Dr. Rebecca Chen Hsueh Chu has conducted extensive research across multiple fields, including interlanguage phonetics and phonology, third language phonology, foreign accent and intelligibility, and the integration of computer-assisted and corpus-based approaches in pronunciation teaching and learning.

Under Dr. Chen's leadership, her team has successfully completed several research and teaching projects in recent years, showcasing their commitment to advancing knowledge and innovation. One notable project involved the construction of an English Speech corpus and an online flipped corpus-aided spoken English training program. This initiative collected and analyzed over 80 sets of spontaneous data, including IELTS spoken speech and classroom presentations, contributed by learners with varying English proficiency levels. These data were meticulously transcribed and annotated, focusing on four key features: fluency and coherence, lexical resource, grammatical range and accuracy, and pronunciation. Another significant project led by Dr. Chen's team entailed the development of a spoken corpus comprising English spoken by Chinese learners with diverse dialectal backgrounds, as well as non-Chinese learners. This undertaking yielded valuable resources and exercises for pronunciation learning and teaching, alongside a beginner's manual on acoustic phonetics research utilizing Praat software.

Dr. Chen actively engages in knowledge transfer activities with her colleagues in the department, striving to promote innovative corpus-based language pedagogy not only at EdUHK but also in wider educational contexts. The international community has recognized the exceptional contributions of her team. Their project, "Educational Linguistics 2.0 - the use of corpora in language teaching," garnered the prestigious Silver Medal at the 47th International Exhibition of Inventions in Geneva. Furthermore, in 2020, they were honored with the 2020 Esperanto "Access to Language Education" Award, a recognition organized by CALICO, the Esperantic Studies Foundation, and Lernu.net in the USA.

Dr. Chen served as the Head of the Centre for Language in Education from 2019 to 2022. Prior to that, she held the position of Associate Head of the Department of Linguistics and Modern Language Studies (LML) in 2018-19 and served as the Doctor of Education (EdD) Coordinator for English Language from 2017 to 2019. In 2015, her teaching abilities were acknowledged when she received the Faculty Teaching Award in the Faculty of Humanities.

External grants

1. GRF (PI) No: 18600218 Effects of phonological rule-based and acoustic perceptual-based instructions on the prosodic acquisition of English Word Stress by Chinese ESL learners 459,320 HKD (01/01/2019-30/06/2021)

2. GRF (PI) No: 18601420 Third language (L3) phonological development for multilingual learners in the Chinese context 747,960 HKD (01/06/2021-30/11/2023)

3. Technology Fund for Better Living (ITF) (Co-I) No: 5021/19/P A multi-modal Speaking App that introduces primary school pupils to the world of English poetry and intonation 2,699,280 HKD (01/12/2019-30/11/2022)

Internal grants

• TDG (PI) No: T0274 Empowering Multilingual Self-Directed Language Learning in the Digital Age through AI and Corpus-aided Pronunciation Training 400,000 HKD ( 01/11/2023-31/12/2024)
• University KT (PI) No: KT-0003 Teacher training: Revolutionizing English Intonation and Stress Pedagogy in Hong Kong Classrooms with Cutting-Edge Technological Approaches 100,000 HKD (17/07/2023 - 17/05/2024)
• CRAC (PI) No: 03AAO Capacity building and curriculum reform in English language enhancement 1,620,327 HKD (01/07/2020-31/12/2022)
• CoP (Co-PI) No: T0233 Language enhancement at EdUHK and beyond: Fostering a Community of Practice on technology-enhanced language learning and teaching 1,000,000 HKD (1/03/2020-31/12/2021)
• CRAC (Co-I) No: 03AAB The development and evaluation of an innovative corpus-based language teaching approach among school in-service teachers in the Greater Bay Area or beyond 1,200,000 HKD (01/09/2020 -31/08/2022)
• TDG (PI) No: T0246 Development of a flipped corpus-aided spoken English training platform for Chinese learners of English 330,000 HKD ( 01/12/2020 - 31/05/2022)