Research Approach
My research explores how language, culture, identity, and learning intersect within educational settings. Across my work, I seek to understand how communities sustain knowledge, languages, and cultural practices across generations, and how educators can build on learners' linguistic and cultural strengths. My scholarship is guided by qualitative, community-engaged, and culturally responsive approaches that center the perspectives and experiences of the communities with whom I collaborate.
Chiayi, Taiwan
Photo taken by Huiyu Lin, 2022
This photo was taken on my way home to Chiayi after visiting the Cou Saviki community. From a high point along the mountain road, I could see my hometown stretching across the landscape below. As I stood there, I reflected on the many journeys that led me into the community and the relationships that emerged along the way. Through my work with the Cou community, I learned that research is not simply about generating knowledge but about building trust, listening with humility, and honoring community expertise. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to learn alongside educators, Elders, and community members whose commitment to sustaining the Cou language and culture continues to inspire me. These experiences shaped my approach to scholarship, reinforcing my belief that meaningful research must be relational, reciprocal, and grounded in the voices, experiences, and aspirations of the communities with whom we work.
My Positionality
My research is shaped by a personal journey of unlearning, reclaiming, and taking responsibility.
Growing up in Taiwan, I learned to associate success with Mandarin and assimilation. In the process, I abandoned my heritage language, Taiwanese Hokkien, and distanced myself from parts of my family and cultural identity. As I came to understand Taiwan’s history more deeply, I also began to recognize the ways Han Taiwanese people have benefited from the ongoing marginalization of Indigenous Peoples.
My work with Indigenous communities has taught me to move beyond the idea of “helping” toward relationships grounded in listening, reciprocity, collaboration, and Indigenous self-determination.
My own experience of losing and reclaiming language informs my research on Indigenous language and cultural revitalization. I approach research as a relational practice, one that requires continually examining my own positionality, privilege, and responsibility while working alongside communities toward the futures they envision.
Four Research Themes
Theme 1: Critical Literacy, Teacher Education, and Equitable Learning
Why This Work Matters?
Teachers play a central role in helping students critically engage with language, texts, knowledge, and power. My work explores how teacher education can prepare educators to support diverse learners through culturally responsive, multilingual, and critically informed pedagogies.Research Approaches
My work bridges scholarship and practice by drawing on practitioner inquiry, qualitative educational research, classroom-based research, and field-based teacher education. I am particularly interested in how educators translate theories of equity, literacy, and inclusion into everyday teaching practice.Research Areas
Critical literacy
Teacher education
Culturally responsive education
Culturally sustaining pedagogy
Equity and social justice education
Multilingual education
Critical AI literacyFeatured Questions
How can teacher education programs prepare educators to work with linguistically diverse learners?
How can critical literacy support students in examining issues of power, identity, and representation?
How should educators approach emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence through a critical and human-centered lens?Theme 2: Indigenous Language Revitalization and Community Learning
Why This Work Matters?
Language carries history, culture, relationships, and ways of knowing. Around the world, Indigenous communities continue to revitalize their languages while navigating the ongoing effects of colonialism, assimilation, and globalization. My research examines how communities sustain linguistic and cultural knowledge through education and community-based learning initiatives.Research Approaches
My work draws on qualitative methodologies, community-based participatory research (CBPR), Indigenous methodologies, interviews, participant observation, and sustained community partnerships. I seek to conduct research that is collaborative, relational, and responsive to community priorities.Research Areas
Indigenous language revitalization
Community-based language education
Indigenous knowledge systems
Cultural sustainability
Language sovereignty
Intergenerational learningFeatured Projects
Lin, H. (2025). Indigenous Language Teaching and Learning: Practices in the Cou Saviki Tribal Classroom in Taiwan. Doctoral dissertation, University of Washington, Seattle.Li, H.-J.; Lin, H.; Kabala’an, N.; & Gao Fang, P.-Y. Reviving Indigenous Voices: Decolonizing Taiwan’s Bilingual Education for Cultural and Linguistic Sustainability. Navigating Taiwan’s Bilingual Education Reform and Sustainability Movement through a Glocalization Lens. De Gruyter Brill. Under Review.
Hou, Y.-H.; Kabala’an, N.; & Lin, H. (2024). Indigenous Language Education in Taiwan: From Language Preservation to Community-Based Learning. Taiwan Insight.
Theme 3: Multilingualism, Identity, and Family Language Practices
Why This Work Matters?
Families play a critical role in shaping language learning and cultural identity. My research examines how multilingual families navigate language choices, heritage language maintenance, and identity development across generations and cultural contexts.Research Approaches
Using qualitative interviews, narrative inquiry, and case study methods, I explore how families make meaning of language, culture, and belonging in their everyday lives. I am particularly interested in understanding language learning from the perspectives of learners and their families.Research Areas
Heritage language learning
Family language policy
Language ideologies
Immigrant and transnational families
Multilingual identity development
Home-school language connectionsFeatured Projects
Li, H.-J.; Lin, H.; & Tu, Y.-P. (2025). Three Stories of Language, Learning, and Teaching: Sustaining Multilingual Futures and Fluid Identities across Taiwan and the U.S. TESOL International Bilingual-Multilingual Interest Section (B-MEIS) Biannual Newsletter.Lin, H. (2020). Parents’ Perceptions of Taiwanese-American Children’s Mandarin Chinese Learning and Cultural Identity. University of Washington, Seattle.Lin, H. (2022). Taiwanese American Families’ Linguistic Choices and Language Ideologies. Literacy Research Association Conference (LRA), Phoenix, AZ.
Theme 4: Critical AI Literacy and Human-Centered Learning
Why This Work Matters?
Artificial intelligence is reshaping how people access information, produce knowledge, communicate, and participate in learning communities. My emerging work explores how educators can engage AI critically and ethically while preserving human agency, cultural diversity, and meaningful learning.Research Approaches
Guided by qualitative educational research and practitioner inquiry, I investigate how AI is transforming literacy practices, teaching, and learning. Drawing on critical literacy and culturally responsive perspectives, I examine questions of representation, bias, authorship, power, and access while exploring how teacher candidates can critically engage AI-generated texts and knowledge in ways that support equity and informed decision-making.Research Areas
Critical AI literacy
Digital literacy
Knowledge production
Teacher education
Ethics and equity in AI
Human-centered learningResearch Questions
How does AI influence literacy practices?
How should teacher candidates evaluate AI-generated knowledge?
How can educators address equity, bias, authorship, and representation in AI-mediated learning environments?