Curriculum Vitae
Helen H. Shen

Mailing address: Asian Languages and Literature
661 Phillips Hall, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242
Email: helen-shen@uiowa.edu
Tel.: (319) 335-2314 (O)

Education

1997

Ph.D., Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Nevada, Reno.
Major area of study: Curriculum and Instruction in written language acquisition with focus on comparative written language acquisition (Chinese and English); minor area of study: Second Language Acquisition.Dissertation: Spelling Errors and the Development of Orthographic Knowledge among Chinese-Speaking Students.

1990

M. A., Department of Education, Zhejiang University, Xixi Campus, China.
Major area of study: Curriculum and Instruction in Chinese Language and Literature; minor area of study: Chinese Language Teaching and Learning Psychology. Thesis: On Aesthetic Process in Chinese Literature Instruction.

 

1981

1981 B. A., Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Ningbo University, China.
Major area of study: Chinese Language and Literature.

 

Professional Experience

2008-present

Associate Professor of Chinese, Department of Asian and Slavic Languages and Literature, University of Iowa

2004-2007

Assistant Professor of Chinese, Department of Asian Languages and Literature, University of Iowa.

2002- 2003

Lecturer of Chinese, Department of Asian Languages and Literature, University of Iowa.

1997-2002

Lecturer of Chinese, Division of Asian and Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures, University of Virginia.

1994-1997

Principal Teacher and Supervisor of Chinese, the Northern Nevada Chinese School, Reno, Nevada.

1991-1992

Visiting Scholar at California State University, Stanislaus. Duties included: 1) team- taught Modern Asian Literature; 2) lectured on various topics related to Chinese language teaching and Chinese education in the School of Education; 3) taught Chinese Calligraphy and Brush Painting at both California State University, Stanislaus and Merced College.

1990-1991

Lecturer of Chinese, Department of Chinese, Nanjing Normal University, China.

1984-1990

Supervisor and Research Coordinator, Department of Curriculum and Instructional Research, Ningbo Education Committee.

1981-1984

Lecturer of Chinese, Ningbo Teachers' College.

 

College-level Courses taught in the U.S.
Elementary Chinese
Intermediate Chinese
Accelerated Elementary Chinese (for heritage students)
Accelerated Intermediate Chinese (for heritage students)
Advanced Chinese
Independent study for Advanced Chinese 
Media Chinese
Chinese Literature 
Chinese Calligraphy and Brush Painting 
Teaching Chinese as a Second Language: Instruction and Practicum
Teaching Chinese as a Second Language: Seminar on Research Design

Publications: Journal articles

2004

Level of cognitive processing: Effects on Character Learning among learners of Chinese as a foreign language, Language and Education, 18, 167-182.

2003
A comparison of written Chinese achievement among heritage learners in homogeneous
and heterogeneous groups, Foreign Language Annals, 36, 258-266.

2002a

[Research and theory building in teaching Chinese in the U.S.: A comprehensive Review and Critique (second author) Yuyan Jiaoxue yu Yanjiu [Language Teaching and Studies, in press]

2000a
Development of orthographic skills in Chinese children, (first author) Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal,13, 197-236. (This article is based on my Ph.D. dissertation.)

2000b
The Interconnections of reading-text-based writing and reading comprehension among college intermediate learners of Chinese as a foreign language, Journal of the Chinese Language Teacher's Association, 35, 29-48.

2000c
Radical knowledge and character learning among learners of Chinese, Yuyan Yanjiu [Linguistic Studies] June, (special issue), 85-93.

1991
The theoretical significance and the practice of the "Situational Teaching Method," Yearbook of the Fourth National Annual Conference of Chinese Pedagogy, Beijing: People's Education Publishing Co. (In Chinese)

1989
The theoretical significance of the "Situational Teaching Method," Jiangsu Education, 10, Nanjing. (Invited, in Chinese)

1987a
Analysis of "A letter to my uncle," A Critique of Selected Letters, in the series Composition and Critique. Nanning: Guangxi People's Publishing Co. (invited, in Chinese)

1987b
Analysis of "I met Grandpa Li and Grandpa Deng," Critique of Selected Diaries, in the series Composition and Critique. Nanning: Guangxi People's Publishing. Co. (invited, in Chinese)

1986
How to train students to think better in language classes, Teaching and Research Monthly, 8, Hangzhou. (In Chinese)

1985a
The childhood of Hans Christian Andersen, Reading and Writing. Children's reading series (Wuhan), Hubei Education Publishing Co. (Invited, in Chinese)

1985b
How to design imaginary compositions, Tianjin Education, 3, Tianjin. (In Chinese)

1984a
Discovery-learning model in Chinese classes, Teaching and Research Monthly, 12, Hangzhou. (In Chinese)

1984b
Strengthening classroom feedback and promoting teaching efficiency, The Elementary School Chinese Teacher, 1, Shanghai. (In Chinese)

1983a
Analysis of a specially designed examination paper, Tianjin Education, 10, Tianjin. (In Chinese)

1983b
Lu Xun loved to listen to stories, Reading and Writing, Children's reading series.Wuhan: Hubei Education Pub. Co. (Invited, In Chinese)

1983c
Cybernetics and language teaching, Tianjin Education, 4, Tianjin. (In Chinese)

1982a
The logical reading model in language instruction, Shanxi Education, 11, Xi'an. (In Chinese)

1982b
Tailoring language instruction to the teaching materials, Teaching and Research Monthly, 5, Hangzhou. (In Chinese)

1982c
Don't overdo the serial-response drill, The Elementary School Chinese Teacher, 2, Shanghai. (In Chinese)

1981
From simple drills to complex drills, Selected Conference papers of the First Annual Conference of Chinese Teachers of Zhejiang Province. Hangzhou, china: Zhejiang Education Institute Press. (In Chinese)

Publications: Book Chapters


2004
The brush reveals the heart: Analysis of the artistic features of Su Shi's calligraphy (book chapter) in Chin, Tsung, & Li, Wendan (eds.),Calligraphy Education, pp. 341-353. Bethesda, MD: The University Press of Maryland.

1990
Administration and personnel preparation, Chapter 11, in The recognition and education of gifted students by James J. Gallagher., translation from English into Chinese, Harbin, China: Heilongjiang People's Publishing Co., 404-447.

1988
Chinese language teaching methodology at the elementary school, co-author of Chapter 4 in Theory and practice of Chinese Instruction in Elementary Schools. Shanghai: East China Normal University Press, 133-172. (This is the textbook for national normal universities and colleges, and won first prize in Zhejiang Province's "Excellence in Education" in 1990)

Publications: Web-based Teaching Materials

2002 Chinese Reading World. http://www.uiowa.edu/~chnsrdng
This program contains 65 reading materials selected from various sources suitable for beginning and intermediate readers as extracurricular reading materials. The purpose of this program is to stimulate students' reading interests and enhance their reading abilities. It provides pinyin for the unfamiliar characters by using a built-in pinyin function; provides meaning for unfamiliar words by using a built-in dictionary; and provides audio for each reading material. (This
project initially was developed when I worked at UVA, and the move of this
website to UI was completed in the fall of 2002.)

2001 Character Learning Project. http://faculty.virgina.edu/cll/character_learning.html
This project consists of two learning programs: Chinese Character Learning Program and Japanese Kanji Learning Program for beginning and intermediate learners. The purpose of this project is to enable students practice and use newly introduced characters in various ways by interacting with the computer. Features of this project include animated stroke order and radicals for characters; audio-supported interactive vocabulary quizzes; and audio-supported interactive exercises at the phrase, sentence, and paragraph level.

National and International Conference presentations:

2005a Learning vocabulary through independent reading: evidence from advanced Chinese learners; paper presented at the international confernece on Chinese character cognition. Germersheim, Germany, August 24-26.

2005b An investigation of word decision strategies among L2 Chinese learners; paper presented at the 14th World Congress of Applied Linguistics, Madison Wisconsin, July 24-29.

2004 Submorphemic Awareness and Word Acquisition: Evidences from Non-Native Beginning Learners of Chinese; paper presented at the 20th World Congress on Reading; Manila, Philippines, July 26-29.

2003 Linguistic complexity and reading comprehension among beginning CFL learners; paper
presented at the 37th Annual Meeting of American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, Philadelphia, November 21-23, 2003.

2002a An investigation of concept of radical and character acquisition among non-native learners of Chinese (first author); paper presented at the 13th World Congress of Applied Linguistics, Singapore, December 16-21, 2002.

2002b An investigation of word decision process among learners of Chinese as a foreign language; paper presented at National Reading Conference 52nd Annual Meeting, Miami, December 4-7, 2002

2002c Interactive reading model and reading comprehension among CFL learners; paper presented at the 39th Annual Meeting of American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, Salt Lake City, November 22-24.

2002d Level of Processing: Effects on character learning among learners of Chinese as a foreign language; paper presented at the Annual Conference of American Association for Applied Linguistics, Salt Lake City, April 6-9.

2001a A psychometric investigation of reading strategies among learners of Chinese as a foreign language; paper presented at the 34th Annual Conference of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, Washington D.C., November.

2001b Character teaching strategies: a cognitive perspective; paper presented at the Second International Conference on Chinese Pedagogy, Yichang, China, June.

2001c Character learning strategies among learners of Chinese and Japanese; paper presented at the Fourth Annual Conference of National Council of Organizations of Less commonly Taught Languages, Washington D.C., April.

2000a Comparison of heritage learners in homogeneous vs. heterogeneous groups: Learning Chinese; paper presented at the Modern Language Association Annual Convention in Washington D.C., December.

2000b Radical knowledge and character learning among learners of Chinese as a foreign language; paper presented at the International Conference on Chinese Pedagogy in Wuhan, China, June.

1998 The brush reveals the heart: An analysis of artistic conception in Su Shi's calligraphy, paper presented at the International Conference on East Asian Calligraphy Education, University of Maryland, April.

1996 Chinese orthography and spelling errors, paper presented at the International Reading Conference, Charleston SC, December.

Invited Lectures, workshops, presentations, and demonstrations

2005 An investigation of character learning strageties among non-native Chinese Learners. Invited talk at the Center for the Study of Chines Characters and Their Applications, East China Normal Univeristy, October.

2005 Linguistic complexity and beginning level reading. Invited talk at the Research Center for Teaching Chinese as a Second Language, Beijing Language and Culture University. April.

2003 A task-based reading instruction model for beginning and intermediate learners of Chinese, paper presented at Symposium on Language as Performed Culture, Ohio State Univeristy, September.

2003 Challigrphy and brush painting workshop offered for the Introduction to Chinese Culture (039:015)

2000 "Comparison of educational philosophy and teaching methodology between US and China."
Two-hour lecture in the Ningbo School District, Ningbo, China. Invited by Ningbo Education Committee and cosponsored by the Overseas Chinese Association, June.

1999 Calligraphy demonstration at the opening ceremony of the Asian Art section at UVa Bayly Art Museum, spring.

1995 "The art of Chinese calligraphy," summer workshop offered at Truckee Meadows Community College, Reno NV.

External Academic Services

· Reviewer for the College Board Advanced Program (2004-present)

· Reviewer for The Modern Language Journal (2005 to present)

· Reviewer for the Foreign Language Annals (2005 to present)

· Concurrent Professor at the Center for Study of Chinese Characters and Their Applications, East China Normal University (2005 to present)

· Guest reviewer for the Reading Research Quarterly (1997-present)

· Consultant for the Drake University Directed Self-Study Chinese Program (2002-2006)

· ACTFL Tester of Chinese with Full Certification (2004-present)

 


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