Post-Doctoral and Graduate Students

Graduate Students                                              


Xijia Zhang

My name is Xijia Zhang and I am from China. I am interested in the psychology of language learners, especially how their language learning is affected by their motivation, how their motivation may be influenced by social factors such as acculturation, and how students’ motivation may interact with language teachers’ teaching motivation. I am also interested in the role of psychology and social contexts in Chinese heritage language learning.

Email: xijia1@ualberta.ca


Jingyi Zhang

I am Jingyi Zhang, a senior graduate student. Benefiting from travelling and volunteering, I have interacted with numerous international people, especially diverse families, which strengthened my research interest in immigration families’ acculturation and family bicultural socialization. I enjoy cooking without recipes, skiing, hiking, and camping at leisure.


Bilan Abdulkadir

Bilan is a second-year student in the Master of Arts program. She began in the Intercultural Communication Lab in 2021 during her undergraduate honours degree. Bilan’s parents are Somali immigrants, and she was born and raised in a small town; those aspects of my identity have shaped her research focus. She is interested in examining the experiences and identities of first- and second-generation Black Canadians, such as how they cope with discrimination. In her free time, she enjoys reading, knitting, and volunteering.

Andrei Gatchalian (he/him)

Andrei is in his first year of the Master of Arts (Thesis) program. He recently earned his BA (Honors) in Psychology from the University of Alberta. Having immigrated to Canada at an early age, he understands the importance of language, especially retaining his mother tongue, Tagalog, while growing up. He is interested in exploring the factors that influence a person’s decision to learn another language. Outside of academia, Andrei enjoys travelling (backpacking) and trying new activities to stay active. His recent choice of sport has been running; he ran three races this summer and hopes to complete a full marathon in the future.