Vivien Xiaowei Zhou
vivien xiaowei zhou

Dr Vivien Xiaowei Zhou

Lecturer

Biography

I am a Lecturer in Intercultural Communication and Programme Leader for MSc Intercultural Business Communication. My academic speciality is based in Educational studies. My research interests primarily concern the intercultural dimension of human communication, relations and identity, particularly the narrativity of individuals’ lived experiences of interculturality. My empirical research projects to date have focused on university students’ reflective and dialogic practices in intercultural education settings. More currently, I am exploring existential and epistemic questions in intercultural communication, seeking answers that empirical research (particularly conducted within 'established' knowledge paradigms) often fails to offer as to important questions we face in the real world. Part of my endeavour is to create dialogue between different ways of knowing across epistemic, linguistic, and disciplinary traditions.

I am currently editing, with Prof. Hans Ladegaard (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University), a special issue entitled "Dialoguing inter-epistemically: intercultural knowing, knowing the intercultural" for the journal Language and Intercultural Communication (provisionally scheduled for publication in late 2024).

At the Business School, I lead postgraduate modules in intercultural communication and intercultural competence. I have also developed and delivered two popular undergraduate modules on intercultural competence through studies of Mandarin Chinese.

I hold a BA and an MA in English Language and Literature from Peking University, China. My PhD is in Intercultural Communication from the University of Manchester, UK. I was a committee member of the International Association for Languages and Intercultural Communication (IALIC) from 2014 to 2018. I have been the Book Reviews editor of the journal Language and Intercultural Communication since 2019.

Esteem

Conference Organising Activity

  • Conference organiser: for IALIC 2017 "Interrogating the 'Third Space': Negotiating meaning and performing 'culture'" https://staff.napier.ac.uk/ialic2017

 

Editorial Activity

  • Book reviews editor of the journal Language and Intercultural Communication
  • Guest Editor (Language and Intercultural Communication, Special Issue 19.1)

 

Fellowships and Awards

  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

 

Invited Speaker

  • 'Betwixt East and West: teaching and researching intercultural communication in the field of Intercultural Communication', presented at the Academic Lecture Series, Aug 2022, School of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Hangzhou Dianzi University, China
  • 'Intercultural competence and intercultural training: a critical return to the basics', invited talk at the research seminar series, School of Foreign Languages, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (China), Dec 2022.
  • 'Current trends in intercultural communication studies', presented at the Academic Forum Series, June 2021, Harbin Engineering University, China
  • 'But students don't interact - what do they learn?' Negotiating interculturality in internationalising higher education, presented at the 'Interculturality in a Precarious Future: Multiple Contexts, Multiple Voices' symposium (October 2018), University of Leeds

 

Research Degree External Examining

  • Ed.D. external examiner (Durham University, School of Education, 2019)
  • Ph.D. external examiner (Durham University, School of Education, 2018)
  • Ed.D. external examiner (Durham University, School of Education, 2016)
  • Ph.D. external examiner (UCL Institute of Education, 2015)

 

Reviewing

  • Reviewer for the Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development
  • Reviewer for Migration Studies
  • Reviewer for the Journal of Language and Education
  • Reviewer for the Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education
  • Reviewer for Language and Intercultural Communication

 

Date


15 results

Multiple perspectives in re-constructing ‘culture of learning’ – international student experience in China and the UK.

Presentation / Conference
Foster, M., & Zhou, V. (2014, January)
Multiple perspectives in re-constructing ‘culture of learning’ – international student experience in China and the UK

Developing intentionality and researching multilingually: An ecological and methodological perspective

Journal Article
Stelma, J., Fay, R., & Zhou, X. (2013)
Developing intentionality and researching multilingually: An ecological and methodological perspective. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 23(3), 300-315. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijal.12040
This paper uses an ecological perspective to understand a researcher's developing intentionality vis-à-vis her multilingual engagement with research processes, namely, ‘resear...

Acculturation as storied cultural learning experience

Presentation / Conference
Zhou, V. X. (2012, May)
Acculturation as storied cultural learning experience. Paper presented at Narrative Matters 2012 – Life and Narrative, Paris
In intercultural communication studies, acculturation is a popular topic that addresses the process through which individuals acquire new cultural patterns through intercultur...

Becoming an independent learner through cultural transitions

Book Chapter
Zhou, V. X. (2011)
Becoming an independent learner through cultural transitions. In F. Su (Ed.), Chasing the Dream: Chinese Learning Journeys, (89-103). Chasing the Dream: Chinese Learning Journeys: Trentham Books
No abstract available.

The dissonance between insider and outsider perspectives of the 'Chinese problem': Implications for one of the UK's largest undergraduate programmes

Book Chapter
Smith, P. V., & Zhou, V. X. (2009)
The dissonance between insider and outsider perspectives of the 'Chinese problem': Implications for one of the UK's largest undergraduate programmes. In T. Coverdale-Jones, & P. Rastall (Eds.), Internationalising the university: The Chinese context, (130-146). London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan
No abstract available.

Current Post Grad projects

Previous Post Grad projects