Joint Postgraduate Student Symposium on Language, Culture and Cognition (JPSS2025)

May 13-14, 2025, Faculty of Humanities, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

PROGRAM BOOK

OVERVIEW

The Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University is pleased to announce the Joint Postgraduate Student Symposium on Language, Culture and Cognition (JPSS2025). The symposium provides an inter-institutional forum for postgraduate research students from the Asia Pacific Region and beyond to present their research, exchange ideas, and share experiences.

TARGET PARTICIPANTS

PROGRAM AT A GLANCE

DAY 1: Tuesday, May 13, 2025

⠀DAY 2: Wednesday, May 14, 2025

⠀

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Dr. Zhenghan QI

Assistant Professor, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders and Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, USA

Dr. Qi directs the Language Acquisition and Brain Laboratory (QLAB). Her research goal is to understand the neurobiological organization of language in the human brain, how that organization changes from childhood through adulthood, how it is disrupted in major neurodevelopmental language disorders, and how knowledge of that organization may enhance language learning and language intervention. She uses behavioral and neuroimaging techniques to study the relationship between language learning, cognitive skills, and brain development in both children and adults.

Keynote Title: Is Implicit Statistical Learning Special for Language Development?

Abstract: The implicit ability to detect and extract regularities and variabilities from sensory inputs is a building block of human cognition. However, the developmental trajectories paradoxically differ between implicit statistical learning across linguistic and non-linguistic domains. I will first present behavioral studies that demonstrate the asymmetry between domains. I will then discuss findings from fMRI and EEG work that point to different processing mechanisms between children and adults.

Professor Xin KANG

Professor, Research Centre for Language, Cognition and Language Application, Chongqing University, China

Prof. Xin Kang is a Professor at the Research Centre for Language, Cognition and Language Application at Chongqing University, China. She received her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of York, UK. Her research focuses on the cognitive, neural, and genetic bases of language learning and processing, with particular emphasis on autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Using behavioral and neuroimaging techniques, including storytelling, eye-tracking, and ERPs, Dr. Kang investigates how both typically developing individuals and those with ASD process and learn language. Her work has been published in prestigious journals including Scientific Data, Science Advances, and npj Science of Learning. Currently, she leads multiple funded projects examining predictive language processing and mental representations in children with ASD and those living in disadvantaged conditions.

Keynote Title: Are young children with autism spectrum disorder impaired in predictive language processing?

Abstract: Understanding predictive language processing in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is crucial for unraveling the cognitive mechanisms underlying communication challenges in this population. While existing studies suggest that individuals with ASD may anticipate upcoming linguistic information, most rely on eye-tracking paradigms with short sentences as stimuli, raising questions about generalizability. In this talk, I present empirical evidence collected from preschool children with ASD and neurotypical children in disadvantaged rural China. Our findings indicate that while children with ASD exhibit intact predictive abilities in simple language tasks, they face difficulties in more complex, real-time processing, particularly involving object-state changes. These results not only contribute to our understanding of language prediction in ASD but also underscore the importance of developing interventions that account for processing demands of complex linguistic stimuli.

DETAILED PROGRAM

Day 1 · Tuesday 13 May 2025 · Room HJ303

Time Item
08:00 – 09:00 Registration
09:00 – 09:10 Welcoming Speech – Prof. Ping Li
09:10 – 09:20 Opening Remarks – Prof. Siok Wai Ting
09:20 – 09:30 Group Photo
09:30 – 10:30 Keynote 1 – Prof. Xin KANG
Are young children with autism spectrum disorder impaired in predictive language processing?
10:30 – 11:00 Tea Break
11:00 – 12:00 Oral Session 1
11:00 – 11:20 Wenbo Wang et al. – Contextual Influence on Chinese Homonym Disambiguation in Large Language Models: Evidence from Angular Distance Analysis
11:20 – 11:40 Yuhong Zhu et al. – Language-universal and Language-specific Sensory Deficits in Chinese Children with Developmental Dyslexia
11:40 – 12:00 Chen Jieyu et al. – Effects of Emotional Face-Word Congruency and Cognitive Load on Working Memory
12:00 – 13:30 Lunch
13:30 – 14:30 Career Development Workshop 1 – Dr. Yike Yang
14:30 – 15:00 Tea Break
15:00 – 17:00 Oral Session 2
15:00 – 15:20 Yuqi Wang & Zhen Qin – English Proficiency Predicted the Cantonese-English Bilinguals’ Attentional Control Ability in Auditory and Visual Domains
15:20 – 15:40 Longyun Hu et al. – Segmentation and Morphological Activation in L1 and L2 Derived Word Recognition
15:40 – 16:00 Xueyi Luo – A Multimodal Intersemiotic Translation Study of Book Covers of the English Versions of The Analects of Confucius
16:00 – 16:20 Han Li et al. – Entrepreneur or Capitalist? Discursive Constructions of a Deceased Business Leader in Digital Mourning Discourse
16:20 – 16:40 Ma Xiangyu & Liu Chun Yin – L2 Proficiency Impacts on Valence and Word Type Effects in Emotion Word Processing
16:40 – 17:00 Vasundhara Srivastava et al. – “Excited” versus “Worried”: Coherence in Personal Narratives of Hindi-speaking Children with and without Autism

Day 2 · Wednesday 14 May 2025 · Room HJ303

Time Item
09:00 – 10:00 Keynote 2 – Dr. Zhenghan QI
Is Implicit Statistical Learning Special for Language Development?
10:00 – 10:30 Tea Break
10:30 – 11:00 Poster Session – Room CF302

Posters:

1 Kwok Ho Ling – A Stylometric Approach to Fictional Dynamics in Translation: Analyzing Activity and Descriptivity in Two English Versions of Hongloumeng

2 Ruby Ka Yee Hui – Communicating Genders: Visual Discourse Analysis of Hong Kong’s Modern Children Magazine’s Front Covers (1941–1951) through Machine Learning

3 Yin Yilin – Modality in Chinese-English Simultaneous Interpreting of the United Nations Security Council Meetings – A Corpus-based Study

4 Han Yi – A Corpus-Based Study: The Representation of Female PhDs in China’s English-Language Reports

5 Yi Xia – UNEP’s Evolving Priorities – A Diachronic Analysis of Annual Reports

6 Li Jinge – Bipartisanship and Blame-Avoidance Strategies in TikTok Congressional Hearing: A Two-part Discourse Analysis

7 Li Yufei – Enhancing Emotional Support: “I Understand”–A Discourse Analysis of Doctor-Caregiver Interactions on Alzheimer’s Disease in China’s Online Medical Platforms (withdrawn)

8 Xiao Yu – Research on the Effects of Foreign Social Media Influencers on the Construction and Communication of China’s Image: An Analysis Based on the Video Comments of IShowSpeed’s China Tour Livestream

9 Xintong Xu – Compare Chinese Orthographic Learning with English Orthographic Learning via Self-teaching: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

10 Xinyu Yao – Orthographic Facilitation in Spoken Vocabulary Acquisition: A Systematic Review

11 Chan Hoi Tung Katherine & Jingbo Zhang – Is Narrative Retelling Enough? A Comparison of Narrative Retelling and Spoken Expository Discourse in Cantonese-Speaking Tweens, Teens and Young Adults

12 Qian Li – Chic Branding and Cultural Inheritance: Multimodal Construction of Chinese Brand Identity on New Media of Creative Tourism

13 Sha Lai – Post-structural Feminist Perspective on Where Angels Fear to Tread: A Corpus-driven Analysis of Gender Narratives in Literary Translation

14 Wanlin Zhu et al. – Emotion Expression in Chinese Culture: Coherence in Personal Narratives of Mandarin-speaking Children

Time Item
11:00 – 12:30 Oral Session 3
11:00 – 11:20 Tianyi Han & Yao Yao – From Novice to Expert: Comparing Cognitive Processing Patterns in Translational Activities Using Eye-tracking
11:20 – 11:40 Xianghu Yu et al. – NeuroPI-NeuroVoice: A Data Acquisition, Analysis & Presentation Platform for Verbal Brain-Computer Interface
11:40 – 12:00 Zhemin Zang – Exploring English Learning Anxiety in Cross-Border Education Based on the CIPP Model
12:00 – 12:20 Yin-To Chui & Quentin Zhen Qin – Native Phonological Experience Modulates Cross-situational Learning of Non-native Tones
12:30 – 13:30 Lunch
13:30 – 14:30 Career Development Workshop 2 – Dr. Kang Xin
14:30 – 15:00 Tea Break
15:00 – 16:20 Oral Session 4
15:00 – 15:20 Kangdi Liu, Yan Feng & Quentin Zhen Qin – Extended Pre-Sleep Training Reinforces Memory Consolidation of Cantonese Tones in Older Adults
15:20 – 15:40 Ruofan Wu et al. – Investigating Bilingual Language Use in Autistic and Typically Developing Children: A Preliminary Study on Language Control
15:40 – 16:00 Manhua Ma & Chonglong Gu – Trauma, Memory and Identity in Enemies, A Love Story
16:00 – 16:20 Chih Ting Yeh et al. – Comparison of Game-Based Grammar Teaching in Rural and Urban Junior High Schools in Terms of Anxiety Levels in Taiwan
16:20 – 16:50 Closing Ceremony & Best Paper Award

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

⠀ Student Organizing Committee:

All sessions will take place in Room HJ303, Faculty of Humanities, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, except for the Poster Session which will be held in Room CF302. Virtual platform options are available for remote participants. Connection details will be sent to registered participants.

CONTACT INFORMATION

For general inquiries:
Email: jpss2025@polyu.edu.hk