The Center for Language Cognition and Development Research at the School of Foreign Languages, South China University of Technology, established in 2023, is an interdisciplinary research platform focusing on language cognition and language development. The center operates under the leadership of South China University of Technology and is organized and coordinated by the School of Foreign Languages.

Strategic Positioning

Responding to the national call to comprehensively advance the New Liberal Arts Initiative, the center is committed to leveraging the advantages of multidisciplinary integration, further deepening the interdisciplinary convergence of linguistics, psychology, computer science, and other fields. Guided by major academic frontiers and national development strategies, and in line with the goals and tasks of the university's Double First-Class initiative, the center integrates academic resources with the principles of innovation, coordination, openness, and sharing. It harnesses its strengths to fully mobilize the initiative and creativity of faculty and students, fostering a vibrant academic environment.

With psycholinguistic foundational research at its core, the center drives the steady development of teaching and research in applied fields such as bilingual development, business discourse analysis, language testing, and electronic lexicography, supporting the development of the doctoral program in the first-level discipline of Foreign Languages and Literatures. It organizes a series of academic activities, deepens domestic and international exchanges, and collaborates with renowned scholars from institutions such as the University of Cambridge, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Hawaii, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, and South China Normal University.

Research Areas

This innovative research platform targets emerging growth points at the intersection of multiple cognitive science fields, including linguistics, psychology, and artificial intelligence. Key research directions include language cognitive processing, intelligent cognitive diagnosis, affective discourse analysis, automated speech assessment, multimodal cognition and discourse studies, translation cognitive process research, computer-assisted language learning, and dictionary and textbook studies.

Current research projects include:

(1) Eye-tracking studies on the syntactic priming effects of function words in bilingual sentence comprehension, and first- and second-language processing studies of special VNN constructions in Chinese;

(2) Machine learning-based studies on the shaping of China in college students' affective discourse, and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI)-based (semi-)automated dictionary compilation research;

(3) Cognitive diagnostic computerized adaptive testing research, feedback mechanisms and effectiveness of score reports in the context of big data, automated speech assessment, and studies on the impact of automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology on the quality of English-Chinese simultaneous interpreting;

(4) Studies on national consciousness discourse in English textbooks for primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong, multimodal discourse analysis of electronic dictionaries, and eye-tracking studies on the effects of dictionary illustrations on word meaning comprehension and retention.

Research Team

The center has assembled a diverse research team with backgrounds in linguistics, psychology, communication studies, management, computer science, and other disciplines. It currently consists of 8 full-time researchers and 10 part-time researchers from renowned institutions and universities both in China and abroad. Team members are actively engaged in academic service, holding positions such as executive council members of the Second Language Processing Committee of the Chinese Comparative Society of Language and Culture, executive council members of the Bilingual Dictionary Committee of the Chinese Lexicographical Society, and council members of the Language Testing and Assessment Committee of the China Association for Comparative Studies of English and Chinese.

The center is also dedicated to building a tiered research and innovation team comprising undergraduate, master's, and doctoral students. Center mentors have enrolled 2 doctoral students and over 20 master's students, cultivating a talent pool for tackling foundational and applied research projects. Additionally, the center provides an academic platform for young scholars, helping them reach international academic heights, share China's academic stories, and amplify the voices of Chinese scholars.

Research Achievements

Center members have led over 20 research projects, including those funded by the National Social Science Fund, sub-projects of the Ministry of Education's Major Philosophy and Social Sciences Research Project, the National Education Science Planning Project, the Guangdong Philosophy and Social Sciences Planning Project, and the Guangzhou Philosophy and Social Sciences Planning Project. They have published more than 40 high-quality papers in SSCI- or CSSCI-indexed journals such as Journal of Memory and Language, Sage Open, Frontiers in Psychology, Visual Studies, Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, International Journal of Lexicography, Foreign Language Teaching and Research, Modern Foreign Languages, Foreign Languages in China, and Foreign Language World. Three SSCI journal papers by center members have contributed to South China University of Technology's entry into the top 1% globally in the ESI Social Sciences General category in 2019.

Organizational Structure

Director of the Center: Liu Xiqin

Deputy Directors of the Center: Che Siqi, Chen Jin

Email: flxqliu@scut.edu.cn