Multilingualism

Multilingualism, technologies and literacies in education

Multilingualism and wellbeing

Digital literacies

Community languages

Informal learning

Alice Chik is an Associate Professor and the Graduate Research Training Director in the School of Education, Faculty of Arts. She serves as the Associate Director of Multilingualism Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences. 

Her primary area of research examines language learning and multilingual literacies in digital environments. She is especially interested in exploring how language learners construct and direct their autonomous learning in informal contexts. She also has a particular interest in multilingualism is public discourse, representation, and narratives of everyday multilingual experience. She is the lead co-editor of Multilingual Sydney (Routledge, 2019) and lead author of 'Languages of Sydney: The people and the passion' (Candlin & Mynard, 2019). Her recent projects can be found on www.multilingualsydney.org.

Alice supervises Higher Degree Research students whose projects lie within her areas of research specialisation.

Principal Supervisor PhD Thesis

• Ziyao Zhang: (Tentative) Integrating Visual Representation with Translanguaging Pedagogy in Chinese Reading Instruction (ongoing). 
• Alison Henehan: (Tentative) Pre-service teachers’ identities and cognitions of multilingual education: examining multilingual speakers in the Netherlands and Australia using visual and digital approaches (ongoing, Joint PhD with the University of Groningen)
• Kae Tsuchiya: Students’ agency and language learning and use during study abroad in a multilingual context (ongoing)
• Grace Duong: Perception and Practices of Students on Lifelong Learning in Learning English Writing: A case study at An Giang University, Vietnam (ongoing)
• Mingjun Tang: 'English teachers learning to teach with technology in China' (ongoing)
• Catharina Weiss: 'Student beliefs about language diversity: Visual language autobiographies in transnational virtual exchange between Australian and German students' (ongoing, Joint PhD with the University of Hamburg). 
• Lyndell Nagashima: ‘Stakeholder perspectives of study abroad in the Japanese university context: A discourse analytic study’ (ongoing).

Completed projects

• Charlie Robinson-Jones: 'Exploring the role of a multilingual formative assessment framework in fostering inclusive interaction practices in primary education: A comparative intervention study between the Netherlands and Australia' (Completed, July 2026, Joint PhD with the University of Groningen).
• Ting Zhou: 'Using wordless picturebooks to facilitate heritage language and literacy development' (completed July 2026, associate supervision). 
• Jia Wu: 'Exploring New Chinese migrants’ Positioning through Multimodal Linguistic Landscapes in Bangkok: An Ethnographic Linguistic Landscape Analysis' (Completed, June 2026, Joint PhD with Mahidol University)
• Sarah Mason: ‘Context and TESOL teacher identity construction: A comparative study of Australia and Japan’ (Completed, February 2026).
• Muhammad Nafis Bin Azman: ‘The opportunities and challenges of using CLIL pedagogy: A case study of a Malaysian secondary school’ (January 2026).
• Rongle Tan: ‘Multimodal engagement in online early childhood English lessons’ (Completed, August 2025, Associate Supervision).
• Xuan Thi Mai Hoang: ‘An investigation of Vietnamese learners’ construction of English learning ecologies’ (Completed, December 2024)
• Teguh Khaerudin: ‘Exploring Indonesian EFL Teachers' Informal Learning with Digital Technologies.’ (Completed, August 2024).
• Sun Jung Joo: ‘Exploring heritage language learning among Korean migrant families in Australia’ (Completed, August 2024).
• Luyao Liang: ‘A comparative multiple-case study of early childhood English curricula in Australia and China’ (Completed, June 2023).
• Normala Sulaiman: ‘Exploring English-language teacher emotions, teaching instructions and professional identity in the context of ELT curriculum reform in Malaysia’ (Completed, June 2022).
• Thi Nguyen: ‘Approaching English medium instruction from ecological perspectives: A Vietnamese case study’ (Completed, February 2022).
• Paul Brigg: ‘Promoting metacognition in extensive and academic reading for EAP students: A mixed methods study’ (Completed, December 2021).
• Yijun Yin: ‘Exploring the online and offline language uses among Chinese international students in multilingual cities’ (Completed, August 2021).
• Muhammad Aulia: ‘The development of intercultural pedagogy in the teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL) in Indonesian universities’ (Completed, April 2021).

Associate Supervisor PhD Thesis

• Lynette Cheng: (tentative) 'Exploring Picture Book Selection and Usage in Early Years Education: A Study on Resources and Critical Literacy Practices' (ongoing).

Master of Research Thesis

• Yiding Lu: (Tentative) 'Exploring ChatGPT’s Impact on English Second Language Acquisition: Interaction, Motivation, and Skill Development' (Principal Supervisor, ongoing).
• Diane Alperstein: A study on whether primary school teachers are using differentiated assessment for students with disability in their mainstream classes, and if so, how proficiently (Associate Supervisor, ongoing).

Completed projects

• Chikaodili (Ruth) Okafor: 'The leadership role in supporting new families and children from diverse backgrounds in early childhood programs' (Associate Supervisor, ongoing).
• Menghua Liang: ‘Early childhood educators singing in a language other than English’ (Associate Supervisor, completed Feb 2026).
• Ari Star: 'Are neurodivergent students' university experiences enhanced by universal design for learning?' (Associate Supervisor, completed Dec 2025).
• Kane Linton: ‘Analysis of participant roles in the Japanese EFL classroom’ (Associate Supervisor, completed Apr 2024).
• Teguh Khaerudin: ‘Supporting the development of learner autonomy through textbooks’ (Completed 2020).
• Sarah Mason: ‘Age and professional identity: EFL teachers at tertiary institutions in Japan’ (Completed, 2018).
• Aleksha Mehta: ‘Parent engagement with the children’s primary school: A case study of two Indian migrant families’ (Completed, 2018).
• Yijun Yin: ‘Teachers’ perceptions and implementations of technology in EFL classroom: A case study of using e-books for EFL reading’ (Completed, 2017).
• Sun Jung Joo: ‘The multimodal construal of English as a global language in Korean EFL textbooks for primary school children’ (Associate Supervisor, Completed 2017).
• Paul Brigg: 'Modifying input in extensive reading: Elaborating and glossing’ (Completed, 2015).

Alice teaches in the undergraduate programs and contributes to units relating to literacy and primary teacher education. She currently teaches/convenes

• EDST4100 Teaching English Language and Literacies in the Upper Primary School Years
• EDST3100 Teaching English Language and Literacies in the Early Primary School Years
• EDST8207 Teaching English in the Primary School 
• EDST8312 Bilingual Education: Theory and Practices

Alice is currently on the editorial board for The Australian Journal of Teacher Education and the Council for ATESOL NSW. She also works closely with community organizations in Sydney that serve culturally and linguistically diverse communities. She serves on the Multicultural Advisory Committee, Ryde City Council, and on the management committee of NSW Federation of Community Language Schools Inc, and Sydney Chinese School.