The publications offered here are authored by Dr Mei-Li Fang (me!). I am passionate about languages, linguistics and best-practice in language pedagogy (teaching methods). Most of my working life has been as a teacher and researcher of Hokkien, Mandarin Chinese, and Japanese.
My textbook on language teaching methodology (in Japanese) outlines an approach to language learning that I call “A Performance Approach”, whose main features are:
- rapid attainment of language skills
- emphasis on speaking and listening and on widely useful language content
- authenticity to the relevant culture(s)
- use of teamwork, media, drama and learner feedback in the classroom
My personal website has a full list of publications, including links to A Performance Approach and further academic papers and books on language pedagogy. For some nice examples of my students’ work, see my pedagogy page, and my Centre of Excellence for Teaching Languages project on the Performance Approach.
I completed my PhD in Linguistics at Ochanomizu University in Japan in 1997. I then held a Post Doctoral postition at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, where I specialised in classical Chinese orthography. Following that I was Assistant Professor of Japanese at Fu-Jen University in Taiwan, Foreign Professor in Mandarin Chinese at Tsukuba University and Ochanomizu University in Japan, and taught Hokkien at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies and SOAS University of London, and Mandarin at Imperial College in London.