Zhiyin Renee Dong

Biography

Zhiyin Renee Dong is an associate professor of Chinese and Second Language Studies in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at the University of Delaware (UD). Dr. Dong's expertise includes teaching Chinese as a foreign language, world language pedagogy and second language acquisition. Since 2002, Dr. Dong has taught various courses at UD, including Chinese language courses at all levels, second language acquisition theory courses, and world language pedagogy and education courses. In addition, Dr. Dong is actively involved in teacher preparation initiatives at UD and the state of Delaware. Dr. Dong was one of the principal investigators of Delaware's first Mandarin Chinese StarTalk program and has worked extensively with K-16 Chinese world language teachers in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Dr. Dong's primary research interest is I​nstructed Second Language Acquisition and Chinese as a foreign language pedagogy. Using various experimental methods, including the Event-Related Potentials (ERP) and Self-paced Reading (SPR), she studies how classroom-based teaching practices affect second language learning outcomes. Her latest work examines the brain responses of advanced second-language speakers as they process complex sentence structures and morphology. 

Degrees

• Ph.D., Linguistics, University of Delaware
• M.A., Auburn University
• B.A., University of International Relations, Beijing, China