Dissertation Project
Transnational Youth Investing in Imagined Futures: Language Ideologies, Identities, and Meaning-Making in an Urban High School
At a time when immigration debates in the United States have intensified and public discourses increasingly scrutinize immigrant communities and their language practices, understanding how transnational youth navigate schooling has become especially urgent. This dissertation explores how culturally and linguistically diverse transnational youth invest in their imagined futures in an urban high school in the Midwestern United States. Drawing on a year-long ethnography in a U.S. urban high school, the study examines how schooling participates in the construction of language ideologies, identities, and systems of value that shape students’ investments. While research in second language acquisition (SLA) has extensively used the concept of investment to examine the social conditions of language learning, less attention has been paid to how schooling constructs and circulates hierarchically valued identities that learners orient to as they imagine their futures. Addressing this gap, this study investigates (1) how transnational youth invest in their imagined future selves as micro- and macro-level forces discursively construct identities and assign value to them, and (2) how youth use diverse semiotic resources to make meaning in ways that conform to or resist these perceived norms, and how various stakeholders respond to these meaning-making practices. Bringing together poststructural and critical frameworks, including the investment model, language ideologies, raciolinguistic perspectives, and translanguaging, this study approaches schooling not simply as a site of language socialization but as a space where norms are produced, identities are negotiated, and futures are (re)imagined within broader sociopolitical conditions. The study contributes to ongoing conversations in SLA and applied linguistics by highlighting the dynamic relationship between investment, identity, and meaning-making in transnational youth’s everyday schooling experiences.
(Collaborative) Research Projects
Exploring GenAI Discourse in First-year College Composition Classes in the United States (IRB: 2026-0650)
PI: L.J. Randolph Jr.
This study is embedded in the larger discourse surrounding the integration of GenAI in education, especially in writing-focused classrooms. As GenAI becomes increasingly present in academic spaces, there is a growing need to understand not just its use but how it shapes classroom interaction and learning processes. The purpose of this study is to learn how first-year college students navigate GenAI-related discussions in composition classes and in what ways GenAI affords or constrains students’ meaning-making in the classroom.
World Language Educators’ Conceptualizations and Practices of Translanguaging in Language Education (IRB: 2026-0516)
PI: L.J. Randolph Jr.
This study aims to explore how K-12 language educators across various languages and instructional contexts conceptualize and implement translanguaging and similar concepts (e.g., code-switching, use of English and additional languages) into their instructional practice.
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
Journal Articles
Xiao, G., & Randolph, L. J., Jr. (accepted). (Trans)bordering as pedagogy in world language education. L2 Journal.
Wang, H., Xiao, G., Ahn, L. H., & Livas, G. (2026). Familial ethnocultural and national socialization messages among Chinese international students. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 114, 102471. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2026.102471
Xiao, G., Yu, J., & Randolph, L. J., Jr. (2026). Beyond the racialized/white binary: Raciolinguistic subjectivities and self-othering among international students in the United States. Linguistics and Education, 94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2026.101569
Xiao, G., Yu, J., & Wang, H. (2026). Constant Scrutiny, vigilance, and self-talk: The burdens of linguistic racism for international students at a predominantly white institution. Ethnicities. https://doi.org/10.1177/14687968261463261
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), 240–266. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.70024
Yu, J., & Xiao, G. (2026). Globalizing “race” in international student research. Educational Researcher. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X261434495
Xiao, G., & Yu, J. (2026). Politicized identity and language practices: Understanding Chinese international students’ language ideologies amid U.S.-China geopolitical tensions. Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-026-01623-3
Xiao, G., Wang, H., & Yu, J. (2026). Transnationalizing raciolinguistics: An intersectional analysis for understanding Chinese international students’ language ideologies across contexts. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 30(3), 282–294. https://doi.org/10.1111/josl.70016
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. (2026). Countering linguistic borders through translanguaging practices in a multilingual U.S. secondary school. The Language Learning Journal, 54(3), 396–409. 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
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). (Tran)bordering as pedagogy in world language education. Paper presented at the 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 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 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 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) [Canceled]. 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
Xiao, G. (2026). Translanguaging silence and humor: Registering, resisting, and reconstructing identities in an English-medium classroom in the United States. Shanghai International Studies University Postgraduate and Undergraduate Partnership.
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.
Gengqi Xiao 