Helen Zhao
Biographic Data
| ID | 3843898 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Helen Zhao |
| GIVEN NAMES | Helen |
| FAMILY NAME | Zhao |
| SIGNATURE | ZHAO H |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Melbourne |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3969-8501 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 12 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 19 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2018 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Derivational Morphology in L2 English
This study investigates how second language (L2) learners acquire morphologically complex English words, focusing on affixal neutrality—whether suffixes preserve the phonological form and semantic transparency of the base (e.g., -ness in happiness) or trigger phonological/orthographic changes (e.g., -ity in activity). Drawing on linguistic theories of morphological decomposition and lexical representation, we examine how this property influences …
Developing L2 semantic knowledge of English modality through concept‐based language instruction
This study investigates the pedagogical impact of integrating cognitive linguistics (CL) into concept‐based language instruction (C‐BLI) for teaching English modal verbs. Eighty‐nine Mandarin‐speaking university learners were assigned to one of three instructional conditions: C‐BLI with CL‐based conceptualizations (C‐BLI‐CL), C‐BLI with non‐CL functional grammar explanations (C‐BLI‐nonCL), and traditional definition‐based instruction (control). A…
Being a Chinese sojourner in Japan
This study focuses on the interrelation between Japanese language learning motivation and acculturation processes experienced by Chinese sojourners in Japan. There exists a conspicuous body of literature around the role of ideologies and stereotyping among Chinese immigrants in Japan in light of past historical tensions between the People’s Republic of China and Japan. Although relationships between the two country populations have been changing …
Mental imagery effects in bilingual phrasal verb comprehension
This study investigated how mental imagery is engaged during first language (L1) and second language (L2) speakers’ incremental sentence processing of English phrasal verbs, using a self-paced sensibility judgment task interleaved with schematic diagrams. L1 speakers showed selective compatibility effects modulated by abstractness, semantic transparency of phrasal verbs, event plausibility and the timing of visual input. In contrast, L2 learners …
Cross-linguistic L1–L2 dis/similarity effect on mental imagery in incremental motion event processing
Despite abundant studies on motion events and mental simulation in first languages (L1s), research on how cross-linguistic dis/similarity – whether an L1 shares constructions with a second language (L2) – affects mental simulation during incremental L2 processing remains limited. This study used a novel self-paced reading task with video verification to investigate L1 influence on mental imagery of the dual (directional/locational) interpretation…
First and second language speakers’ sensitivity to the distributional properties of wh -clauses
The present study investigates L1 and L2 English speakers’ knowledge of the wh -clausal construction along the parameters of (a) conventionality, distinguishing between high-frequency conventional and low-frequency unconventional formulations ( I asked him why they agreed/why did they agree) , and (b) proposition type, differentiating between interrogative versus non-interrogative proposition types (I asked / told him why they agreed ). We also c…
Chunk reading strategy training improves multiword processing by Japanese English learners
The Chunk-and-Pass model suggests that language acquisition involves learning to appropriately chunk language input into multiword sequences and to form more abstract linguistic representations. While the theoretical model has gained widespread attention in the language sciences, there are limited studies that adopt this model, particularly in the context of second language (L2) learning and teaching research. This study examines the effects of C…
Native and Nonnative Speakers’ Preferences for Preposition Pied‐Piping Versus Stranding in English Wh‐Relative Clauses
The current study investigated from a usage‐based perspective how phrasal frequency and collocational strength of verb–preposition collocations influence preposition placement in wh ‐relative clauses. Native English speakers and Chinese learners of English as a second language of the intermediate and advanced English proficiencies completed a sentence completion task and an acceptability judgment task. The results showed that native and nonnative…
Mental simulation in bilingual and second language processing
Mental models are a central feature in gaining full automaticity in a second language. • Understanding cue competition is crucial to examining how learners develop mental models to process their second language. • L2 processing heavily relies on embodied representations, and L1 typically exhibits stronger perceptual grounding than L2. • Learners go through a dynamic process of functional restructuring to achieve decoupling from entrenched L1 ment…
Distributional Cues in Construction Acquisition
This study investigates how distributional cues are integrated into the mental representation of the as-predicative construction by English native and nonnative speakers, drawing on associative learning theory. We examined speakers' constructional retrieval when given a verbal cue (Experiment 1) and their verb retrieval when given a constructional cue (Experiment 2). Speakers concurrently integrated both cues in their construction retrieval but n…
Are schematic diagrams valid visual representations of concepts? Evidence from mental imagery in online processing of English prepositions
Embodied imagery hypothesis proposes the activation of perceptual-motor systems during language processing. Previous studies primarily used concrete visual stimuli to investigate mental imagery in language processing by native speakers (NSs) and second language (L2) learners, but few studies employed schematic diagrams. The study aims to investigate mental imagery in processing prepositional phrases by English NSs and L2 learners. Using image-sch…
Multiple perspectives on group work in a multilingual context
Group assignments are widely used in higher education for a range of educational reasons. Although there is a large body of research on the merits of group work and factors that may contribute to successful group work, less is known about students’ and teachers’ perspectives, particularly when groups are composed of students from diverse linguistic backgrounds. The current qualitative study investigated students’ and teachers’ perspectives on gro…
Making a ‘sex-difference fact’
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) 2013 decision to lower recommended Ambien dosing for women has been widely cited as a hallmark example of the importance of sex differences in biomedicine. Using regulatory documents, scientific publications, and media coverage, this article analyzes the making of this highly influential and mobile 'sex-difference fact'. As we show, the FDA's decision was a contingent outcome of the drug approval proc…
Bridging Australian Indigenous language learner’s guides with SLA materials development frameworks
The learner’s guide (LG) is a genre of pedagogical materials for Australian Indigenous languages, but LGs developed by field linguists are often questioned regarding their capacity to effectively facilitate language learning and, eventually, language revitalisation. This reflects a gap in the literature where applied linguistics perspectives are limited in Indigenous language studies, and vice versa. This study aims to address this gap by examini…
Willingness to Communicate and Second Language Fluency
The current mixed-method study investigated two groups of Korean-speaking short-term sojourners in Australia. One group (students) was composed of learners enrolled in English training programs, whereas the other group (workers) was of learners in the workplace. We administered questionnaires and a semi-structured interview to examine their willingness to communicate (WTC) in English as their second language (L2) and explored the relationship bet…
Learning on the Field
This study adopts the Speech Learning Model to investigate the first language (L1) influence as well as the effects of the length of residence and second language (L2) exposure on American English-speaking learners of Turkish in their productions of Turkish unrounded-rounded vowel pairs, with a particular focus on the vowel categories "new" to American English speakers (/y/, /œ/, and /ɯ/). L1 (English) and L2 (Turkish) speech samples were collect…
Schematic Diagrams in Second Language Learning of English Prepositions
In the current study of applied cognitive linguistics (CL), schematic diagrams that represent generalizations of physical-spatial experience were applied in a computer-based tutor that trained English prepositions for second language (L2) learners. Behavioral and electrophysiological (ERP) measures were used to examine whether schematic-diagram feedback provided by the tutor had an instructional advantage over the minimally informed correctness f…
The Emergence of Second Language Categorisation of the English Article Construction
This study examines the emergent cognitive categorisation of the English article construction among second language (L2) learners. One hundred and fourteen Mandarin-L1 learners of English, divided into two L2 proficiency levels (low-to-intermediate and advanced), were measured by a computer-based cloze test for the accuracy and response time of appropriate use of English articles in sentential contexts. Results showed that when learners acquired …
A Cognitive Linguistics Application for Second Language Pedagogy
This study investigated the effects of teaching English prepositions using schematic diagrams inspired by cognitive linguistics in a computer-based tutorial system called the English Preposition Tutor. Training was designed based on the theoretical framework of the Competition Model and a cognitive linguistic analysis of prepositions. Sixty-four Cantonese-speaking intermediate learners of English were trained using a sentence-picture matching tas…
Making a ‘sex-difference fact’
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) 2013 decision to lower recommended Ambien dosing for women has been widely cited as a hallmark example of the importance of sex differences in biomedicine. Using regulatory documents, scientific publications, and media coverage, this article analyzes the making of this highly influential and mobile 'sex-difference fact'. As we show, the FDA's decision was a contingent outcome of the drug approval proc…
A Cognitive Linguistics Application for Second Language Pedagogy
This study investigated the effects of teaching English prepositions using schematic diagrams inspired by cognitive linguistics in a computer-based tutorial system called the English Preposition Tutor. Training was designed based on the theoretical framework of the Competition Model and a cognitive linguistic analysis of prepositions. Sixty-four Cantonese-speaking intermediate learners of English were trained using a sentence-picture matching tas…
Willingness to Communicate and Second Language Fluency
The current mixed-method study investigated two groups of Korean-speaking short-term sojourners in Australia. One group (students) was composed of learners enrolled in English training programs, whereas the other group (workers) was of learners in the workplace. We administered questionnaires and a semi-structured interview to examine their willingness to communicate (WTC) in English as their second language (L2) and explored the relationship bet…
Mental simulation in bilingual and second language processing
Mental models are a central feature in gaining full automaticity in a second language. • Understanding cue competition is crucial to examining how learners develop mental models to process their second language. • L2 processing heavily relies on embodied representations, and L1 typically exhibits stronger perceptual grounding than L2. • Learners go through a dynamic process of functional restructuring to achieve decoupling from entrenched L1 ment…
Learning on the Field
This study adopts the Speech Learning Model to investigate the first language (L1) influence as well as the effects of the length of residence and second language (L2) exposure on American English-speaking learners of Turkish in their productions of Turkish unrounded-rounded vowel pairs, with a particular focus on the vowel categories "new" to American English speakers (/y/, /œ/, and /ɯ/). L1 (English) and L2 (Turkish) speech samples were collect…
The Emergence of Second Language Categorisation of the English Article Construction
This study examines the emergent cognitive categorisation of the English article construction among second language (L2) learners. One hundred and fourteen Mandarin-L1 learners of English, divided into two L2 proficiency levels (low-to-intermediate and advanced), were measured by a computer-based cloze test for the accuracy and response time of appropriate use of English articles in sentential contexts. Results showed that when learners acquired …
A Cognitive Linguistics Application for Second Language Pedagogy
This study investigated the effects of teaching English prepositions using schematic diagrams inspired by cognitive linguistics in a computer-based tutorial system called the English Preposition Tutor. Training was designed based on the theoretical framework of the Competition Model and a cognitive linguistic analysis of prepositions. Sixty-four Cantonese-speaking intermediate learners of English were trained using a sentence-picture matching tas…
Schematic Diagrams in Second Language Learning of English Prepositions
In the current study of applied cognitive linguistics (CL), schematic diagrams that represent generalizations of physical-spatial experience were applied in a computer-based tutor that trained English prepositions for second language (L2) learners. Behavioral and electrophysiological (ERP) measures were used to examine whether schematic-diagram feedback provided by the tutor had an instructional advantage over the minimally informed correctness f…
The Emergence of Second Language Categorisation of the English Article Construction
This study examines the emergent cognitive categorisation of the English article construction among second language (L2) learners. One hundred and fourteen Mandarin-L1 learners of English, divided into two L2 proficiency levels (low-to-intermediate and advanced), were measured by a computer-based cloze test for the accuracy and response time of appropriate use of English articles in sentential contexts. Results showed that when learners acquired …
Bridging Australian Indigenous language learner’s guides with SLA materials development frameworks
The learner’s guide (LG) is a genre of pedagogical materials for Australian Indigenous languages, but LGs developed by field linguists are often questioned regarding their capacity to effectively facilitate language learning and, eventually, language revitalisation. This reflects a gap in the literature where applied linguistics perspectives are limited in Indigenous language studies, and vice versa. This study aims to address this gap by examini…
Willingness to Communicate and Second Language Fluency
The current mixed-method study investigated two groups of Korean-speaking short-term sojourners in Australia. One group (students) was composed of learners enrolled in English training programs, whereas the other group (workers) was of learners in the workplace. We administered questionnaires and a semi-structured interview to examine their willingness to communicate (WTC) in English as their second language (L2) and explored the relationship bet…
Learning on the Field
This study adopts the Speech Learning Model to investigate the first language (L1) influence as well as the effects of the length of residence and second language (L2) exposure on American English-speaking learners of Turkish in their productions of Turkish unrounded-rounded vowel pairs, with a particular focus on the vowel categories "new" to American English speakers (/y/, /œ/, and /ɯ/). L1 (English) and L2 (Turkish) speech samples were collect…
Making a ‘sex-difference fact’
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) 2013 decision to lower recommended Ambien dosing for women has been widely cited as a hallmark example of the importance of sex differences in biomedicine. Using regulatory documents, scientific publications, and media coverage, this article analyzes the making of this highly influential and mobile 'sex-difference fact'. As we show, the FDA's decision was a contingent outcome of the drug approval proc…
Are schematic diagrams valid visual representations of concepts? Evidence from mental imagery in online processing of English prepositions
Embodied imagery hypothesis proposes the activation of perceptual-motor systems during language processing. Previous studies primarily used concrete visual stimuli to investigate mental imagery in language processing by native speakers (NSs) and second language (L2) learners, but few studies employed schematic diagrams. The study aims to investigate mental imagery in processing prepositional phrases by English NSs and L2 learners. Using image-sch…
Multiple perspectives on group work in a multilingual context
Group assignments are widely used in higher education for a range of educational reasons. Although there is a large body of research on the merits of group work and factors that may contribute to successful group work, less is known about students’ and teachers’ perspectives, particularly when groups are composed of students from diverse linguistic backgrounds. The current qualitative study investigated students’ and teachers’ perspectives on gro…
Cross-linguistic L1–L2 dis/similarity effect on mental imagery in incremental motion event processing
Despite abundant studies on motion events and mental simulation in first languages (L1s), research on how cross-linguistic dis/similarity – whether an L1 shares constructions with a second language (L2) – affects mental simulation during incremental L2 processing remains limited. This study used a novel self-paced reading task with video verification to investigate L1 influence on mental imagery of the dual (directional/locational) interpretation…
First and second language speakers’ sensitivity to the distributional properties of wh -clauses
The present study investigates L1 and L2 English speakers’ knowledge of the wh -clausal construction along the parameters of (a) conventionality, distinguishing between high-frequency conventional and low-frequency unconventional formulations ( I asked him why they agreed/why did they agree) , and (b) proposition type, differentiating between interrogative versus non-interrogative proposition types (I asked / told him why they agreed ). We also c…
Chunk reading strategy training improves multiword processing by Japanese English learners
The Chunk-and-Pass model suggests that language acquisition involves learning to appropriately chunk language input into multiword sequences and to form more abstract linguistic representations. While the theoretical model has gained widespread attention in the language sciences, there are limited studies that adopt this model, particularly in the context of second language (L2) learning and teaching research. This study examines the effects of C…
Native and Nonnative Speakers’ Preferences for Preposition Pied‐Piping Versus Stranding in English Wh‐Relative Clauses
The current study investigated from a usage‐based perspective how phrasal frequency and collocational strength of verb–preposition collocations influence preposition placement in wh ‐relative clauses. Native English speakers and Chinese learners of English as a second language of the intermediate and advanced English proficiencies completed a sentence completion task and an acceptability judgment task. The results showed that native and nonnative…
Mental simulation in bilingual and second language processing
Mental models are a central feature in gaining full automaticity in a second language. • Understanding cue competition is crucial to examining how learners develop mental models to process their second language. • L2 processing heavily relies on embodied representations, and L1 typically exhibits stronger perceptual grounding than L2. • Learners go through a dynamic process of functional restructuring to achieve decoupling from entrenched L1 ment…
Distributional Cues in Construction Acquisition
This study investigates how distributional cues are integrated into the mental representation of the as-predicative construction by English native and nonnative speakers, drawing on associative learning theory. We examined speakers' constructional retrieval when given a verbal cue (Experiment 1) and their verb retrieval when given a constructional cue (Experiment 2). Speakers concurrently integrated both cues in their construction retrieval but n…
Derivational Morphology in L2 English
This study investigates how second language (L2) learners acquire morphologically complex English words, focusing on affixal neutrality—whether suffixes preserve the phonological form and semantic transparency of the base (e.g., -ness in happiness) or trigger phonological/orthographic changes (e.g., -ity in activity). Drawing on linguistic theories of morphological decomposition and lexical representation, we examine how this property influences …
Developing L2 semantic knowledge of English modality through concept‐based language instruction
This study investigates the pedagogical impact of integrating cognitive linguistics (CL) into concept‐based language instruction (C‐BLI) for teaching English modal verbs. Eighty‐nine Mandarin‐speaking university learners were assigned to one of three instructional conditions: C‐BLI with CL‐based conceptualizations (C‐BLI‐CL), C‐BLI with non‐CL functional grammar explanations (C‐BLI‐nonCL), and traditional definition‐based instruction (control). A…
Being a Chinese sojourner in Japan
This study focuses on the interrelation between Japanese language learning motivation and acculturation processes experienced by Chinese sojourners in Japan. There exists a conspicuous body of literature around the role of ideologies and stereotyping among Chinese immigrants in Japan in light of past historical tensions between the People’s Republic of China and Japan. Although relationships between the two country populations have been changing …
Mental imagery effects in bilingual phrasal verb comprehension
This study investigated how mental imagery is engaged during first language (L1) and second language (L2) speakers’ incremental sentence processing of English phrasal verbs, using a self-paced sensibility judgment task interleaved with schematic diagrams. L1 speakers showed selective compatibility effects modulated by abstractness, semantic transparency of phrasal verbs, event plausibility and the timing of visual input. In contrast, L2 learners …
Psychology (13 works) · Linguistics (12 works) · EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning (8 works) · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition (8 works) · Second Language Acquisition and Learning (8 works) · Computer Science (6 works) · Mathematics education (6 works) · Second language (5 works) · Categorization, perception, and language (4 works) · Cognitive psychology (4 works)