Academic Title: Associate Professor

Education
2011 Ph.D., Curriculum and Instruction (ESL/Reading Education), Texas A&M University, USA
2007 M.A., Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, Qingdao University, China
2006-2007 Graduate Exchange Student, Linguistics, California State University, Long Beach, CA, USA
2004 B. A., English, Qingdao University, China
2002-2003 Undergraduate Exchange Student, English Department, Missouri State University, Springfield, MO, USA

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Visiting Research Scholar
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Harvard University             Aug 2014-Jun 2015
Mentor: Catherine E. Snow
Postdoctoral Fellow
Sept 2011- Dec 2013
Department of English, Sun Yat-sen University

Courses
Undergraduate Minor in English: English Writing (Fall Semester, 2011), Interpretation BasicsⅠ (Spring Semester, 2012)
Post-graduate: English as the second foreign language (Fall Semester, 2011)

Research Projects and Grants
Jing Zhao earned her doctoral degree in Curriculum and Instruction, specializing in English as a Second Language, from Texas A&M University in 2011. Dr. Zhao’s dissertation used structural equation modeling to examine the joint and separate contributions of phonological awareness, morphological awareness, and orthographic awareness on Chinese and American children’s English spelling development. Dr. Zhao’s research interests include differences in literacy development between L2 learners of English and L1 English speakers, as well as the influence of children’s individual variation, school and environmental factors on their L2 literacy development.

Research Grants
Home literacy environment and emergent literacy development in Chinese children with ASD (PI)
Funded by the National Social Science Fund of China
2013/6/30-2016/12/31

Expressive writing and university students’ foreign language anxiety: An intervention study (PI)
Funded by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China
2013/1/1-2015/12/31

The relationship between metalinguistic awareness and children’s EFL reading skills (PI)
General Financial Grant from the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
2012/5/1-2013/12/31

The Relationship between Metalinguistic Awareness and Development of English Reading (PI)
Supported by the Tongshan Foundation for Young Researchers in Sun Yat-sen University (1109149-15000-9350001)
2011-2013

Strengthening Europeans' Capabilities by Establishing the European Literacy Network (ELN) (non-EU expert; PI: Rui Alves)
Funded by European Cooperation in Science and Technology
2014-2018


Publications:
Peer-reviewed Journal Articles
Zhao, J., Dixon, L.Q., Quiroz, B., & Chen, S. (2015). The relationship between vocabulary and word reading among Head Start Spanish-English
          bilingual children. Early Childhood Education Journal, online advance. doi: 10.1007/s10643-015-0764-8

Zhao, J., Joshi, R.M., Dixon, L. Q., & Huang, L. (2015). Chinese EFL teachers’ knowledge of basic language constructs and their self-perceived
          teaching abilities. Annals of Dyslexia, online advance. doi: 10.1007/s11881-015-0110-2 (SSCI; 2014 impact factor 1.444; Ranking: Q1)

Yi, L., Fan, Y., Zhao, J., Huang, D., Li, Y., & Zou, X. (2013). Atypical understanding of mental terms in Chinese-speaking children with autism
          spectrum disorder. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 7, 1411-1417. doi: 10.1016/j.rasd.2013.08.009 (SSCI; 2013 Impact Factor: 2.378)

Dixon, L. Q., Zhao, J., Shin, J.-Y., Wu, S., Su, J.-S., Burgess-Brigham, R., Gezer, M. U. & Snow, C. E. (2012). What we know about second language
          acquisition: A synthesis from four perspectives. Review of Educational Research, 82 (1), 5-60. doi: 10.3102/0034654311433587 (SSCI; Impact
          Factor: 3.127)

Dixon, L. Q., Zhao, J., Quiroz, B., & Shin, J.-Y. (2012). Home and community factors influencing bilingual children’s ethnic language vocabulary
          development. International Journal of Bilingualism. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1177/1367006911429527 (SSCI; 2010 Impact
          Factor: 0.862)

Dixon, L. Q., Zhao, J., & Joshi, R. M. (2012). One dress, two dress: Dialectal influence on English spelling among kindergarten children in Singapore.
          System: An International Journal of Educational Technology and Applied Linguistics. Advance online publication. doi:
          10.1016/j.system.2012.02.003 (SSCI; Impact Factor: 1.095)

Dixon, L. Q., Zhao, J., & Joshi, R. M. (2010). Influence of L1 orthography on spelling English words by bilingual children: A natural experiment
          comparing syllabic, phonological, and morphosyllabic first languages. Learning Disability Quarterly, 33, 211-221. (SSCI; 5-Year Impact Factor:
          1.154)

Quiroz, B., Snow, C. E., & Zhao, J. (2010). Vocabulary skills of Spanish/English bilinguals: Impact of mother-child language interactions and home
          language and literacy support. International Journal of Bilingualism, 14, 379-399. doi: 10.1177/1367006910370919 (SSCI; 2010 Impact Factor:
          0.862)

Books and Book Chapters
Dixon, L.Q., & Zhao, J. (in press). Bilingual language development. In Jean Berko Gleason & Nan Bernstein Ratner (Eds.) The Development of 
          Language (9^th Edition). New York, NY: Pearson. 

Book Reviews
Zhao, J. (2015). A review of “Intercultural contact, language learning and migration”. Language and Education, online advance.
          doi:10.1080/09500782.2015.1115058
Zhao, J. (2010). A review of “Modern languages in the primary school”. Language and Education, 6, 542-545.
Zhao, J. (2012, in press). A review of “Spelling and society: The cultural and politics of orthography around the world”. Asia EFL Journal

Conference Presentations:
Zhao, J., Wei, L., Bai, Y., Zeng, Y., Yao, A., & Tong, S. X. (2015, July). Cognitive and linguistic correlates of character reading among Chinese
          pre-school children with Autism. Paper presented at the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR),
          Big Island, Hawaii, USA.

Ruan, T., & Zhao, J. (2014, August). Analysis of diglossic features in Guangzhou and the need for Cantonese protection. Poster presented at the
          AILA 2014 World Congress, Brisbane, Australia.

Zhao, J., Fan,Y., Li，Y., Huang, D., & Yi, L. (2013, December). Verb factivity judgment in pre-school children with Autism. Paper presented at the
          2nd Conference of the Chinese Association of Psycholinguistics, Fuzhou, China.

Zhao, J., Dixon, L.Q., & Joshi, R. M. (2013, July). Chinese EFL teachers’ knowledge on phonology, morphology and vocabulary. Paper presented
          at the 20th Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR), Hong Kong, China.

Dixon, L.Q., Zhao, J., & Joshi, R. M. (2013, July). Role of morphological awareness in English word spelling among 3rd graders in the United States.
          Paper presented at the 20th Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR), Hong Kong, China.

Dixon, L. Q., Quiroz, B., & Zhao, J. (2012, April). The relationship between receptive vocabulary and word reading among Head Start Spanish/English
          bilingual children. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), Vancouver, Canada.

Zhao, J. (2011, December). The contribution of metalinguistic awareness to English word spelling: A comparison of L1 and L2 models.Paper
          presented at the Inaugural Conference of the Chinese Association of Psycholinguistics, Guangzhou, China.

Zhao, J., Joshi, R.M., & Dixon, L. Q. (2011, August). Models of meta-linguistics skills and spelling abilities in 3rd graders in the United States. Poster
          presented at the 16th World Congress of Applied Linguistics (AILA), Beijing, China.

Dixon, L. Q., Quiroz, B., & Zhao, J. (2011, August). Home, community and individual factors in L1 development among bilingual kindergarten children
          in Singapore. Paper presented at the 16th World Congress of Applied Linguistics (AILA), Beijing, China.

Zhao, J., Yeh, Y-F., Dixon, L. Q., Joshi, R.M., & McTigue, E. (2011, July). A cross-group and cross-linguistic study of the effect of morphological
          awareness on literacy skills in Chinese-English bilinguals. Paper to be presented at the Eighteenth Annual Meeting of the Society for the
          Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR), St. Pete Beach, FL.

Zhao, J., Dixon, L. Q., & Joshi, R. M. (2011, March). Influence of home factors on the development of English among eighth graders in China. Paper
          presented at the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) Conference, Chicago, IL.

Zhao, J., & Dixon, L. Q. (2010, December). Spelling skills of Chinese students learning English as a Foreign Language. Paper presented at the 60th
          Annual meeting of the National Reading Conference/Literacy Research Association (NRC/LRA), Fort Worth, TX.

Dixon, L. Q., Zhao, J., & Joshi, R. M (2010, December). Dialectal influence on the formation of English plurals as revealed by spelling. Paper
          presented at the 60th Annual meeting of the National Reading Conference/Literacy Research Association (NRC/LRA), Fort Worth, TX.

Zhao, J., Quiroz, B., Dixon, L. Q., & Joshi, R. M. (2010, July). The effect of bilingualism on English spelling: A meta-analytic review.Poster presented
          at the Seventeenth Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR), Berlin, Germany.

Jo, I., & Zhao, J. (2010, April). Professional development practices and teachers’ job satisfaction in large Texas high schools: A mixed method study.
          Poster presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), Denver, CO.

Dixon, L. Q., Zhao, J., & Joshi, R. M. (2010, March). Influence of orthographic differences in Singaporean bilingual children’s spelling performance.
          Paper presented at the annual conference of the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL), Atlanta, GA.

Joshi, R. M., Binks, E., Hougen, M., Graham, L., Zhao, J., & Padakannaya, P. (2009, June). Peter effect in preparing reading teachers. Paper
          presented at the Sixteenth Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR), Boston, MA.

Zhao, J., Quiroz, B., & Hammer, J. (2009, April). Home-language and literacy resources: Variation within Latino-bilingual families. Poster session
          presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), San Diego, CA.

Quiroz, B., Zhao, J., & Dixon, L. Q. (2008, October). The role of linguistic difficulty in mother-child language interactions: Language complexity and
          variety of discourse functions. Poster session presented at International Conference on Models of Interaction in Bilinguals, Bangor, North
          Wales, United Kingdom.

Journal – Reviewer
Ad Hoc Reviewer, Annals of Dyslexia, 2015-
Ad Hoc Reviewer, Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 2012-
Ad Hoc Reviewer, Linguistics and Education, 2011-

Invited Talks
Zhao, J. (February, 2015). Metalinguistic awareness and biliteracy development. Presented at the Literacy Studies Group Series, Department of
          Teaching, Learning, and Culture, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA.
Zhao, J. (January, 2013). Academic writing in English. Presented at Department of Statistics, School of Mathematics and Computer Science.
          Sun Yat-sen University, China.
Zhao, J. (April, 2012). Academic Writing in English for social science majors. Presented at Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-sen University, China.


Professional Affiliations
1. China Psycholinguistics Research Committee，Council Member      http://www.psycholingchina.com/
2. Asia TEFL, Member (2008—present)
3. Society of Scientific Study of Reading, Member (2009—present )
4. American Association of Applied Linguistics, Member (2010—2011)
5. American Education Research Association, Member (2009—2011)