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

My name is Andy Han, I am a doctoral student in the IC Lab. I’m interested in
acculturation, especially how sociocultural context influences individuals’ acculturation
strategies. I am also interested in autonomy in the motivational domain, and how culture
shapes our motivational processes. My research interests have been influenced by my
personal experience of navigating language, acculturation and identity in different
societies, which have expanded and enriched my perspectives. In my free time I enjoy
reading, listening to podcasts, and travelling.

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 is in the last year of the Master of Arts program, and the current ICLab manager. 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 her identity have shaped her research interests. Her project focuses on the stress and coping strategies of Black Canadians. In her free time, she enjoys reading, knitting, and volunteering.