Multilingualism, Migration, and Identity

My research on language and identity among transnational migrants in Taiwan explores the multilingual and cross-cultural experiences of marriage migrants, international students, and foreign English teachers. Focusing on the interplay among macro-level language ideologies, meso-level institutional practices, and micro-level interactions, I investigate how migrants negotiate language and identity. This line of research contributes to understanding how globalization and intra-Asian mobility reshape language ideologies, multilingual practices, and identity negotiation in contemporary Taiwan.

Research Grants 

• 2025-2026 Becoming English teachers: International students negotiating identities in ELT in Taiwan II (成為外師: 外籍生的身分認同協商 II), National Science and Technology Council

• 2024-2025 Becoming English teachers: International students negotiating identities in ELT in Taiwan (成為外師: 外籍生的身分認同協商), National Science and Technology Council

• 2017-2018 Negotiating power and identity: Marriage-migrants’ cross cultural interactions in the workplace (新住民職場經驗的敘事分析) Ministry of Science and Technology

• 2015-2016 Globalization, neoliberalism and English-medium instruction in Taiwan (新自由主義與英語授課 - 以一所研究型大學為例) Ministry of Science and Technology

• 2014-2015 Language management and language choice in the global university contact zone: A case study in a research university in Taiwan (國際化下的課堂語言選擇與使用: 一所研究型大學的質性研究) Ministry of Science and Technology 

• 2013-2014 To speak or not to speak in the new Taiwanese university: A longitudinal study of class participation and identity construction in linguistically and culturally diverse graduate classrooms (國際學生與台灣學生的課堂參與及自我認同) National Science Council

• 2012-2013 Multilingual language socialization in adult Mandarin education in Taiwan (台灣老人與外籍配偶的「識字」教育: 多語語言社會化之探討) National Science Council

Research Publications

• Lin, S. (2025). “I am very good at my work!” A narrative inquiry of Southeast Asian marriage migrants’ identity negotiations through their work. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 46(4), 1081-1094. 

• Lin, S., Wu, M.-H., & Leung, G. (2024). Life and work between home and “homeland”: A narrative inquiry of transnational Chinese adoptees’ identity negotiations across time and space. Applied Linguistics Review, 15(5), 1791-1811.

• Lin, S., Wu, M.-H., & Leung, G. (2023). “What if I was not adopted”: Transnational Chinese adoptee English teachers negotiating identities in Taiwan. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 26(2), 216-229.

• Lin, S. & Wu, J. (2022). Transforming identities and ideologies: Creating translanguaging space with overseas Chinese students in Taiwan. Taiwan Journal of TESOL, 19(1), 87-120.

• Lin, S. (2022). Negotiating language choice in multilingual lab meetings: voices from domestic and international students in Taiwan. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 25(1), 117-130.

• Lin, S. (2018). “Then you can ride the scooter to run away!” Gender positioning of marriage-migrants in adult Mandarin education in Taiwan,” International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 21, 617-631.

• Lin, S. (2018). To speak or not to speak in the new Taiwanese university: Class participation and identity construction in linguistically and culturally diverse graduate classrooms. Language and Intercultural Communication, 18(2), 184-203.

• Lin, S. (2015). Circulating discourses of minority education: The linguistic construction of modernity in globalizing Taiwan. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 46(1), 71-87. 

Work in Progress

• Lin, S., & Tsai, C.-H. (In preparation). Negotiating linguistic and cultural pluralities: Voices of international students as English teachers in Taiwan

• Lin, S., Leung, G., & Wu, M.-H. (In preparation). Becoming English teachers in Taiwan: Identity negotiation of Southeast Asian international students in ELT

Recent Invited Talks

• Negotiating Identities through Class Participation: Voices from Domestic and International Students in Taiwan. Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, National Cheng Kung University. March 31, 2025.

• Multilingual Classroom Discourse and Interaction: A Language Socialization Perspective. TESOL Program, Department of English, National Taiwan Normal University. April 29, 2022.