Special Announcement

20 Mar 2025

The Office of the Department has moved to Room 802, 8/F, PolyU Hung Hom Bay Campus, 8 Hung Lok Road, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong w.e.f. 20 March 2025.

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Prof. Leung Wai-mun
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Prof. Wai-mun LEUNG

Associate Professor

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Biography

Prof. Leung is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Language Science and Technology at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She serves as the Programme Leader of the Master of Arts in Chinese Language and Literature and the block leader of Chinese Language Education. She is also a member of the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE) Subject Committees for both Chinese Language and Chinese Literature at the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority.

Prof. Leung has served as a Visiting Scholar at National Taiwan University and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and as an External Reviewer for the Civil Service Examinations Unit of the Civil Service Bureau. She has twice been awarded funding under the "Research and Development Projects" by the Standing Committee on Language Education and Research (SCOLAR) and has conducted over 30 training workshops for primary and secondary school Chinese language teachers organized by the Curriculum Development Institute of the Education Bureau of Hong Kong SAR.

Prof. Leung’s research interests include: Chinese language education for ethnic minorities in Hong Kong; language use, planning, and policy; and resources and applications for Cantonese studies. Her representative works include Language Barrier: Learning and Teaching Chinese among South Asians in Hong Kong (2025, CityUHK Press), Biliteracy and Trilingualism: Language Education Policy Research in Hong Kong (2020, co-authored, CityUHK Press), and the Database of the 19th Century (1865-1894) Cantonese Christian Writings (2021, PolyU HK). Furthermore, she has published peer-reviewed papers in high-tier academic journals and monographs such as Zhongguo Yuwen (Studies of the Chinese Language), Sino-Humanitas, Linguistics, Language Teaching and Linguistic Studies, Chinese Journal of Language Policy and Planning, Applied Linguistics, Studies in Chinese Linguistics, and the Journal of Chinese Language Education.

Prof. Leung’s papers have twice been selected for inclusion in The Language Situation in China by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China (2018, 2023). She has also written columns for Ming Pao, the Hong Kong Economic Times, and the Hong Kong Economic Journal. Moreover, she has been interviewed by various local and mainland media outlets, including Bloomberg HK, Sing Tao Daily, HK01, Christian Times, RTHK, and CCTV.

Education and Academic Qualifications

  • PhD in Linguistics, The University of Hong Kong

Academic and Professional Experience

  • Dec 2025 - Jan 2026
    Visiting Scholar, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
  • March 2024 - May 2024
    Visiting Scholar, Singapore Centre for Chinese Language, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
  • April 2023 - May 2023
    Visiting Scholar, Department of Chinese Literature, National Taiwan University, Taiwan
  • 2022 - Present
    Associate Professor, Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
  • 2016 - 2022
    Assistant Professor, Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Teaching Areas

  • Teaching Chinese Grammar to Non-native Speakers
  • Chinese Culture and Classics
  • Chinese Language and Chinese Society
  • Description of Chinese: Sounds and Script

Research Interests

  • Chinese Language Education
  • Teaching Chinese as a Second Language
  • Language Policy and Planning
  • Cantonese Studies

Selected Publications

  1. Leung, W.M. (2025). Language Barrier: Chinese Language Education for South Asian Minorities in Hong Kong（語言隔閡：香港南亞族裔的中文學與教）. Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong Press. ISBN: 978-962-937-698-7. Paperback 334 pages
  2. Leung, W. M., & Wang, S. (2025). The Teochew community in Thailand: Roots, cultural context and language transmission. In P. Y. Chen, L. L. Lin, & Q. Y. Zhu (Eds.), Teochew studies in the perspective of modernization (pp. 233–243). Jinan University Press.
  3. Leung, W. M. (2025). A study on the changes in the use of Putonghua and English in Hong Kong under the "biliteracy and trilingualism" language policy (2019–2024). Journal of Chinese Language Education, 23(1), 16–35.
  4. Leung, W. M., & Wang, S. (2024). A study on the application of the "Chinese Language + General Studies" approach in teaching Chinese to non-Chinese speaking primary students in Hong Kong. Language Teaching and Linguistic Studies, 5(229), 26-36.
  5. Leung, W. M. (2024). Chinese language and Chinese society: Formation of Chinese community in Thailand and the spread of Chinese. In Hung-lam Chu & Xiaorong Han (Eds.), Humanities and Sciences, 236–255. PolyU Press.
  6. Leung, W. M., & Wang, S. (2023). The Chinese writing proficiency of minority primary students in Hong Kong. In Ministry of Education & State Language Commission, Language situation in China: 2023. Part 6. Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, 229–235. Beijing, China: The Commercial Press.
  7. Leung, W.M., Ma, H.W. & Wang, S. (2022). Teaching effectiveness of Chinese reading and writing of non-Chinese speaking junior primary students in Hong Kong in the face of COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Chinese Language Education, 20(2), 68-92.
  8. Wong, T.S. & Leung, W.M. (2022). On a Historical Approach to Cantonese Studies: A Corpus-Based Contrastive Analysis of the Use of Classifiers in Historical and Recent Translations of the Four Gospels. In Riccardo Moratto & Defeng Li (Eds.), Advances in Corpus Applications in Literary and Translation Studies, 281-299. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003298328-16
  9. Leung, W.M. (2022) Discipline-Specific Chinese Language Teaching in Higher Education: A Case Study in Hong Kong. In Haidan Wang & Christine Uber Grosse (Eds.), Chinese for Business and Professionals in the Workplace: Reaching across Disciplines, 270-284. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003014690-22
  10. Leung, W.M, Yuen, C. W., & Cheung, C. C. (Eds.). (2021). Learning Chinese through picture books story series [《讀繪本學中文》故事系列 ] [24 volumes, 2 exercise books]. Standing Committee on Language Education and Research and Development Project, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
  1. Leung, W.M. (2020). Database of the 19th Century (1865-1894) Cantonese Christian Writings (十九世紀中後期（1865-1894） 粵語基督教典籍資料庫). Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, https://www.polyu.edu.hk/cbs/hkchristdb/#
  2. Leung, W.M., & Li, D.C.S. (2020). Biliteracy and Trilingualism: Language Education Policy Research in Hong Kong（兩文三語：香港語文教育政策研究）. Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong Press. ISBN 978-962-937-568-3. Paperback 282 pages.
  3. Leung, W.M., & Cheung, K.C.C. (2020). The Effectiveness of Picture Books in Expanding the Chinese Mental Lexicon of Non-Chinese Speaking Children: An Action Research in Hong Kong Kindergartens. Journal of Chinese Language Education, 18(2), 43-66. 
  4. Leung, W.M. (2019). Analysis of Chinese Supporting Materials for Primary six South Asian Students in Hong Kong. Chinese Language Learning, 6, 94-102. 
  5. Leung, W.M. (2018). Language Policy for the Ethnic Minorities in the Policy Address of Hong Kong. In Ministry of Education & State Language Commission, Language Situation in China: 2018, 237-242. Beijing, China: Commercial Press.
  6. Chan, S.D., Leung, W.M., Yuen, C.W., Zeng, J. & Ma, H.W. (2018). Supporting Teaching Materials for Non-Chinese Speaking Primary Students in Hong Kong: Design Rationale and Teaching Strategies. Journal of Chinese Language Education, 16(1), 38-59. 
  7. Li, D.C.S. & Leung, W.M. (2018). On the South Asian students’ Chinese Learning and Policy Implementation in Hong Kong. Journal of Chinese Sociolinguistics, 2, 113-132.
  8. Leung, W. M. (2017). An empirical research on the use of Putonghua in Hong Kong. Applied Linguistics, 3, 79–90.
  9. Leung, W. M. (2016). Analysis of the subjectivity of sentence-final particles: The case of ze1 in Cantonese. Studies of the Chinese Language (Zhongguo Yuwen), 3, 339–348.
  10. Leung, W. M. (2016). Study on the strategies for promoting the Chinese language in the South Asian community in Hong Kong: Analysis of the actual language situation and education policy. In Y. Shen & D. Xu (Eds.), China language strategies, 53-64. Nanjing University Press.

Selected Funded Research Projects

    • 2024 - 2026
      Language Taboo: A Research Project on Hong Kong Cantonese Euphemisms, Lord Wilson Heritage Trust (Ref. No. CSTB/C 27/9/171/1)
    • 2023 - 2025
      The weak among the weak: Research on Chinese language learning among ethnic minority children in rural primary schools in the New Territories of Hong Kong (Ref. No. P0046414), non-UGC project, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
    • 2018 - 2021
      An action research on cognitive pattern and learning strategy of Chinese characters by Non-Chinese speaking students in Hong Kong, Research & Development Grant, Standing Committee of Language Education and Research (SCOLAR) (Ref. No. EDB(LE)/P&R/EL/175V), HKSAR.
    • 2017 - 2019
      Database construction of the 19th century (1860-1899) Cantonese Christian Writings in Hong Kong (link), Lord Wilson Heritage Trust (Ref. No. CSTB/C 27/9/171/1).
    • 2017 - 2018
      Developing an e-Learning Course for Enhancing PolyU students' Putonghua competence in Chinese language communication requirement (LCR) framework, Teaching Development and Language Enhancement Grant (Larger-scale collaborative project) (Ref. No. LEG16-19/SS/CBS2), UGC Funding Scheme, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
    • 2016 - 2017
      Using supplementary materials to enhance Primary 6 Non-Chinese students' Chinese ability: An action research, Research & Development Grant, Standing Committee of Language Education and Research (SCOLAR) (Ref. No. EDB(LE)/P&R/EL/164/4), HKSAR.

Esteem Measures

    • 2024 – Present
      Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education: Chinese Language Subject Committee. Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority. Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR)
    • 2016 – 2021
      Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education: Chinese Literature Subject Committee. Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority. Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR)
    • 2016/17
      Teaching Excellence Award (Team Category). Team leader. Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
    • 2015/16
      Outstanding Professional Service Award: Highest Growth Award. Team Member (Team Leader: Prof. CHAN Shui Duen). The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

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