As part of our commitment to integrate local and global contexts and to explore a range of issues related to the education of multilingual learners, the MLRC partners with researchers around the world through our Glocal Scholar series. We use the term glocal to problematize the boundaries that often exist between conceptions of “global” and “local”, including the separation sometimes observed between international schools and their local context (Glocal Network Shifts: Exploring Language Policies and Practices in International Schools).
Our second 2025-2026 Glocal Scholar is Lin Pan, who will present at the MLRC Research Symposium on December 5-6, 2025 at the International School of Beijing. The MLRC Research Symposium is a unique two-day opportunity for international educators – teachers and leaders – to engage deeply in existing research about multilingual learners, connect with global education scholars, inquire together about shared problems of practice and discuss innovative strategies for serving multilingual learners.
Lin obtained her PhD from the University College London Institute of Education, supervised by Professor Jan Blommaert and Professor David Block under its prestigious Centenary Research Scholarship. Her research interests are subjects in language education and applied linguistics. As a language educator and sociolinguist, her interdisciplinary work explores language as both a medium and site of power, identity, and cultural transformation—particularly in multilingual, transnational contexts where state policies, grassroots agency and globalization intersect. Her research spans four interconnected areas: critically analyzing language policy (e.g., Mandarin promotion vs. multilingual preservation and English education discourses) to reveal its role in cultural governance; designing TESOL curricula that integrate translanguaging and technology (e.g., gamified apps) to foster inclusive pedagogy; examining sociolinguistic landscapes (Beijing’s signage, Bilibili’s ELT teaching communities and emoji semiotics) to map language and power; and blending qualitative (ethnography and discourse analysis) and quantitative methods with multimodal analysis to triangulate macro-policy impacts with micro-practices like classroom translanguaging.
Her research bridges institutional frameworks and individual agency, ultimately informing equitable language practices that honor global multilingual diversity. These research roles and projects have enabled her to publish in leading international journals (SSCI/AHCI/ESCI-indexed) such as System, Language Policy, TESOL Quarterly, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, Language in Society and Language Learning Journal etc., contributing to the global discourse on language education and applied linguistics. She has authored/co-authored books such as English as a Global Language in China: Deconstructing the Ideological Discourses of English in Language Education (Springer, 2015), Mandarin Chinese Teacher Education – Issues and Solutions (the IoE Press, 2018), and Exploring World Englishes: Language in a Global Context (second edition) (Routledge, 2025), addressing cutting edge topics on contemporary issues related to language education and social-cultural issues. Since 2019, at Beijing Normal University, she has been primarily leading various BA and MA modules. As the vice-chair of the department for pre-service teacher training, she has led the curriculum reform for teacher education, which occurs every seven years, and has reformed the curricula for undergraduate studies, full-time TESOL postgraduate studies and part-time TESOL postgraduate studies. She has also led the design of the recent BNU initiative and issued the curriculum for the Integrated Bachelor-to-PhD (4+4) Pathway for Future Outstanding Teachers.
In addition to teaching at BNU, she is a regular invited tutor for other universities in their PhD programme modules on sociolinguistics and applied linguistics. She is engaged in in-service teacher training and regularly visit primary and middle schools to conduct teacher training workshops, observe and supervise teaching and discuss with primary and secondary school teachers teaching methodology. Over the past five years, she has led more than 50 teacher training workshops around China and have served as a regular teaching advisor for nine middle schools in Beijing and other cities in China.
We are very excited to welcome Lin to the MLRC Research Symposium. To connect with Lin and learn more about her research in person, please consider joining us in Beijing!
