Education. Journal of International and Comparative Education. Taylor Francis Online.
· Lian, A.B. (in review) What axioms inform your research? Interdisciplinary dialogues as a process for innovation in English language and literacy pedagogy (under review) Educational Philosophy and Theory.
· Lian, A.B., Nashruddin, W., Pertiwi, W.H.S., Bumela, L. & Lian, A-P. (in review) Modernising higher education in Indonesia: Perspectives from English Language Teacher Education. GEMA Online® Journal of Language Studies. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
· The Toronto Debate: Jordan Peterson and Slavoj Žižek on Ethics and Happiness. (published on 30 May 2019) The European Legacy. Taylor & Francis. An opinion piece. URL:
https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/i9Y8DWUfik3eidsJfEFU/full?target=10.1080/10848770.2019.1616901.
· Lian, A.B., Muhammad Yunus (2018). Transformative reading pedagogies: Perspectives from Indonesia. International Conference, The Future of Education. (peer reviewed)
· Lian, A. B. (2018 – keynote published by Universitas Kanjuruhan Malang. Indonesia). Building students or building theories? Examination of the role of theory in education research. Annual Conference on Social Sciences and Humanities, Universitas Kanjuruhan Malang. Indonesia.
· Lian, A.B. (2018). Differentiated learning and evidence from neuroscience: Some implications for Computer-Assisted Language-Learning (CALL). Văn Hiến University of Journal of Science, 6(1). URL: http://tckh.vhu.edu.vn/vi/chuyen-de-khoa-hoc-xa-hoi-va-nhan-van/ania-lian-differentiated-learning-and-evidence-from-neuroscience-some-implications-for-computer-assisted-language-learning-call-pedagogies
· Lian, A.B. (2018). Investigative minds create investigative students: English language teacher education for the 21st century. Văn Hiến University of Journal of Science, 6(1). URL: http://tckh.vhu.edu.vn/vi/chuyen-de-khoa-hoc-xa-hoi-va-nhan-van/ania-lian-investigative-minds-create-investigative-students-english-language-teacher-education-for-the-21st-century
· (Featured article, requested and with an honorarium)
Lian, A. B. & Pertiwi, W.H.S. (2017). Theorising for innovation: Implications for research in English language teacher education. GEMA Online® Journal of Language Studies. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. URL: http://ejournal.ukm.my/gema/article/view/20248
· Lian, A.B. (2017). Reading for emotion with ICT tools. In Chen, W. et al. (Eds.) Proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Computers in Education. (Internationally refereed proceedings) New Zealand: Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education. URL: https://apsce.net/icce/icce2017/140.115.135.84/icce/icce2017/sites/default/files/proceedings/main/C6/Reading%20for%20Emotion%20with%20ICT%20Tools.pdf (peer reviewed)
· Lian, A.B. (2017). Introduction. In A.B. Lian, P. Kell, P. Black, P. & K. Y. Lie (Eds). Challenges in global learning: international contexts and cross disciplinary perspectives. Cambridge Scholars Publishers, Cambridge.
· Lian, A.B., Norman, A., Midgley, K. & Napiza, C. (2017). Direct Instruction for “At-risk Children” and the Australian Curriculum: Toward a better Understanding of the Appeal of Behaviourism in Cross-cultural Contexts of Learning. In A.B. Lian, P. Kell, P. Black, P. & K. Y. Lie (Eds). Challenges in global learning: international contexts and cross disciplinary perspectives. Cambridge Scholars Publishers, Cambridge.
· Lian, A.B., Bodnarchuk, A., Lian, A-P. & Napiza, C. (2017). Academic writing as aesthetics applied: Creative use of technology to support multisensory learning. In A.B. Lian, P. Kell, P. Black, P. & K. Y. Lie (Eds). Challenges in global learning: international contexts and cross disciplinary perspectives. Cambridge Scholars Publishers, Cambridge.
· Lian, A.B. (2015). Foreword, in: D. Rowan. How we come into being – MSc papers; Psycho-Social Studies, UK.
· Lian, A.B. (2014). “New Learning” and CALL: a DIY paradigm, AsiaCALL Online Journal, vol. 9, pp. 1-13. http://espace.cdu.edu.au/eserv/cdu:42428/Lian_42428.pdf –
· Lian, AB. (2012). A dialogic framework for embedding graduate attributes in discipline-based degree curricula, Rangsit Journal of Arts & Science, Bangkok, Thailand.
· Lian, AB. (2008). Making our learning environments interactive: a critique of the concept of interaction in second language acquisition studies. In M. Mantero (Ed.). ISLS Readings in Language Studies (Language Across Disciplinary Boundaries. (pp. 333-350). St. Louis, MO, USA: International Society for Language Studies Inc.
· Lian, AB. (2006). An interactive dictionary of concepts: an exploratory platform for enhancing communication between concepts. In M. Pivec (Ed.), Affective and Emotional Aspects of Human-Computer Interaction: Game-Based and Innovative Learning Approaches, vol. 1, The Future of Learning (pp. 178-206). Amsterdam: IOS Press.
(1). Lian, A. B., Scotellaro, G. & Dolan, D. & Lian, A-P. (2004). Narizoma: Critical pedagogy in practice. In Son, J-B. (Ed.), Computer-Assisted Language Learning: Concepts, contexts and practices, APACALL Series vol. 1 (Asia-Pacific Association for Computer-Assisted Language-Learning), New York: iUniverse.
(2). Lian, A. B. (2003). Technology, pedagogy and prejudice. In S. Hongladarom (Ed.), Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Technology and Universities in Asia (ITUA) (pp. 477-490). Bangkok, Thailand: Chulalongkorn University Press.
Dr. Namy Lor
Over the last decade Cambodia introduced several policies to build the capacity of teachers and principals to deliver high quality teaching and learning. Performance goals for teachers have been established and Cambodia’s national curriculum provides content for teachers in each subject, including English. Recently, MoEYS issued a directive for all primary children to learn English, starting in Grade One. While the policy is in step with the internationalisation strategies of Cambodia, it is not clear how Cambodia plans to build its English-speaking teacher population and the resources necessary to support both teacher professional development in sufficient numbers and student learning. For example, to assist, Cambodia is now seeking to improve its ICT infrastructure across schools and aims for teachers to gradually learn to use technology to expand their resources and enhance their teaching. However, after years of civil war and complex political upheavals, which have resulted in community depletion, research in many discipline areas continues to suffer. This also is the case in the area of CALL (Computer-Assisted Language-learning). Given the importance of English language teaching in all Asia, disparities in the range of national income levels and access to technology must not be seen as an obstacle, but a challenge that needs to be addressed through innovation and constructive policies and action.
In my research I concern myself with a multitude of factors that impact on how educators in Cambodia engage in policy planning and its implementation, how they construct innovation and most of all, how they interact with one another in order to offer policy and solutions that are both needed and possible to implement.
Recent publications
- Lor, T. (2016). Factors impacting on school retention rates of lower secondary school female students in rural Cambodia and ways forward: A case study. Med. Thesis. Charles Darwin University, Australia.
- Lor, T. & Ngoy, M. (2018). Community engagement in the planning and building of an advanced higher education system in Cambodia. The Future of Education.
- Lor, T., & Lian, A.B. (2021). Rebuilding the social capital of the English language education professional community in Cambodia in the context of global policy shifts in support of 21st century transformative learning. Paper submitted for publication.
PAPER PRESENTATIONS
- Lor, T. (2017). The concept of community in CALL literature: Understanding community engagement in modelling second language education curriculum. AsiaCALL international conference in Ho Chi Minh City Open University, Saigon, Vietnam
- Lor, T. (2017). “Planning forward: Community engagement and personal agency: Reflections for Cambodia”. Symposium introducing Cambodian Higher Education rectors to the CDU community: Issues in global education: Planning forward.
- Lor, T. (2018). “Community needs, values, and engagement in the planning and building of an Advanced Higher Education System in Cambodia”. International Conference The Future of Education, Florence, Italy
- Lor, T. (2018). “CALL research in Cambodian secondary school contexts”. The Asia Association of Computer-Assisted Language-Learning (AsiaCALL), 16th International Conference Information Website, Tongren University, Tongren City, China
- Lian, A.B. & Lor, T. (2021). Integrating innovation into ELT in schools in South-East Asia. Perspectives from Cambodia. Keynote presented at AsiaCALL Conference, CALL in Asia and the world in the COVID and post-COVID era. AsiaCALL international conference held online and in Vietnam at VLU, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. https://youtu.be/P728aXnlVzI
Professor Andrew Lian
English language proficiency levels vary widely across Asia but, according to the Education First (EF) Proficiency Index 2018, “In Asia, English proficiency did not improve despite high levels of investment in English” (EF, 2018, p. 5). This is a compelling finding. Computer-Assisted Language-Learning (CALL), sometimes referred to as Computer-Enhanced Language-Learning (CELL) or Technology-Enhanced Language-Learning (TELL), is a field of research and practice that is specifically oriented toward integrating ICT into language-learning contexts. Arguably, when based on theoretically sound and empirically supported research, CALL solutions can offer learning tools for students to support their learning in ways that teachers alone cannot. Part of the expectation of CALL has always been to design environments that offer student-centred learning conditions in ways that are increasingly better informed and making learning both individualised as well as collaborative. Developing such learning environment has been one of my goals that I have worked toward in my profession as a French language professor and as a researcher. While my research agenda is relatively broad, a major focus of my work is pronunciation. It has been shown in my own research and in studies of other scholars that pronunciation is linked to other language systems that it impacts on.
The pronunciation problems of (Asian) learners of English are generally well-recognized. They include not only problems of articulation of individual phonemes but, critically, problems of rhythm and intonation which reduce comprehensibility and, arguably, interfere with the development of fluency. Thus, improvement in pronunciation is becoming a priority especially in the context of the ASEAN community where significantly increased mobility (Koty, 2016) will result in an increased need for perhaps large numbers of citizens of the region to produce comprehensible, reasonably well-pronounced and relatively fluent English to meet their everyday communication needs. While, quite rightly, native-speaker pronunciation is no longer the golden standard (Kirkpatrick, 2011), spoken language which can be well-understood by competent speakers of English, including native speakers of English) is a necessity if successful communication is to take place and the community is to move forward through its mobility program. Such ability to be understood by a wide variety of people must necessarily draw upon factors common to all varieties of English. This is because the English language in its different varieties can be thought of as a semiotic system which, like all semiotic systems, is necessarily and inevitably constrained by certain shared rules without which people would simply not understand each other. These rules, while obviously applying to grammar, apply equally to pronunciation. In my research I utilise and modify the methods of verbotonalism (Guberina, 1972; Lian, 1980) in order to provide relevant support for English language learners. More recently, I engage in quantitative comparative research with a view to developing products that can be of use more generally in educational contexts of English learning. For more examples of my publications (or those of my PhD students) please see my website,