The goal of Danjie Su’s research is to bridge the gap between linguistics analysis and the study of language teaching and learning. By using primarily Mandarin Chinese data from naturally-occurring conversations, as well as large-scale corpora and a framework that examines language use in a natural context – the discourse approach, Su explores both the pragmatic use of grammar at the discourse level and the sociocultural factors that affect how native speakers make grammatical choices during real-life interactions. Her studies have also found that grammar emerges through interactions among participants who constantly reuse and modify their prior utterances to achieve current interactive goals. Based on the findings of her linguistics research, Su also applies discourse analysis to the study of second language acquisition by exploring an authentic discourse approach to language teaching. This examines the use of both authentic materials and genuine classroom interactions, in addition to discourse-based grammar teaching, as a means to inform learners about how to best use language in real-life situations. Su is an editor for Guoji Hanyu, a journal on teaching Chinese as a second language.
 
Danjie Su’s style of teaching is research-based, and she uses an authentic discourse approach to teaching language. This involves the use of both authentic materials and genuine classroom interactions to help apply language to real-life situations, thus improving the students’ ability to use their language skills in everyday life. From 2008 to 2011, Su was a faculty member at Sun Yat-sen University’s School of Chinese as a Second Language. This is one of the world’s largest Chinese language programs, and she led a writing program of 18 courses while teaching at the University. Su is also a former researcher at a Chinese national center for Chinese teaching material development and teacher training. For the past eight years, Su has taught over 30, and TA-ed for over 20, Chinese language and linguistics classes at Sun Yat-sen University and the University of California, Los Angeles. UCLA has one of the largest Chinese language programs in the United States, and Su have instructed over 1,000 students and supervised over two dozens of graduate students in their teaching internship programs while at both universities. 
My teaching is research-based. I use an authentic discourse approach to language teaching: use authentic materials, use authentic classroom interaction that applies the language to real-life situations, and focus on the abilities to use the language in the real world. I am an editor of Guoji Hanyu, a journal on teaching Chinese as a second language. I joined the faculty at the School of Chinese as a Second Language at Sun Yat-sen University in 2008, one of the world’s largest Chinese language programs, and led a writing program of 18 courses. I am also a former researcher at a Chinese national center for Chinese teaching material development and teacher training. I have taught over 30 and TA-ed over 20 Chinese language and linguistics classes (over 1,000 students) at UCLA (the largest Chinese language program in USA) and Sun Yat-sen University over the past eight years. 
 
In her spare time, she enjoys art, especially photography. 
 
Danjie Su
Associate Professor of Chinese and Applied Linguistics
 
Danjie Su (Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles, 2017) is an Associate Professor in the Chinese Program and the Ph.D. program in Applied Linguistics (CLCS) in the Department of World Languages, Literatures & Cultures, University of Arkansas, where she serves as the director of the Chinese Program.
 
Specializing in Chinese and Applied Linguistics, Danjie Su conducts research on language use, teaching, and learning in real-world contexts. Using discourse analysis, Danjie Su's research has revealed the existence of "lenses"--speakers' subjective evaluations of a situation--and has identified Lens as a factor that influences speakers' alternative grammatical choice-making in natural discourse. Her work in Applied Linguistics applies the Lens concept to teaching second language learners to make informed grammatical choices, as well as evaluating the pragmatic competence of generative Artificial Intelligence.
 
Over the past sixteen years, Danjie Su has taught all levels of Chinese language as well as content courses in Chinese linguistics, culture, literature, & film and Asian linguistics in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at UCLA, the Department of World Languages, Literatures & Cultures at the University of Arkansas, and the School of Chinese as a Second Language at Sun Yat-sen University, China, where she coordinated the Chinese Second Language Writing Program. She received an Excellence in Teaching Award from the Asian Languages and Cultures Department at UCLA in 2017. At the University of Arkansas, she also advises Ph.D. and M.A. students in Applied Linguistics.
 

 

 

FOR MY BELOVED MOTHER MIAOXING

 

Google Scholar Profile
 
 
 
ORCID Researcher ID:
 
ORCID iD iconorcid.org/0000-0002-7444-577X
World Languages, Literatures & Cultures, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA
danjiesu (at) uark.edu