Researcher · Educator · Theorist
Charting new territories at the intersection of AI, language education, and evidence-informed practice — drawing on sociocultural theory to illuminate how humans learn, adapt, and grow.
01 · About
I am an applied linguist and educational researcher whose work spans language education, AI in learning, teacher professional development, and evidence synthesis for policy.
Based between Vietnam and Australia, I bring a deeply cross-cultural lens to questions about how people learn languages, how teachers exercise agency in complex environments, and how knowledge — especially AI-generated knowledge — must be critically evaluated before shaping policy and practice.
My work is grounded in Vygotsky's cultural-historical theory, which I use as a living intellectual framework to understand how emotion, cognition, and social context interweave in human development — and increasingly, in human–AI interaction.
I believe rigorous scholarship must reach beyond the academy — to classrooms, to policymakers, and to the people whose lives depend on good evidence.
02 · Impact
My research profile brings together sustained publication activity, citation visibility, international collaboration, and a developing programme of work across AI in education, applied linguistics, sociocultural theory, teacher agency, and evidence-informed policy and practice.
03 · Research Themes
How AI tools reshape learning, critical thinking, and academic integrity — and how educators should respond. My work introduces new frameworks including Human–AI Distributed Critical Thinking (HADCT) and EIPP-CT to guide responsible, critically-informed AI integration.
How teachers exercise professional agency amid reform, uncertainty, and institutional constraint. Through systematic reviews and empirical studies, I map the internal capacities and contextual conditions that enable teachers to shape their own practice and professional growth.
Sustained theoretical work on Vygotsky's cultural-historical theory — including emotion–cognition relations, perezhivanie, and the ZPD — alongside the activity theories of Leontiev and Engeström. My goal: clarify foundational concepts and reveal their living relevance for today's educational challenges.
Language learning in Vietnamese and global EFL contexts — portfolio-based instruction, translanguaging, L2 vocabulary growth, and scale validation. Connecting classroom realities to broader theories of language acquisition, identity, and motivation.
Systematic and rapid reviews as tools for real-world policy and practice. My postdoctoral work at Monash deepens a commitment to bridging rigorous research and decision-making — ensuring evidence reaches the people who need it most.
04 · Knowledge Map
05 · Vision
"Good research doesn't just describe the world — it reorients how we see it, making new kinds of action possible."
I am driven by a conviction that scholarship must serve people — students navigating AI-mediated classrooms, teachers seeking to act with agency, and policymakers who need evidence they can trust. My work reaches toward a future where the power of rigorous inquiry is shared widely, where critical thinking is not a luxury but a democratic practice, and where the complexity of human experience is never reduced to an algorithm.
06 · Speaking Invitation
I welcome thoughtful invitations to speak with universities, research groups, professional learning communities, and educational organisations on themes connected to my work.
Please use the form to outline the proposed presentation, audience, format, and timing. This helps me assess whether the invitation is a good intellectual and practical fit.
07 · Connect
I welcome connections with fellow researchers, educators, institutions, and policymakers working across AI in education, language learning, teacher development, and evidence synthesis.
Meaningful collaborations often begin with a focused question, a shared problem, or a concise exchange around a common interest.