Academic Staff
- HHB721, Hung Hom Bay Campus
- +852 2766 4791
- xinnn.sun@polyu.edu.hk
- Personal Website
ORCID ID
SCOPUS ID
Google Scholar
Research GateBiography
Prof. Xin Sun’s research examines the behavioural and neural basis for language and reading acquisition in bilingual children using various methods, including behavioural assessments, surveys, and functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS). Another line of her work looks at the role of culture in shaping individuals' intuitive beliefs about learning (i.e., beliefs about intelligence, language learning, and broadly, beliefs about the mind and brain). Prof. Sun’s work has been published in impactful journals, including Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Child Development, Developmental Science, npj Science of Learning, and Human Brain Mapping. Prof. Sun is committed to leveraging psychology, education, and language science to understand the heterogeneity of neurocognitive profiles among children from various linguistic and cultural backgrounds and integrating brain sciences into research and applications to benefit young learners, parents, and educational practitioners.
Prof. Sun directs the Culture, Language, and Learning lab. Her lab page can be accessed here: https://culturelanglearn.github.io/sunlab.io.
Interested students are welcome to contact Prof. Sun for PhD and/or research assistant positions at xinsun@polyu.edu.hk.
Education and Academic Qualifications
- PhD in Education and Psychology, University of Michigan
- BSc in Psychology, Beijing Normal University
Academic and Professional Experience
- Banting Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia
Teaching Areas
- Psychology of Language
- Neurolinguistics
- Developmental Psychology
- Educational Psychology
- Cognitive Psychology
Research Interests
Selected Publications
- Kovelman, I. & Sun, X. (Accepted). Bilingualism and reading. Annual Review of Developmental Psychology
- Wang, Y., Tang, X., Wu, S. & Sun, X.* (2026). Growth mindsets are less endorsed and less associated with academic performance in non-WEIRD cultures. npj Science of Learning. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-026-00406-w
- Marks, R.A., Bouhali, F., Sun, X., Caballero, J., Kepinska, O., Uchikoshij, Y., Beltz., A., Kovelman, I., & Hoeft, F. (2026). Functional connectivity fingerprints of emerging reading skill in the first months of schooling. Developmental Science, 29(2), e70142. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.70142
- Wang, Y., Khadra, L., & Sun, X.* (2026). Perceptions of Academic Ups and Downs: A Cross-cultural Comparison of Beliefs in Chinese and Canadian Children. Child Development, 97(1), 200-218. https://doi.org/10.1093/chidev/aacaf016
- Zhang, K., Sun, X., Flores-Gaona, Z., Yu, C.L., Eggleston, R., Nickerson, N., Caruso, Tardif, T., & Kovelman, I. (2025). Cross-linguistic and bilingual transfer effects in contributions of phonology and morphology to word reading: A longitudinal perspective. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 28(2), 327-342. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728924000439
- Wang, Y & Sun, X.* (2025). Growth mindset in Chinese culture: A meta-analysis. Social Psychology of Education, 28(1), Article 24. http://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-024-09955-7
- Sun, X., Marks, R.A., Eggleston, R., Zhang K., Yu, C.L., Nickerson, N., Caruso, V., Chou., T., Hu., X., Tardif, T., Booth, J.R., Beltz, A.M., & Kovelman, I. (2023). Bilingual proficiency enhances neural network density: Sources of heterogeneity in children’s functional connectivity during English word processing. Neurobiology of Language, 4(2), 198-220https://doi.org/10.1162/nol_a_00092
Sun, X., Norton, O., & Nancekivell, S.E. (2023). Beware the myth: Learning styles affect parents’, children’s, and teachers’ thinking about children’s academic potential. npj Science of Learning, 8(1), Article 46. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-023-00190-x - Zhang, K., Sun, X., Yu, C.L., Eggleston, R., Marks, R.A., Nickerson, N., Caruso, V., Hu, X., Tardif, T., Booth, J., Chou, T.L., & Kovelman, I. (2023). Cross-linguistic and Bilingual Effects in Brain Development for Learning to Read: Evidence from Young Chinese-English Bilinguals. Human Brain Mapping, 44(3), 4812-4829. http://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.26419
- Sun, X., Marks, R.A., Eggleston, R., Zhang, K., Lau, C., Yu, C.L., Nickerson, N., Kovelman, I. (2023). Impacts of the COVID-19 disruption on the language and literacy development of monolingual and heritage bilingual children in the United States. Reading and Writing, 36(2), 347-375. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-022-10388-x
- Sun, X., Zhang K., Marks, R.A., Karas, Z., Eggleston, R., Yu, C.L., Nickerson, N., Chou., T., Caruso, V., Hu, X.S., Tardif, T., Satterfield, T., & Kovelman, I. (2022). Morphological and phonological processing in English monolingual, Chinese-English bilingual, and Spanish-English bilingual children: An fNIRS neuroimaging dataset. Data in Brief, 42, 108048. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2022.108048
- Sun, X., Marks, R.A., Zhang, K., Yu, C.L., Eggleston, R., Nickerson, N., Chou, T.L., Hu, X.S., Tardif, T., Satterfield, T., & Kovelman, I. (2022). Brain bases of English morphological processing: A comparison between Chinese-English, Spanish-English bilingual, and English monolingual children. Developmental Science, 26(1), e13251. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13251
- Sun, X., Zhang K., Marks, R.A., Nickerson, N., Eggleston, R., Yu, C.L., Chou., T., Tardif, T., & Kovelman, I. (2021). What’s in a word? Cross-linguistic influences on Spanish-English and Chinese-English bilingual children’s word reading development. Child Development, 93(1), 84-100. http://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13666
- Sun, X., Nancekivell, S.E., Gelman, S.A., & Shah, P. (2021). Growth mindset and academic outcomes: A comparison of US and Chinese students. npj Science of Learning, 6(1), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-021-00100-z
- Sun, X., Nancekivell, S.E., Gelman, S.A., & Shah, P. (2021). Perception about the Malleability of Fluid Versus Crystallized Intelligence. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 150(5), 815-827. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000980
- 2026
Early Career Research Excellence Award, The Association for Reading and Writing in Asia (ARWA) - 2023 - 2025
Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship, Government of Canada - 2022
Stanley E. and Ruth B. Dimond Best Dissertation Award, University of Michigan Ann Arbor - 2020 - 2021
Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship, University of Michigan Ann Arbor
