Anwei Feng

Professor in Education

As a professor in language education, my journey brought me to The University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC) in September 2013. With an MA in applied linguistics and a PhD in language education, I’ve taught and conducted research in several countries including China, Qatar, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the UK. Before UNNC, I directed the Graduate School in the College of Education and Lifelong Learning at Bangor University, UK. My roles as a guest professor extend to numerous universities in China, including Guangdong Foreign Studies University, SIAS International University, and Yunnan Normal University, among others. My work has earned me the Elsevier Certificates for the Most-Highly Cited Researcher in China twice since 2021.

My teaching, supervision, and research interests cover bilingualism and bilingual education, intercultural studies in education, TESOL, international and comparative education, and minority language education. I’ve authored many peer-reviewed articles and seven books in these areas. Guiding over two dozen PhD and Education Doctorate students to completion, I’ve overseen diverse thesis topics ranging from trilingualism, transnational education, and bilingual education for pre-school children, to intercultural team teaching and ethnographic studies of third-culture kids in international schools. I’m always open to queries and applications for doctorate studies in these fields.

Research Interests

My primary research focus lies in multilingualism and multilingual education, especially concerning ethnic minority groups. As a key founder and Vice President of the Chinese Society of Multilingualism and Multilingual Education (CSMME), I’ve dedicated the past decade to a nationwide project on trilingualism and trilingual education. This initiative involves over 50 researchers across 11 minority regions in China, initially funded by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council General Research Fund and now supported by various local and national funding bodies.

I’ve organized nine international symposia on trilingualism in minority-dominated regions and published several books and numerous journal articles, including the representative edited book, “Trilingualism in Education in China” with Bob Adamson in 2015. I’m always open to inquiries from those genuinely interested in this research area.

Current Academic Roles

  • Professor of Language Education, School of Education and English, University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC)
  • Interim Associate Dean in Research and Knowledge Exchange, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, UNNC
  • Chief Expert of the International Talents Research and Development Base (ITRDB) under the auspices of Ningbo Social Science Academy, UNNC
  • Director of the Centre for Researching Education and Language (CREL), FHSS, UNNC
  • Founder and Chief Consultant of Chinese Society for Multilingualism and Multilingual Education (CSMME) (website: CSMME)

Academic Esteem and Leadership

Guest Professorship

  • Guest Professor, School of English and Education, Guangdong Foreign Studies University, Guangzhou, China
  • Guest Professor, SIAS International University, Zhengzhou, China
  • Guest Professor, School of Foreign Languages, Shanxi Normal University, Xi’an, China
  • Guest Professor, Foreign/Second Language Education, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, China
  • Guest Professor, School of Foreign Languages, Yunnan Qujing University, China
  • Guest Professor, Foreign Languages College, Southwest Forestry University, China
  • Guest Professor, School of Foreign Languages, Qinghai University for Nationalities, Xining, China

Consultancy Work

Editorial Boards

  • Member of Editorial Board for Language and Education, International Journal by Taylor and Francis
  • Member of Editorial Board for the International Journal, Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education by John Benjamin Publishing Company
  • Member of the Editorial Board of the journal, Multilingual Education by Springer
  • Member of the Editorial Board of the Multilingual Education book series by Springer
  • Member of the Editorial Board of the journal, Foreign Language Learning: Theory and Practice, a Shanghai-based journal of educational linguistics by ECNU Press, Shanghai
  • Member of the Editorial Board of Education Sciences, an international, open access journal published quarterly online by MDPI

Regular Reviewer of Internationally Reputable Journals

  • TESOL Quarterly
  • Language and Education
  • Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development
  • International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism
  • Language Culture and Curriculum
  • Compare, System, Applied Linguistics, International Journal of Educational Development, Linguistics and Education, Language Teaching Research, and the prestigious Language Teaching by Cambridge University

External and Internal Examiner

  • External Examiner for over two dozen PhD and EdD students, including candidates in the UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia
  • Internal examiner for dozens of PhD and EdD students in the last ten years
  • External examiner from 2007 to 2013 for the MA course of Intercultural Studies and an UG Chinese course at Dublin City University in Ireland

Consultant for Research and Bilingual Education

  • Wellington College China Group in Shanghai (bilingual education)
  • Harrow International Schools in China (bilingual education)
  • Xiangshan Foreign Languages School, Ningbo (reading research project)

Areas of Research and Supervision

  • Bi-/tri-/multilingualism and bi-/tri-/multilingual education
  • Intercultural studies in education
  • Comparative and International Education
  • TESOL, ESP/EAP, CLIL/CBI
  • Minority Education
  • Transnational Education
  • Citizenship Education

Recent Funded Research

  • PI for project titled ‘Affective Dimensions of Minority Students in Multilingual Contexts in China - Towards an Integrated Model’
    Funded (40,000 RMB) by the Institute of Asian and Pacific Studies (IAPS), University of Nottingham.

  • PI for project titled ‘Cultivating “Glocal Talents” through International/Transnational Higher Education’
    Funded (40,000 RMB) by the Provost’s International Collaborative Grants, UNNC.

  • Principal organiser for the International Conference on Language Standardization and Linguistic Variation in Asia from Sociolinguistic Perspectives
    Held on December 11-13, 2017, co-funded (30,000 RMB) by the Research and Knowledge Exchange Office, UNNC, and (£10,000) by MEITS (Multilingualism: Empowering Individuals, Transforming Societies), a major interdisciplinary research project funded under the AHRC Open World Research Initiative.

Past Research Projects

  • Senior Research Fellow
    ESRC Centre for Research on Bilingualism in Theory & Practice, Bangor University. The centre was funded by ESRC (with funding worth £5,180,065).

Recent Award

  • 2021 and 2022 Elsevier Highly-Cited Scholar in China