University of Sydney / Faculty of Arts / Department of Chinese Studies / Staff / Academic Staff

Dr Linda Tsung

MA and PhD The University of Sydney
Senior Lecturer
Room 639, A18-Brennan MacCallum Building

+61 2 9351 2868

Dr Tsung gained a MA in Applied Linguistics (with Merit) and Phd in Education from the University of Sydney. She has a track record in research into Chinese linguistics, bilingualism and bilingual education, second language acquisition and educational outcomes, especially as they affect students from minority backgrounds in China (Tsung, 1999, 2008). She has also researched bilingualism in ethnic minority groups in Yunnan and Xinjiang (Tsung, 2004, 2007, 2009). Dr Tsung established the initial Chinese teacher training programs at the University of Sydney (1991- 1998) and, she has spent the last ten years in Hong Kong, more recently specializing in Chinese teacher training at the University of Hong Kong. Since 2007 she has led a large project funded by Hong Kong SAR government for the development of learning Chinese as a second language by minority background students in Hong Kong.

Research areas

  • Chinese linguistics
  • Second language acquisition
  • Chinese Pedagogy
  • Chinese teacher training
  • Language policy
  • Minority languages, cultures and education
  • Bilingualism and bilingual education

Current projects

  • Co-editor (with Dr Ken Cruickshank): Teaching and Learning Chinese in Global Contexts, will be published by Continuum, UK.
  • Co- investigator (with Dr Mark Shum and Dr W.W. Ki): “University–School Support Program: Supporting Secondary Schools in the Teaching and Learning of Chinese for Non-native Learners”. Funded by the Education Bureau of Hong Kong (2008–2011).
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Books

  • Minority languages, Education and Communities in China, Palgrave Macmillan: UK, 2008.
    Minority languages, education and communities in China
  • Dai Qingxia, Linda Tsung, Jiang Ying & Li Jie, The Studies of the Xiandao Language, Central University for Nationalites Press: Beijing, 2005.
  • Linda Tsung, Yan Yuan & Xuan Han (eds). New Perspectives on Teaching Chinese, Peking University Press: Beijing, 2004.
  • Schooling Through Different Tongues: Bilingual Education for Ethnic Minority Children in China. Report commissioned by the UK-based Save the Children of China Non-government Organization, 2004.
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Book Chapters

  • Tsung, L., Wang, G., & Zhang, Q. (forthcoming). Bilingual education in China: The case of Yunnan. In G. H. Beckett & G. A. Postiglione (Eds.), Indigenous and Minority Language Education: Identity Reconstruction in a Rising China. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2009.
  • Language situation of South Asian students in Hong Kong in Language Situation in China, 2007 Year Book, Commercial Press: Beijing, 2008.
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Articles

  • Tsung, L., Zhang, Q., & Cruickshank, K. 'Access to majority language and educational outcomes: South Asian background students in post colonial Hong Kong', Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, 2009, Special Issue.
  • Tsung, L. & Clarke, M. 'Dilemmas of identity, language & culture in higher education in China' (accepted), Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 2009.
  • Tsung, L. & Cruickshank, K. 'Mother Tongue and Bilingual Education in China', International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 2008.
  • 'A Vanishing Language: the Case of Xiandao', in David Bradley (ed.), Language Endangerment in the Sinosphere, International Journal of Sociology of Language (special issue), 2005, pp.179-188,173.
  • Tai (Dai), pp. 361-362; Kachin (Jingpo), pp. 677-678; Manchu, pp. 787-788; Hmong (Miao), pp. 818-819; Yi, pp. 1320-1321; in Carl Skutsch (ed.), Encyclopedia of the World’s Minorities. 3 volumes. New York: Routledge, 2005.
  • 'A Study of the Putonghua Classroom Language in Hong Kong', in T. H. Tsung, Y. Yuan & X. Han (eds). New Perspectives on Teaching Chinese (pp. 55-68), Peking University Press: Beijing, 2004.
  • 'A Case Study of Endangered Languages: the Language Situation of Xiandao', in Z. Cao (ed.) The Journal of Chinese Sociolinguistics, 2(3), 2004, (pp. 45-50).
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Areas of teaching and research supervision

Teaching

  • Dr Tsung’s teaching including Chinese language and culture, Chinese linguistics and Chinese pedagogy

Supervision

  • “Tensions in Third Language Acquisition in the Multicultural Context: Ethnographic Study of L3 Learners in Yunnan”
  • “Assessment of Chinese Writing Performance of Dyslexic Students by Applying Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory
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Conference activity

  • Tsung, L. & Zhang, Q. (2009). “Educational outcomes of South Asian background students in Hong Kong secondary schools”. The Chinese Studies Association of Australia 2009 Conference, Jiu: Commemoration and Celebration in the Chinese-speaking World. The Women’s College, University of Sydney, Sydney, July 9-11, 2009.
  • Tsung, L. (2009). “Dilemmas of identity, language and culture in higher education in China”. The 2nd International Discourses and Cultural Practices Conference. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, July 7-9, 2009.
  • Tsung, L.. (2009). “Teaching Chinese as a second language to Non-Chinese-speaking students”. Workshop given at the Faculty of Education, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, June 20th, 2009.
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Other professional contributions

  • Vice-President, International Association on Bilingual Studies, 2005 -
  • Subject Specialist, Chinese Language, Hong Kong Council for Academic Accreditation, 2006 -