Dissertation Project

Becoming the Other: Raciolinguistic Investment of Immigrant Youth in U.S. High Schools
In this project, I aim to explore the investment of Chinese and Latinx immigrant youth in two urban high schools in the Midwest United States. Using a multiple ethnographic case study approach, I examine their ideal identity construction through schooling in shaping their investment in language learning. While much research on second language acquisition (SLA) has used the lens of investment to examine the social factors impacting learners’ language learning, few have explored the perceived higher value social identities constructed through schooling that influence immigrant youths’ investment. Merging the raciolinguistic perspective, I propose a concept I call raciolinguistic investment, arguing that any kind of investment is a dissatisfaction of the current Self, which leads to the investment of the perceived more socially valuable Other. Through this lens, this study aims to contribute to the broader discourse on social influences in SLA by examining the raciolinguistic investment of immigrant youth in the context of U.S. urban high schools to understand how contemporary U.S. schooling makes different kinds of people in shaping these youths’ investment in their desired identities and language learning.

(Collaborative) Research Projects

Investigating the Role of Language and Cultural Resources in Collaborative Problem-Solving Among Multilingual School Students (IRB: 2025-1098)
PI: Shamya Karumbaiah
The purpose of this study is to explore how bilingual and/or multilingual students use their cultural and linguistic resources—particularly through translanguaging and collaborative problem-solving—to support learning and identity development. The study also examines the roles of social and technological scaffolds in multilingual learning contexts.

Why Should I Care? How Language Teachers’ Actions of Care Affect Teacher Wellbeing in the Tertiary Level Language Classroom (IRB: 2025-0526)
PI: Julia Goetze
This study explores the concept of care in the form of support systems in the tertiary level context. In other words, the study looks at the type of care or support provided to students. We believe that personal and situational factors interact with one another and shape language teachers’ beliefs about care. Consequently, their beliefs influence the way they provide care to their students, which ultimately impacts their well-being. In our study, after gaining insights into the type(s) of care language teachers provide, we aim to examine how their caregiving behaviors can affect their well-being.

Multilingual International Students and Instructors’ Communicative Repertoires and Language Socialization in U.S. University Classrooms (IRB: 2025-0144)
PI: K.D. Thompson
This project aims to examine how multilingual international students and instructors communicate using their communicative repertoires in university classrooms and how they are socialized into U.S. academic and cultural norms.

International Language Teaching Assistants’ Emotional Experiences (IRB: 2024-1853)
PI: Weihua Zhu
This research project aims to explore the perezhivanie (emotional experience) of International Language Teaching Assistants (ILTAs) in language classrooms at UW-Madison, focusing on how their emotional experiences are shaped by and, in turn, influence their teaching practices in language classrooms.

Raciolinguistic Ideologies and International Student Experiences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (IRB: 2024-1598)
PI: Tom Purnell
This study aims to examine how international students at UW-Madison make sense of race and language, and how their understandings of race and language influence their communication practices and experiences on campus.

(Re)constructing “Local” as Language Model: Raciolinguistic Ideologies and Learner Investment in an Online Adult ESL Class (IRB: 853742)
PI: Nelson Flores
The purpose of this project is to understand the correlation between learners’ raciolinguistic ideologies and investment in English learning. Part of this study includes studying how ideologies changed by tracking the experience of students in an online English class that comes from different language backgrounds. Another goal of our study is to create professional development opportunities for teachers working in multilingual environments.

Publications

Published Journal Articles

Xiao, G., & Yu, J. (accepted). Politicized identity and language practices: Understanding Chinese international students’ language ideologies amid U.S.-China geopolitical tensions. Higher Education.

Xiao, G. (2026). Translanguaging silence and humor: Registering, resisting, and reconstructing identities in an English-medium classroom in the United States. The Modern Language Journal, 110(1). https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.70024

Xiao, G. (2025). Rethinking translanguaging: (Trans)bordering, spatiality, and academic discourse socialization in a graduate TESOL classroom. Applied Linguistics, amaf062. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amaf062

Xiao, G., & DelPrete, D. L. (2024). Countering linguistic borders through translanguaging practices in a multilingual U.S. secondary school. The Language Learning Journal, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1080/09571736.2024.2412743

Xiao, G. (2024). The power of language ideologies: Creating heteroglossic implementational spaces in a practical English class. Working Papers in Educational Linguistics, 38(Fall 2024), 48-66. https://repository.upenn.edu/handle/20.500.14332/60632

Under Review

Xiao, G. (under review). Beyond translanguaging: Toward a theory of (trans)bordering in language education. Language Teaching.

Xiao, G., Wang, H., & Yu, J. (revision submitted for review). Transnationalizing raciolinguistics: An intersectional analysis for understanding Chinese international students’ language ideologies across contexts. Journal of Sociolinguistics.

Xiao, G., Yu, J., & Randolph Jr, L. J. (under review). Beyond the racialized/white binary: Raciolinguistic subjectivities and self-othering among international students in the United States. Linguistics and Education.

Yu, J., & Xiao, G. (revision submitted for review). Globalizing “race” in international student research. Educational Researcher.

Wang, H., Xiao, G., Ahn, L. H., & Stein, G. L. (under review). Familial ethno-cultural-national socialization and racialized educational expectations for Chinese international students. International Journal of Intercultural Relations.

Wang, H., Ahn, L., Javvaji, A., Xiao, G., Stein, G. (under review). Familial ethnic-racial socialization towards racial outgroups in transnational context: A qualitative investigation of Chinese international students. Asian American Journal of Psychology.

In Preparation

Xiao, G. (in revising). (Re)constructing linguistic norms: Monoglossic language ideologies and heteroglossic teaching practices in an online ESL class. Theory into Practice.

Xiao, G. (in revising). Epistemological colonialization in the postcolonial era: Raciolinguistic ideologies and desired identity formation in classroom discourse. TESOL Journal.

Xiao, G. (in preparation). Bridging feeling and meaning-making in classroom interactions: A translanguaging perspective. Applied Linguistics.

Book Reviews

Xiao, G. (2025). Becoming the system: A raciolinguistic genealogy of bilingual education in the post-Civil Rights era. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 28(9), 1166–1168. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2025.2530216

Xiao, G. (2025). Centering multilingual learners and countering raciolinguistic ideologies in teacher education: principles, policies and practices. Language and Education, 39(2),531–534. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2024.2343480

Presentations

Refereed Conference Presentations

Xiao, G., & Randolph Jr, L. J. (April 2026). Trans(bordering) as pedagogy in world language education. Paper to be presented in the symposium Translanguaging Myths in World Language Education: What’s the Real Story and the Future?, American Educational Research Association (AERA), Los Angeles, CA.

Xiao, G. (April 2026). Making and using “quiet student” identities in an English‐medium classroom: A translanguaging and flows perspective. Paper to be presented at the American Educational Research Association (AERA), Los Angeles, CA.

Pitts, C., Xiao, G., Karumbaiah, S., Barron, K. D., Castro, M., & Maheshwary, P. (April 2026). Applying a translanguaging perspective to collaborative problem-solving. Roundtable Session to be presented at the American Educational Research Association (AERA), Los Angeles, CA.

Xiao, G. (March 2026). Translanguaging silence and humor: Registering, resisting, and reconstructing identities in a graduate TESOL classroom. Individual Paper to be presented at the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL), Chicago, IL.

Xiao, G. (April 2025). Translanguaging silence and humor: Registering, resisting, and reconstructing identities in a U.S. EMI classroom. Paper presented at the 2025 SLA Student Symposium, Madison, WI.

Xiao, G., & Wang, H. (April 2025). From majority to minority: Raciolinguistic socialization of Chinese students in U.S. higher education. Roundtable presented at the American Educational Research Association (AERA), Denver, CO.

Wang, H., & Xiao, G. (April 2025). Navigating and (re)constructing racial identity through racialization in U.S. higher education: A qualitative investigation on Chinese international students’ experiences. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association (AERA), Denver, CO.

Xiao, G., & Wang, H. (March 2025). From majority to minority: Raciolinguistic socialization of Chinese students in U.S. higher education. Individual Paper presented at the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL), Denver, CO.

Wang, H., & Xiao, G. (March 2025) [Cancelled]. Navigating and re(constructing) racial identity: a qualitative investigation on Chinese international students’ experiences. Individual Paper to be presented at the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL), Denver, CO.

Xiao, G. (April 2024). (Re)constructing “local” as language model: Raciolinguistic ideologies and learner investment in an online adult ESL class. Roundtable Discussion presented at the American Educational Research Association (AERA), Philadelphia, PA.

Xiao, G. (March 2024). (Re)constructing “local” as language model: Raciolinguistic ideologies and learner investment in an online adult ESL class. Roundtable Discussion presented at the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL), Houston, TX.

Xiao, G., & DelPrete, D. L. (March 2024). Countering linguistic borders through translanguaging practices in a multilingual U.S. secondary school. Poster presented at the Georgetown University Round Table on Languages and Linguistics (GURT), Washington, DC.

Wang, H., Xiao, G., Shen, Y., & Chen, Y. (March 2024). Negotiating ethnic-racial identity: Experiences of Chinese international students in U.S. higher education. Individual Paper presented at the Georgetown University Round Table on Languages and Linguistics (GURT), Washington, DC.

Xiao, G., & Wang, H. (November 2023). Negotiating identities through translingual writing in an online ESL class. Poster presented at the Penn TESOL Conference, Philadelphia, PA.

Xiao, G. (October 2023). The effectiveness of using translanguaging to improve learners’ investment in EFL classrooms. Individual Paper presented at the SSTESOL Annual State Conference, Online.

Other Invited Talks

Mikulin, D., Murphy, D., & Xiao, G. (2025). Understanding and addressing linguistic bias and discrimination. Presentation for UW-Madison SuccessWorks.

Xiao, G. (2024). Rethinking translanguaging: (Trans)bordering, spatiality and academic discourse socialization in US EMI classrooms. SLA Student Shareout.