Yan Liu, Associate Professor of the Practice of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and Director of the Chinese Language Program

Dr. Yan Liu is an Associate Professor of the Practice in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (AMES) and Linguistics, and Director of the Chinese Language Program at Duke University. She earned her Ph.D. in Second Language Acquisition from Carnegie Mellon University and joined Duke in 2013. Dr. Liu served as a board member of the Chinese Language Teachers Association (CLTA) from 2022-2025, and is currently Vice Chair of the Cultures & Languages Across the Curriculum (CLAC) Consortium. 

In recent years, Dr. Liu has focused on Chinese curriculum design, pedagogy innovation, and teaching material development. She created "Chinese Translation and Interpretation" (CHINESE 332) for third-year Chinese heritage students, as well as two interdisciplinary courses for Chinese international students and advanced-level  students: Understanding China and the U.S.: Stereotypes, Conflicts, and Common Challenges (CHINESE 450S) and China and the U.S. in the Age of Climate Change" (CHINESE 451S). She has also developed and taught CLAC (Curriculum across Languages and Cultures) courses in Mandarin, including Voices in Global Health: Mandarin Tutorial (GLHLTH 270T/AMES 270T), Voices in the Environment: Mandarin Tutorial (ENVIRON 269T-3/CHINESE 269T), and Voices in Public Policy: Mandarin Tutorial (PUBPOL 273T-3/CHINESE 273T). In 2022, she offered Chinese Sociolinguistics, cross-listed in AMES and linguistics. Her teaching integrates community-based learning, service-learning, visual arts, games, fake-news analysis, and culturally responsive teaching approaches to foster students' learning and provide an equitable learning environment. For her contributions, Dr. Liu received Duke's "Betsy Alden Outstanding Service-Learning Award" in 2020 and ACTFL’s Klett Award for Sustainable Development Education in the World Language Classroom in 2025.

Dr. Liu’s research centers on teaching and learning Chinese as a second, a foreign language, or a heritage language. Her work addresses L2 reading, heritage language writing, assessment, pedagogy, and curriculum design. She has published journal articles or book chapters, and presented at major conferences, including theose of the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL), the National Chinese Language Conference (NCLC), the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), the Chinese Language Teachers Association (CLTA), and international symposia on Chinese teaching and learning. She also serves as a reviewer for Routledge,  Journal of Chinese as a Second Language, International Journal of Chinese language Teaching, and Studies in Chinese Learning and Teaching.

Contact Info:

Office Location:	2204 Erwin Road, John Hope Fra, Box 90414, Durham, NC 27708
Email Address:

Teaching (Spring 2026):

• AMES 173CNS.01, CHINESE DIASPORAS & LANGUAGE Synopsis

  Perkins 079, TuTh 03:05 PM-04:20 PM

  (also cross-listed as LINGUIST 173CNS.01)

• CHINESE 451S.01, CHINA & U.S.: CLIMATE CHANGE Synopsis

  Old Chem 123, TuTh 11:45 AM-01:00 PM

Office Hours:

W: 1:30-3:30 PM

Education:

Ph.D.	Carnegie Mellon University	2013
MA	Beijing Foreign Studies University	2005
BA	Lanzhou University	1999

Specialties:

Chinese

Research Interests:

Current projects: Reading instruction and assessment for college foreign language content courses

Dr. Yan Liu's primary research interests include second language reading, biliteracy development, and teaching / learning Chinese as a second language / a foreign language / a heritage language

Areas of Interest:

Second Language Acquisition
Second Language Reading
Biliteracy Development
Heritage Language Acquisition
Foreign Language Instruction and Assessment
Teaching and Learning Chinese as a Foreign Language or a Second Language

Recent Publications   (More Publications)

1. Liu, Y; Ji, J; Wu, G; Liang, M-M, 针对华裔学生的美国大学中文教材, Chinese as a Second Language (漢語教學研究—美國中文教師學會學報). The journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association, USA, vol. 58 no. 3 (December, 2023), pp. 237-261, John Benjamins Publishing Company [doi]  [abs]
2. Liu, Y; Ji, J; Wu, G; Liang, M-M, 传承中文 Modern Chinese for Heritage Beginners Stories about Us (April, 2023), pp. 257 pages, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 9781000860344  [abs]
3. Liu, Y, Boundary Crossing: Integrating Visual Arts into Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language, in Crossing Boundaries in Researching, Understanding, and Improving Language Education: Essays in Honor of G. Richard Tucker., edited by Zhang, D; Miller, R (March, 2023), Springer, ISBN 978-3-031-24078-2  [abs]
4. Liu, Y, Cross-language and cross-disciplinary collaborations in a Mandarin CLAC course, in A Transdisciplinary Approach to Chinese and Japanese Language Teaching (February, 2023), pp. 159-175, Routledge [doi]
5. Reisinger, D; Valnes Quammen, S; Liu, Y; Virguez, E, Sustainability across the Curriculum: A Multilingual and Intercultural Approach, in Education for Sustainable Development in Foreign Language Learning: Content-Based Instruction in College-Level Curricula, edited by Fuente, MDL (November, 2021), Routledge [doi]

Selected Conferences

1. Developing An Online Course for Advanced Learners of Chinese., January, 2014, Duke University    
2. Assessing and Promoting Cultural Analysis Skills in Advanced Chinese Courses, November 22, 2013, 2013 ACTFL conference at Orlando    
3. Acquisition of Chinese Characters Among Child and Adult Learners: the Effects of Visual Complexity and Radical Presence., May, 2013, Washington, D.C.    
4. L2 Semantic-gap Filling (SGF) in Chinese Reading Comprehension., April, 2013, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA.    
5. Lexical Inferecing Ability in Chinese as a Foreign Language., March, 2013, Dallas, TX.    
6. A Synthesis Study of Morphological Awareness Instruction., November, 2012, Philadelphia, PA.    
7. Lexical Inferencing Ability and Reading Comprehension in Chinese among American College Learners of Chinese, November, 2012, College Park, MD.    
8. Morphological Awareness and Lexical Inferencing Ability in Chinese as a Foreign Language., October, 2012    
9. Compound Awareness, Lexical Inferencing Ability and Reading Comprehension in Chinese as a Foreign Language., March, 2012, Boston, MA.    

Selected Grant Support

• AMES T6 IT grant.