Academic Staff
- HHB711, Hung Hom Bay Campus
- +852 3400 8461
- sarah.chen@polyu.edu.hk
- Personal Website
ORCID ID
SCOPUS IDBiography
Si Chen received her PhD in linguistics and her MS in statistics from the University of Florida in 2014. Si Chen has published 23 papers and book chapters and received 26 grants including grants supported by RGC, Education Bureau and the Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Sin Wai Kin Foundation. Si Chen is the Academic editor of the Journal PLoS ONE and a reviewer editor for Frontiers in Psychology. She has also been an executive committee member of the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong and the Chinese Language Interface Advisory Committee.
Her specialization lies in phonetics, phonology and statistical modeling. Thanks to extensive training in linguistics and statistics, she is able to utilize an inter-disciplinary approach in her research to address issues in language evolvement, language typology, the relationship between speech perception and production, and applications of acoustic techniques in second language acquisition and treatment of speech disorder. She has developed statistical models to solve challenging problems in phonology and simulate the human perception process. Recently she started to collaborate with doctors, engineers, musicians and speech therapists to design robot-assisted speech and musical training programs for autistic children.
Education and Academic Qualifications
- 2014 Ph.D. in Linguistics and Ph.D. in Statistics (minor), University of Florida
- 2014 M.S. in Statistics, University of Florida
- 2010 M.A. in Linguistics, University of Florida
- 2008 B.A. in English Literature and Linguistics, Beijing International Studies University
Academic and Professional Experience
- Dec 2019 – Present Assistant Professor, Dept of Language Science and Technology, HK PolyU
- Jan 2015 – Nov 2019 Research Assistant Professor, Dept of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, HK PolyU
Teaching Areas
- CBS230 Fun with Language
- CBS421/490 Contrastive Analysis of Chinese & English
- CBS470 Contrastive Analysis of Chinese & English (evening)
- CBS5212 Adult Communication Disorders: Assessment &Treatment
- CBS503 Language in Society
- CBS533 Description of Chinese II: Sounds & Script
- CBS5141 Introduction to Speech Therapy & Audiology
- CBS5134 Foundations in Linguistics & Language Sciences IV
- CBS3943 Sounds of Language
- CBS4954/599 Statistics for Language Studies / Statistical Methods in Language Research
- CBS4960 Phonetics and phonology
- CBS4953 Techniques in Language Science
- CBS6814 (PhD course) Guided-study in Chinese Grammar
- FH1000 Freshman Seminars
- FH6056 (PhD course) Research Methods for Second Language Education
- CBS5T01 Professional ethics and academic integrity
Research Interests
Selected Publications
- Zhang, Y. X*., Chen, S., (corresponding author), Zhou, F., Chan, A., Li, B., Li, B., Tang, T., Chun, E., Chen, Z. (accepted) Sung speech training improves third language acquisition of speech prosody by Cantonese-speaking Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research
- Hong, Y. T., Chen, S. (corresponding author), Jiang, H. (accepted). Does musical experience facilitate phonetic accommodation during human-robot interaction? Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 68(5), 2259-2274. https://doi.org/10.1044/2025_jslhr-24-00495
- Chen, S., Zhang, Y., Li, M., Li, B., Lu, S., Chan, A., Ge,H., Tang, T. & Chen, Z. (2025) Acquisition of Speech Prosody in a Non-native Tone Language by Children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-024-06698-4
- Chen, S., Zhang, Y., Zhou, F., Chan, A., Li, B., Li, B., Tang, T., Chun, E. & Chen, Z. (2024). Focus-marking in a tonal language: Prosodic differences between Cantonese-speaking children with and without autism spectrum disorder. PloS One, 19(7), e0306272. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306272
- Wang, X., Chen, S. (corresponding author), Zhou F., Liu, J., Cheng X., Chan, A., Tang, T. (2024) English prosodic focus marking by Cantonese trilingual children with and without autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 67(3), 782-801. https://doi.org/10.1044/2023_JSLHR-23-00508
- Chen, S., Zhang, C.C. Lau, P. Y., Yang, Y. K., Li, B. (2022). Modelling representations in speech normalization of prosodic cues. Scientific Reports 12(1), Article 14635. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-18838-w
- Chen, S., Li, B., He, Y., Chen, S. W., Yang, Y. K.*, & Zhou, F*. (2022). The effects of perceptual training on speech production of Mandarin sandhi tones by tonal and non-tonal speakers. Speech Communication, 139, 10-21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.specom.2022.02.008
- 2016 - 2018
PI of “The duration effect in perceiving pitch directions &its interactions with vowel quality &language experience”, RGC ECS grant (RGC No. T26023416), HK$435,200 - 2021 - 2023
PI of “Developing a Social Robot for Cantonese &Mandarin Speech Prosody Training in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder” (Application No.: 2122-01), Research & Development (R&D) Projects 2021-22 of the Standing Committee on Language Education & Research (SCOLAR), HK$1,128,760 - 2021 - 2023
PI of “The effects of robot-assisted speech training in improving speech prosody by trilingual children with autism spectrum disorder”, RGC Direct Allocation Grant, HK$200,000. - 2023 - 2026
PI of “Early diagnosis and treatment of children with autism spectrum disorder based on an integration of robot and augmented reality technology”, Sin Wai Kin Foundation Limited and RGC Matching Fund, HK$3,750,000 - 2024 - 2027
PI of “Multimodal and multilingual individualized training in improving empathy and emotion recognition by autistic children combining robotics and AR technology”, Innovation and Technology Fund for Better Living, HK$2,499,238 - 2026 - 2028
PI of “The integration of two modalities: gesture and speech prosody in Cantonese focus marking in autistic and typical populations” RGC General Research Fund, HK$654,000.
- 2018 - Present
Academic Editor, PLoS ONE - 2020 - Present
Reviewer Editor, Frontiers in Psychology
- PolyU Academy for Interdisciplinary Research (PAIR)
- PolyU Research Institute for Smart Ageing
- PolyU Research Centre for Language, Cognition, and Neuroscience
- Chinese Language Teachers Association
- International Association of Chinese Linguistics
- Linguistic Society of Hong Kong
- Linguistics Society of America
- Acoustical Society of America
- Linguistics Society in University of Florida
- 2022
PolyU Young Innovative Researcher Award, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University - 2019
Research excellence award, Faculty of Humanities, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
