About me
Amy Chi joined the Center in 1992 and has been teaching, writing materials and co-ordinating
a range of English courses for academic purposes to both undergraduate and postgraduate
students from all disciplines of the university.
The core of her research work is in the area of pedagogical lexicography, underpinning
teaching and learning English as a second language. The scope of her research includes EFL
learners’ dictionaries, dictionary use training methodology and materials, second language
vocabulary acquisition and phraseology. Her other research interests include lexicology,
language and culture, history of English and phonetics.
She was invited as Advisor for the compilation of the Macmillan English Dictionary (First
edition, 2002), and an external reviewer for Lexikos Journal, Journal of Translation Studies of
Chinese University Press and Commercial Press (HK Ltd.). Chi was the founding secretary
(1997-1999) and Executive Board member (1999-2011) of ASIALEX– Asia Association for
Lexicography.
She is a dedicated diurnal and nocturnal hiker.
Qualification
2003
Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics
Macquarie University
1992
Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics
University of Exeter
1991
Bachelor of Philosophy (English in Education)
University of Birmingham
1988
Certificate in the Phonetics of English
Department of Extra-Mural Studies, University of Hong Kong
1986
Teacher’s Certificate
Grantham College of Education
Achievements

Awards received
2009
Received the Language Center’s (HKUST) “Director’s Commendation” in recognition of
meritorious contributions to the teaching of English in the Language Center
2005
Received the Language Center’s (HKUST) “Outstanding Performance” Award in recognition
of contributions to course development
2002
Received the Language Center’s (HKUST) “Teamwork” (Co-curricular Team) Award
 Grant received
1997
As Principal Investigator, received a grant from the Action Learning Project funded by UGC
of Hong Kong. The project was titled “Writing materials and training students to use
dictionaries effectively and efficiently to assist their learning in English”. Amount:
HK$147,729

Conference convenor
Convened two international conferences hosted by the CLE (erstwhile Language Centre). The
two conferences were:
 2008, Jan 7 - 11
Responding to Change: Flexibility in the Delivery of Language Programmes
The conference was co-hosted with Payap University, Chiang Mai, Thailand
 1997, Mar 26 - 29
Dictionaries in Asia: Research and Pedagogical Implication
Teaching
In recent years, Chi’s work has centred on undergraduates of the School of Humanities and
Social Science. This includes coordinating, writing materials and teaching students of the BSc
Global China Studies program and teaching the Common Core Program “Cultures and
Values”.
She is also responsible for an MSc course offered by the School of Engineering entitled
“English Communication for Postgraduate Engineering Studies”.
Course name and code
HUMA1000 Cultures and Values
The course objectives include building communicative capacity through
humanities knowledge and enrichment of values and perspectives
corresponding to the mission and vision of UST.
LANG2070
English Communication I
The course focuses on developing skills important to students of Humanities
and they are: critical reading and thinking, research and academic writing,
seminar, presentation and vocabulary.
LANG3070
English Communication II
This course is the second of two required English courses of the Program. It
builds on the skills students would have acquired from LANG 2070, and
prepares them for the challenges of writing long academic essays and making
presentations at academic conferences.
LANG5030
English Communication for Postgraduate Engineering Studies
In this course, students will learn about and practice the skills of effective
presentations and discussions in an academic context. Students will also be
guided step-by-step to master referencing skills required in academic writing
for the School of Engineering. At the same time, students learn what
constitutes plagiarism and the consequences of committing it. The course also
provides training to students for them to become independent life-long
language learners.
Professional Interests
Teaching English for Academic Purposes
Pedagogical Lexicography
Dictionary use training for ESL/EFL teachers
Second language vocabulary acquisition
Phraseology
Lexicology
Language and Culture
Teaching Cantonese as a foreign language
Publications
Recent publications include:
2013
Cultural distinction impacts on comprehension of known words at phrase
level. Project: Intercontinental Dialogue of Phraseology 2 (IDP): Research
on phraseology across continents. Poland: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu w
Bialymstoku.
2013
Current research and issues: Researching pedagogical lexicography. In H.
Jackson (Ed.), Bloomsbury Companion to Lexicography. London & New York:
Bloomsbury.
2011
When dictionaries support vocabulary learning, where to begin? In K. Akasu and
S. Uchida (Eds.) ASIALEX ’11 Kyoto Proceedings: Lexicography: Theoretical and
Practical Perspectives (pp. 76–85). Kyoto Terrsa, Kyoto, Japan.
2010
Applying formal vocabulary to academic writing: Is the task achievable? In J.C.
Richards (Guest Ed.) Reflections on English Language Teaching (RELT) – Special
Issue on Teacher as Researcher, 9(2), 171–190.
2009
Relevance of EFL dictionaries in English teaching – “Will you still need me, when
I'm sixty-four?” In ASIALEX ’09 Bangkok Proceedings: Dictionary in Education.
King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Bangkok, Thailand.
2005
Dictionary, teaching and student – the English Language Triangle. In Journal of the
Institute of Linguists, Jubilee Edition 25, 65–71.
Presentations
Recent international conferences attended where a paper was presented:
2011
Paper entitled “When dictionaries support vocabulary learning, where to begin?” in
the 7th biennial conference of the Asian Association for Lexicography, organised
by the Kyoto Organizing Committee, Kyoto Terrsa, Kyoto, Japan. August 22-24
2009
Paper entitled “Relevance of EFL dictionaries in English teaching – “Will you still
need me, when I'm sixty-four?” in the 6th biennial conference of the Asian
Association for Lexicography, organised by the Department of Languages and
Social Sciences, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Bangkok,
Thailand, August 20-22
2009
Paper entitled “Using English dictionaries is not as easy as ABC” in the 17th
biennial meeting of the Dictionary Society of North America, organised by Indiana
University, Bloomington, USA, May 27-30
2007
Paper entitled “Teaching dictionary use – A case study at the Language Centre of
the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology” in the 5th biennial
conference of the Asian Association for Lexicography organised by the University
of Madras, Chennai, India, December 6-8
Recent invited interviews and talks conducted in Hong Kong
2010
Jul 16
Invited by Oxford University Press to present a talk entitled, “Is it Time to
Discard our Print Dictionaries?” at the Learning & Teaching Expo 2010’,
Hong Kong
2008
Jun 26
Interviewed and an article entitled “Traditional English Dictionaries
Strengthen Learners’ English competence” was published in Hong Kong Economic
Times
2008
Mar 22
Interviewed by an educational radio programme of Radio Television Hong
Kong on the theme “How to learn English well?”
2008
Mar 9
Interviewed and an article entitled “Hong Kong students fail to exploit 90% of
information offered by English learners’ dictionaries” was published in Ming Pao
Daily News
2008
Invited by Commercial Press (H.K.) Ltd. to give a talk to secondary school Mar 8
English teachers of Hong Kong on “Using English learners’ dictionaries: ways
to entice and train students to acquire the habit”
Contact me
CV