Contact Information

Biography

Dr. Xia Chao is Associate Professor of language and literacy education in the School of Education at Duquesne University. Her research, which is grounded in perspectives and methods from educational linguistics, critical applied linguistics, and anthropology, centers on investigating everyday language and literacy practices in schools and immigrant- and refugee-background families and communities as well as the preparation of teachers to teach multilingual learners. Dr. Chao has been awarded grant funding from the Spencer Foundation and the National Geographic Society. Her research has appeared in peer-reviewed journals including Journal of Literacy Research, Language and Education, Linguistics and Education, Anthropology and Education Quarterly, Teacher Education Quarterly, Adult Education Quarterly, among others. She is the recipient of the 2015 J. Michael Parker Award of the Literacy Research Association and the 2016 Outstanding Early Career Scholar Award of the American Educational Research Association’s SIG. In addition to her scholarship, Dr. Chao has led many educational workshops for school districts and professional development organizations.

Learn more about her work and research in her Q & A - Faculty Focus on Dr. Xia Chao.

Education

  • Ph.D., Second Language Acquisition and Teaching, the University of Alabama, 2013

Profile Information

Graduate:

  • Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Learners
  • Helping English Language Learners in Mainstream Classrooms
  • TESOL Methods
  • TESOL Seminar
  • Curriculum Theory: Analysis and Practice

Undergraduate:

  • Meeting the Needs of English Language Learners

Chao, X., & Waller, R. (2021, first published 2017). Urban Indigenous bilingualism: "An environmental allergy?" Urban Education, 56(6), 982-1011.

Wang, H., & Chao, X. (2021). Multilingual ethnic Tibetan student's language negotiation moments: An identity perspective. Language and Education. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09500782.2021.1936545 

Chao, X., & Kang, B. (2020). Health literacy among Bhutanese adult refugees in the U.S.: The sociocultural approach. Adult Education Quarterly, 70(3), 258-276.

Chao, X. (2020). Language and identity: An inquiry of a church-based citizenship education for refugee-background Bhutanese adults. Language and Education, 34(4), 311-327.

Chao, X. (2019). “What defines me is what I’ve been through.”: Bhutanese refugee youth identity in the U.S. British Journal of Sociology of Education. doi: 10.1080/01425692.2019.1604210

Chao, X., Xue, M., Jetmore, R., Fritsch, R., Kang, B., & Xu, M. (2019). "Organic learning:" Teaching abroad as a figured world for the conceptualization and negotiation of preservice teachers' identities. Teacher Education Quarterly, 46(2), 7-29.

Chao, X., & Waller, R. (2017). Urban Indigenous bilingualism: "An environmental allergy?" Urban Education.

Chao, X., & Ma, X. (2017). Transnational habitus: Educational, bilingual, and biliteracy practices of Chinese sojourner families in the U.S. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy.

Chao, X. (2016). Community service learning as critical curriculum: Promoting international students' second language experiences. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 13(4), 289-318.

Herron, J., Summers, R., & Chao, X. (2015). Mathematics and language: An analysis of elementary teachers' lesson plans in elementary geometry lessons. Russian-American Education Forum, 7(1).

Xue, M., & Chao, X. (2015). Non-borrowing students' perceptions of student loans and strategies of paying for college. Journal of Student Financial Aid, 45(2), 25-45.

Chao, X., & Mantero, M. (2014). Church-based ESL programs: Social mediators for empowering "family literacy ecology of communities." Journal of Literacy Research,46(1), 90-114.

Chao, X., Xue, M., & Xu, M. (2014). Elementary English education: An arena of social struggle for professional Chinese parents. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 11(4), 252-272.

Xue, M., Chao, X., & Kuntz, A. (2014). A qualitative study: Academic socialization of Chinese visiting scholars in the United States. Asia Pacific Journal of Education,35(2), 290-307.

Chao, X. (2013). Class habitus: Middle-class Chinese immigrant parents' investment in their newcomer adolescents' L2 acquisition and social integration. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 44(1), 58-74.

Chao, X., & Kuntz, A. (2013). Church-based ESL program as a figured world: Immigrant adult learners, identity and power. Linguistics and Education, 24(4), 466-478.

Chao, X. (2006). The effects of teaching strategies in elementary English as a foreign language story reading. China Foreign Language Teaching and Learning Research Journal, 4(3), 49 - 51. (in Chinese language)

Chao, X. (2000). Developing students' multiple thinking via English teaching. Beijing Education, 12, 18 - 20. (in Chinese language)

Chao, X. (2019). Volunteer ESL teacher agency in community-based language programs: An ethnographic cross-case analysis. In Hayriye KayiAydar, Xuesong Gao, Elizabeth Miller, Manka Vanghese, Gergana Vitanova (eds.) Theorizing and analyzing language teacher agency (pp. 217-236). Multilingual Matters.

Chao, X. (2018). "Self-study" is not "self:" Researching lived experience in teacher educator development. In J. Ritter, M. Lunenberg, K. Pithouse-Morgan, A. P. Samaras, & E. Vanassche. (eds.). Teaching, learning, and enacting of self-study methodology: Unraveling a complex Interplay (pp. 43-48). Singapore: Springer.

Ritter, J. K., Ayieko, R. A., Chao, X., Khalil, O., Mahalingappa, L., Meidl, C. J., Meyer, C. K., Quiñones, S., & Williams, J. A. (2018). Insight gleaned from our participation in a faculty self-study learning group. In J. K. Ritter, M. Lunenberg, K. Pithouse-Morgan, A. P. Samaras, & E. Vanassche (Eds.), Teaching, learning, and enacting of self-study methodology: Unraveling a complex interplay (pp. 85-97). Singapore: Springer.

Meidl, C., & Chao, X. (2018). Establishing asset thinking with preservice teachers: Community-engaged learning with young children from public housing. In T. Meidl and Mary-Margaret Sulentic-Dowell (eds.) Service-Learning initiatives in teacher education programs. IGI Book.

Chao, X. (2019). Review of the book "English teaching and evangelical mission: The case of Lighthouse School", by Bill Johnston. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, Special Issue, 18(1).

Chao, X. (2009). Review of the book "Educating the other America: Top experts tackle poverty, literacy, and achievement in our schools." English Leadership Quarterly, 32(2), 13.

Chao, X. (2021). The path untold: A refugee-background Somali-Bantu's multilingual practice in the U.S. Paper presented at the Literacy Research Association annual conference. Atlanta, GA.

Chao, X. (2021). A Refugee-Background Somali-Bantu's Multilingual Practice in the U.S.: A Translanguaging Perspective. Paper presented at the 2021 Virtual American Educational Research Association annual conference.

Chao, X. (2020). Citizenship literacy, identity, and pedagogy: an ethnographic case study of faith-based ESL education for refugee-background Bhutanese adults. The Literacy Research Association (LRA) 70th virtual annual conference. Houston, TX.

Chao, X. (2020). Bhutanese refugee youth identity in the U.S.: A phenomenological study. Paper presented at the 2020 American Educational Research Association annual conference. San Francisco, CA.

Chao, X. (2019). “Saving stories” as translocal action: A bilingual picture book project for teachers, students, refugee families, and communities. Paper presented at the 2019 American Educational Research Association annual conference. Toronto, CA.

Chao, X. (2018). "Saving stories": A community-based bilingual and biliteracy study. Paper presented at the 2018 Literacy Research Association annual conference. Indian Wells, CA.

Chao, X. (2018). Beyond nation-state status: Exploring language, identity, and citizenship in a church-based ESL program for refugees. Paper presented at the 2018 American Educational Research Association annual conference, New York, NY.

Meidl, C., & Chao, X. (2018). Pedagogy to promote asset thinking from community-engaged learning. Paper presented at the 2018 American Educational Research Association annual conference, New York, NY.

Ritter, J. K., Ayieko R. A., Chao, X., Mahalingappa, L., Meidl, C. J., Meyer, C. K., Quiñones, S., & Williams, J. A. (2018). Learning to do self-study: An inquiry into the experiences of faculty participants in a self-study learning group. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York, NY.

Chao, X. (2017). "Self-study" is not "self": Researching lived experience in teacher educator development. Paper presented in the symposium "Self-study as a means of democratizing teacher education research" at the Association of Teacher Education 2017 Summer Conference. Pittsburgh, PA.

Chao, X. (2017). Transforming and/or reproducing? Church-based ESL pedagogy, spirituality, language, and power. Paper presented at the 2017 American Educational Research Association annual meeting, San Antonio, TX.

Chao, X. (2016). Building on literacy and imagination: Church ladies helping refugees. Paper presented at the Literacy Research Association 66th annual conference. Nashville, TN.

Chao, X. (2016). Community service learning as critical curriculum: Expanding possibilities of international students' second language experiences. Paper presented at the 100th American Educational Research Association annual conference, Washington, D.C.

Chao, X. (2016). Church-based ESL in multi-ethnic spaces: Critical pedagogy for adult immigrant literacy. Paper presented at the American Association for Applied Linguistics the 2016 annual conference, Orlando, FL.

Chao, X. (2016). Creating third space: Volunteer instructors' spiritual and critical perspectives and practices at church-based ESL programs in the American bible-belt. Paper presented at the colloquium "Religious Institutions as Alternative Spaces in Applied Linguistic Research: Taking Stock, and Moving Forward" in the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) annual conference, Orlando, FL.

Chao, X. (2015). From transmission to transformation: Critical pedagogy for adult immigrant ESL literacy. Paper presented at the 65th annual conference of the Literacy Research Association (LRA), Carlsbad, California.

Chao, X. (2015). ESL literacy engagement in multicultural and multilingual classrooms. Paper presented at the annual convention and world languages expo of the 2015 American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), San Diego, California.

Chao, X. (2015). Juggling language, identity, and race: Arab students' ESL learning. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the 2015 TESOL International Convention & English Language Expo, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Chao, X., & Waller, R. (2015). Urban American Indian family literacy: Sociocultural models of emergent bilingualism. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the 2015 American Educational Research Association (AERA), Chicago, IL.

Chao, X. (2014). Adult ESL education as transformation toward humanization: language, pedagogy, and identity. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the 2014 American Educational Research Association (AERA), Philadelphia, PA.

Xue, M., Chao, X., & Kuntz, A. (2013). Chinese visiting scholars' academic socialization in U.S. institutions of higher education: A qualitative study. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the 2013 American Educational Research Association (AERA), San Francisco, California.

Chao, X. (2012). A multi-sited ethnography: Immigrant adults' church-based second language socialization and family cultural capital. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the 2012 American Educational Research Association (AERA), Vancouver, Canada.

Xue, M., & Chao, X. (2012). Lower-middle-SES non-borrowing students' strategies of paying for college and reasons for their aversion to borrowing. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry Association (QI), Champaign, Illinois.

Chao, X. (2011). Opportunities for English language and cultural acquisition of newly arrived Chinese immigrant early adolescents. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the 2011 American Association of Applied Linguistics (AAAL), Chicago, Illinois.

Chao, X. (2010). Church-based ESL class: Collaboration in English language socialization of the Chinese immigrant adults and their children. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the 2010 American Educational Research Association (AERA), Denver, Colorado.

Chao, X. (2009). Inside every story, there is a beautiful journey: An immigrant Chinese girl's second literacy improvement. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry Conference (QI), Champaign, Illinois.

Chao, X. (2017). Newly arrived refugees' language socialization. Invited panelist for the panel "Supporting refugees and immigrants in Pittsburgh" at the annual meeting of the Three Rivers TESOL Conference, Duquesne University, Pennsylvania.

Chao, X. (2012). Church-based ESL literacy program as a figured world: Empowering immigrant adult learners and their children. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the 2012 Mid- south Educational Research Association (MSERA), Lexington, Kentucky.

Chao, X. (2011). Faith-based ministry: Investment in international college students' language and cultural acquisition and community involvement. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the 2011 Mid-south Educational Research Association (MSERA), Oxford, Mississippi.

Chao, X. (2019). Chair of a roundtable session: Space, identity, and language: Contexts of teaching multilingual learners. The 2019 American Educational Research Association (AERA) annual conference. Toronto, CA.

Chao, X. (2019). Chair of a roundtable session: Language, identity, and self across Educational contexts. The 2019 American Educational Research Association (AERA) annual conference. Toronto, CA.

Chao, X. (2019). Chair of a roundtable session: Teachers’ perceptions of professional tools. The 2019 American Educational Research Association (AERA) annual conference. Toronto, CA.

Chao, X. (2018). Chair of a paper session: Meeting the needs of language learners: Crafting interactive scaffolds that foster communicative competence and agency. The 2018 Literacy Research Association annual conference. Indian Wells, CA.

Chao, X. (2018). Chair of a roundtable session: Reclaiming languages and discourses within communities. The 2018 Literacy Research Association annual conference. Indian Wells, CA.

Chao, X. (2011). Chair of a paper session: Second language learning and teaching. The annual meeting of the 2012 American Association of Applied Linguistics (AAAL), Chicago, Illinois.

Chao, X. (2011). Chair of a paper session: Language learning and community engagement. The annual meeting of the 2011 Mid-South Educational Research Association (MSERA), Oxford, Mississippi.

Chao, X. (2018). Understanding English language learners. Pennsylvania State Education Association Conference, State College, PA.
  • Early Career Award for Excellence in Scholarship - 2020, School of Education, Duquesne University
  • Early Career Award for Excellence in Teaching - 2019, School of Education, Duquesne University
  • Outstanding Early Career Scholar Award - 2016
    Adult Literacy and Adult Education SIG, American Educational Research Association 
  • J. Michael Parker Award - 2015, Literacy Research Association
  • Sarah L. Healy Endowed Graduate Scholarship -  2011-2013, University of Alabama
  • William E. Sexton Endowed Scholarship in Education - 2010-2011, University of Alabama

Chao, X. (2022-2023, PI). Community service learning: Building on refugee-background students' language 
and literacy practices through digital storytelling. Spencer Foundation Small Research Grants Program. $50,000 funded.

Chao, X. (2019-2020, PI). The refugee bilingual digital picture storybook project: Research for translocal action. The National Geographic Society Grant NGD-54334E-18.

Chao, X. (2018-2019, PI). Community-engaged teacher preparation: A situated approach to understanding English learners. Faculty Collaborative Targeted Outcomes-Driven Initiatives grant, Department of Instruction and Leadership in Education, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA.

Chao, X. (2017-2019, PI). Saving stories as translocal action: A bilingual picture book project bridging literacy worlds of teachers, students, refugee families, and communities. The Faculty Development Fund, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA.

Chao, X. (2017-2018, PI). Building a new school life in the U.S.: Challenges and access for newcomer refugee students' language, identity and learning. The Charles Henry Leach II Fund, Pittsburgh, PA.

Chao, X. (2016-2017, PI). Language and literacy in church-based ESL programs for Bhutanese refugees: Building on strength, imagination, and equity. The Paluse Faculty Research Grant, Duquesne 
University, Pittsburgh, PA.

Chao, X. (2016-2017, PI). Community service learning as critical curriculum: Promoting international students' second language practices. Research and Development Grant, Duquesne University, 
Pittsburgh, PA.

  • Ethnicity, Race, and Multilingualism Committee - 2018-2021, Literacy Research Association
  • J. Michael Parker Award Committee - 2018-2021
    Literacy Research Association
  • Adult Literacy & Adult Education SIG Awards Committee - 2018, American Educational Research Association
  • Critical Inquiry in Language Studies - 2012-Present
  • RELC: A Journal of Language Teaching and Research - 2015-Present
  • Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy - 2015-Present
  • Literacy and Social Responsibility E-Journal - 2016-Present
  • Bilingual Research Journal
  • Language and Education
  • Reading Research Quarterly
  • Studies in Higher Education
  • Sociological Quarterly
  • Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education
  • American Educational Research Association - 2012-Present
  • Literacy Research Association - 2014-Present
  • Mid-South Educational Research Association - 2012-2013
  • Consultant of Teacher Professional Development 2017-2019
  • Keystone Oaks School District, Pittsburgh, PA

University Service:
Member of the Cira Heinz Scholarship Award Committee - 2017-Present

Co-advisor of the Pennsylvania State Education Association Duquesne Chapter - 2017-Present 

School of Education Service:
Member of the Academic and Curriculum Committee - 2018-Present 

Member of the Student and Alumni Awards Committee - 2017-Present

  • International Literacy Association (ILA)
  • Literacy Research Association (LRA)
  • International Society for Language Studies (ISLS)
  • Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)
  • American Educational Research Association (AERA)
  • American Association of Applied Linguistics (AAAL)