Agnes He
Distinguished Professor
Director, Center for Multilingual and Intercultural Communication

 

 

HUMANITIES 1116

agnes.he@stonybrook.edu

 

Biography

Agnes Weiyun He is SUNY Distinguished Professor of Applied Linguistics, Founder and Director of the Center for Multilingual and Intercultural Communication (2014-present), Past Chair of the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies (2014-2020; 2023-2024), Past Secretary of American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL, 2022-2026) and Incoming Second Vice President of AAAL (effective March 2027).  A multilingual scholar whose life has unfolded across many boundaries, Professor He brings to research and teaching a deep commitment to understanding languages as vital human resources that sustain dignity, diversity, collective well-being, as well as the development of cognition.  As a scholar and an academic leader, Professor He strives to foster interdisciplinary collaborations that elevate research standards, broaden intellectual participation, and promote cultures of shared inquiry.

Professor He received her BA in English from Beijing Foreign Studies University, a Diploma in Education from the National Institute of Education (Singapore), an MA in English as a Second Language from the University of Arizona, and a PhD in Applied Linguistics from UCLA. Focusing on heritage language socialization and intercultural communicative competence, her scholarship foregrounds lived experience and cultural and interactional situatedness. Her research has been supported by the Spencer Foundation, the U.S. National Academy of Education, the U.S. National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Education. She was named Guggenheim Fellow in 2011.

Professor He is the author and editor of four books, including Voices of Immigration (2025, Cambridge University Press), and numerous journal articles that have helped shape scholarship in heritage language studies, language socialization, and discourse analysis. She was among the earliest scholars to demonstrate how heritage languages challenge essentialist notions of identity, community, and culture by emphasizing contingency, hybridity, and indeterminacy. Her work has appeared in journals such as Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, Language in Society, The Modern Language Journal, Foreign Language Annals, Journal of Pragmatics, Research on Language and Social Interaction, Chinese Language and Discourse, Linguistics and Education, Journal of Narrative and Life History, The Heritage Language Journal, and Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, among others.

Professor He’s regular courses include Intercultural Communication, Structure of Mandarin Chinese, and Chinese Language and Culture.  Occasionally she offers seminars on research methods and global studies seminars on heritage languages.

Books

He, Agnes Weiyun (2025). Voices of Immigration: A Serial Narrative Ethnography of Language Shift. Cambridge University Press.
 
He, Agnes Weiyun & Xiao, Yun.  (Eds.) (2008). Chinese as a Heritage Language: Fostering Rooted World Citizenry. Honolulu: NFLRC/University of Hawaii Press.
  
He, Agnes Weiyun. (1998). Reconstructing Institutions:  Language Use in Academic Counseling Encounters.  Greenwich, CT and London, UK:  Greenwood.

Young, Richard & He, Agnes Weiyun.  (Eds.)  (1998). Talking and Testing:  Discourse Approaches to the Assessment of Oral Language Proficiency.  Philadelphia: Benjamins.

Selected Book Chapters

Selected Book Chapters

He, A. W. (2021).  A narrative-ethnographic approach to heritage language research.  In S. Montrol & M. Polinsky (eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Heritage Languages and Linguistics (pp. 499-519). Cambridge University Press.

He, A. W. (2018).  A non-linear view on discourse and interaction: speaking Chinese as a heritage language. In C. Ke (ed.) The Routledge Handbook of Chinese Second Language Acquisition (pp. 336-351). Routledge.

He, A. W. (2017).  Discourse analysis.  In M. Aronoff and J. Rees-Miller (eds.) The Handbook of Linguistics, 2 nd edition (pp. 445-462).  Wiley-Blackwell.

He, A. W. (2016).  Heritage Language Learning and Socialization.  In P.A. Duff & S. May (eds.),  Language Socialization, Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Springer.   doi:10.1007/978-3-319-02327-4_14-1

He, A. W.  (2016).  Across generations and geographies: Communication in Chinese heritage language speaking households.  In Li Wei (ed.) Multilingualism in the Chinese Diaspora Worldwide (293-311).  New York: Routledge.

He, A. W.  (2015).  Literacy, creativity, and continuity: A language socialization perspective on heritage language classroom interaction.  In Numa Markee (ed.) Handbook of Classroom Interaction (pp. 304-318), Wiley-Blackwell.

He, A. W. (2015). Chinese as a heritage language.  In William Wang & Chaofen Sun (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics (pp. 578-589).  Oxford University Press.

He, A.W.  (2014).  Identity construction throughout the life cycle.  In T. Wiley, J. K. Peyton, D. Christian, S. Moore & N. Liu (eds.), Handbook of Heritage and Community Languages in the United States: Research, Educational Practice, and Policy (pp. 324-332).  New York: Routledge.

He, A. W. (2013).  The painted word: translingual practices within turn-constructional-units. In Z. Jing-Schmidt (ed.), Increased Empiricism (pp. 127-146).  John Benjamins

He, A. W. (2012).  “Do I really have to?”: the give-and-take of deontic meaning in Chinese.  In Daniel Kadar & Yuling Pan (eds.), Chinese Discourse and Interaction (pp.68-87).  London: Equinox.

He, A. W. (2011).  Heritage language socialization.  In A. Duranti, E. Ochs & B. Schieffelin (eds.) The Handbook of Language Socialization (pp. 587-609) .  Oxford: Blackwell.

He, A. W. (2011).  Language socialization.  In J. Simpson (ed.) Routledge Handbook of Applied Linguistics (pp. 287-302).   New York: Routledge.

He, A. W. (2009).  Sequences, Scripts, and Subject Pronouns in the Construction of Chinese Heritage Identity.  In A. Reyes & A. Lo (eds.) Beyond Yellow English: Toward a Linguistic Anthropology of Asian Pacific America (pp. 366-384).  New York: Oxford University Press.

He, A. W.  (2008). Heritage language learning and socialization.  In P. Duff & N. Hornberger (eds.), Encyclopedia of Language and Education, Volume 8: Language Socialization (pp. 201-213).  New York: Springer.

He, A. W.  (2005).  Discipline, directives, and deletions:  grammar and interaction in Chinese heritage language classes.  In C. Holten & J. Frodesen (eds.) The power of context in language teaching and learning:  a Festschrift for Marianne Celce-Murcia (pp. 115-126) .  Boston:  Thomson Heinle.

He, A. W.  (2003). Novices and their speech roles in Chinese heritage language classes.  In R. Baley & S. Schecter (eds.) Language socialization in bilingual and multilingual societies (pp. 128-146).  Clevedon:  Multilingual Matters.

He, A. W.  (2003). Linguistic anthropology and language education.  In S. Wortham & B. Rymes (eds.) Linguistic anthropology of education (pp. 93-119).  Westport, CT and London:  Praeger.

Selected Journal Articles

Selected Journal Articles

He, A. W. & Mo, L.  (2019). The role of discourse in language development.  课堂语用在学生语言发展中的作用. Journal of International Chinese Language Education国际汉语教育. 4(2): 75-86.

He, A. W. (2016). Discursive roles and responsibilities: a study of interactions in Chinese immigrant households.  Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, DOI: 10.1080/01434632.2015.1127930

He, A. W. (2013).  The wor(l)d is a collage: multi-performance by Chinese heritage language speakers.  The Modern Language Journal 97(2): 304-317.

 He, A. W. (2011).  The role of repair in modulating modal stances in Chinese discourse.  Chinese Language and Discourse 2(1): 1-22.

 He, A. W. (2010).  Socio-cultural dimensions of heritage language learning.  Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 30: 66-82.

He, A. W. (2006).  Toward an identity-based model for the development of Chinese as a heritage language.  The Heritage Language Journal 4(1): 1-28.

He, A. W. (2004).  CA for SLA:  Arguments from Chinese language classes.  The Modern Language Journal, 88(4):568-582.  

He, A. W. (2004).  Identity construction in Chinese heritage language classes.  Pragmatics, 14(2/3): 199-216.

He, A. W.  (2001). The language of ambiguity:  practices in Chinese heritage language classes.  Discourse Studies, 3(1): 75-96.

Chen, Y. & He, A. W.  (2001).  Dui bu dui as a pragmatic marker: evidence from Chinese classroom discourse.  Journal of Pragmatics 33:1441-1465.

He, A. W. (2000). Grammatical and sequential organization of teachers' directives.  Linguistics and Education 11(2):119-140.

He, A. W. & Lindsey, B. (1998). “You know” as an information status enhancing device: arguments from grammar and interaction.  Functions of Language, 5(2): 133-155.

He, A. W. & Tsoneva, S. (1998). The symbiosis of choices and control:  a discourse-based account of CAN.  Journal of Pragmatics, 29(5): 615-637.

He, A. W. (1996).  Narrative processes and institutional activities:  recipient guided storytelling in academic counseling encounters.  Pragmatics, 6(2), 205-216.

He, A. W.  (1996).  Stories as academic counseling resources.  Journal of Narrative and Life History, 6(2), 107-121.

He, A. W. (1995).  Co-constructing institutional identities:  the case of student counselees.  Research on Language and Social Interaction, 28(3), 213-231.

He, A. W. (1994).  Withholding academic advice:  institutional context and discourse practice.  Discourse Processes, 18(3), 297-316.

He, A. W. (1993).  Exploring modality in institutional interactions:  cases from academic counseling encounters.  TEXT, 13(4), 503-528.

He, A. W. (1993).  Language use in peer review texts.  Language in Society, 22(3), 403-420.

Selected Plenary/Keynote Presentations

2022  “Equity beyond efficacy in language teaching.” Keynote Presentation, American Association of Teachers of Korean (AATK) Conference, June 16-18, Cornell University.

2021  “Living and languaging across territory and time: toward a dynamic view of linguistic diaspora.” Keynote presented (on Zoom) at the Foundation for Endangered Languages XXV Conference, December 16, Tirana, Albania.

2018  “Perspectives, Proficiencies and Planning: the case of Chinese as a Heritage Language.” Conference on Language Planning, Maintenance and Shift, September 19-20, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.

2017  “Students of Chinese Background: Characteristics and Possibilities for Greater Success.” The Association of International Education Administrators (AIEA) Thematic Forum. April 12, Stony Brook University.

2016  “ Porridge or Pasta: Creating Interactional Space for Language Learning”. The 5th International Symposium on Chinese Applied Linguistics (5 thISCAL), April 22-23, University of Iowa.

2015  “Sociocultural and Interactional Approaches to Research on Heritage Language”. The 8 thHeritage Language Research Institute, June 1-4, Harvard University.

2014  “In Other Words: the Metamorphosis of Meaning”. The 2 ndConference of the American Pragmatics Association (AMPRA), October 17-19, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

2013  “Language of the Heart and Heritage: A Tangled Tale”. The Annual Meeting of the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL), March 16-19, Dallas, Texas.

2012  “The wor(l)d is a collage.” Second Language Acquisition Graduate Student Symposium, April 13-14, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

2011  “Language, Heritage, and Translanguaging: the case of Chinese”. The 23 rdNorth American Conference on Chinese Linguistics (NACCL-23). June 17-19, Eugene, Oregon. 

2009  “Maintaining Mandarin as a Heritage Language.” Conference on Chinese Heritage Learners, April 2-3, Arizona State University.

2006  “Pragmatics as Teachers’ Practice.” Conference on Pragmatics in the Chinese / Japanese / Korean Classroom:  The State of the Art, June 5-7, University of Hawaii at Manoa.