Alfred W. T. Lo

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DPhil Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (Applied Linguistics and East Asian Studies)
Wolfson College
alfred.lo@ames.ox.ac.uk

Biography

Alfred W. T. Lo, FHEA, is Oxford-Wolfson-Marriott DPhil candidate in Linguistics and East Asian (Korean) Studies at the University of Oxford, where he also teaches modern languages and East Asian Studies to undergraduate and postgraduate students. He is the Founding Tutor of the first Korean language programme at the Oxford University Language Centre. He was elected as Honorary China Oxford Scholar in 2023 and is currently Junior Visiting Fellow at the Faculty of Humanities, The Education University of Hong Kong (2023-26).

He holds Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) from both the UK Department for Education and the Hong Kong Education Bureau, as well as Fellowship of the HE Academy. His teaching experience spans from primary through to postgraduate levels. He began his career as a full-time primary and secondary school teacher in multiple cities and later worked as Tutor of Sociolinguistics and Writing Consultant in Linguistics at the School of English, The University of Hong Kong. He is currently involved in various initiatives to promote the learning of modern languages in the UK through the Oxford’s Undergraduate Admissions and Outreach, Language Centre, Queen’s College, Balliol College, and Regent’s Park College, where he designs and leads workshops for disadvantaged pupils in state schools.

He serves as World Englishes Pronunciation Consultant (Hong Kong English) for the Oxford English Dictionary (hear his voice in entries e.g. tai tai, bing sutt, and walla walla). He is also a Junior Editorial Board Member (2025–27) of TESOL Quarterly. He was named a finalist for the 2024 System Early Career Researcher Award (Elsevier). His work has been awarded and supported by the Oxford-Wolfson-Marriott Scholarship, Young Bin Min Fund, China Oxford Scholarship Fund, Academy of Korean Studies, BAAL/Cambridge University Press, Digital Humanities@Oxford, Korean Cultural Centre UK, and The Education University of Hong Kong.

Alfred’s research focuses on the intersections of language, culture, and education. As a transdisciplinary scholar, he brings together expertise in language communication and learning with his long-standing personal interest in the Korean peninsula since the early 2000s. His primary line of inquiry centres on sociocultural perspectives on language learning and use, with research interests including Global Englishes/English as a Multilingua Franca, translanguaging and transcultural communication, and Content and Language Integrated Learning. His second research strand focuses on Hallyu (the Korean Wave), particularly on transcultural flows and the critical/cultural understanding of fandom communities. He has been invited as a panel member to share his work from a sociolinguistic perspective at Yonsei University and Seoul National University’s Asia Centre and.

His work has appeared in System, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, Language and Education, and ELT Journal, as well as with Bloomsbury Academic and Springer Nature. He is the co-author of Fandom Language Learning (Bloomsbury, 2025, with Jieun Kiaer), which introduces the first comprehensive book-length study of the relationship between fandom and language learning across digital, instructed, and formal contexts.

Educational Background

  • Visiting Student of AI Linguistics, Korea University (2025)
  • M.Sc. Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition (Distinction), University of Oxford (2021)
  • Visiting Student of Korean Language and Culture, Seoul National University (2019)
  • Visiting Student of Language Teaching, University of Auckland (2019)
  • B.A. Language Studies and B.Ed. English Language (1st Hons), The Education University of Hong Kong (2016)

Qualifications

  • Fellowship of Higher Education Academy (FHEA) (2025 – Present)
  • Qualified Teacher Status (England), UK Department for Education (2024 – Present)
  • Qualified Teacher Status, Hong Kong Education Bureau (2021 – Present)

Research interests

  • Fandom Language Learning and Communication
  • Global Englishes (with particular interests in East Asian Englishes and pedagogical practices)
  • Translanguaging and Transcultural Communication in Digital Contexts
  • Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)
  • Hallyu (Korean Wave)
  • Traditional and Modern Korean Cultures
  • Inter-Korean relations

Supervisors

Professor Jieun Kiaer

Professor Heath Rose

Projects Involved

  • Theorising Plurilingual Assessment, The Education University of Hong Kong (2024 - )
  • Oxplore Project, Undergraduate Admissions and Outreach, University of Oxford (2023 - )
  • Queen’s Creative Translation Exchange, Queen’s College, University of Oxford (2023 - )
  • BeUNIQ, Undergraduate Admissions and Outreach, University of Oxford (2023 - )
  • UNIQ Programme, Faculty of AMES, University of Oxford (2024)
  • TCAT Project, Undergraduate Admissions and Outreach, University of Oxford (2024)

Courses Taught

Oxford University Language Centre

  • Stage 1 Part 1, Korean: Languages for All (Founding Tutor)
  • Stage 1 Part 2, Korean: Languages for All (Founding Tutor)
  • Stage 1 Part 3, Korean: Languages for All (Founding Tutor)

Regent’s Park College, University of Oxford

  • Transnationalism in East Asian Literature and International Relations

School of English, The University of Hong Kong

  • ENGL7101 Introduction to Language and Communication (Postgraduate)
  • ENGL7110 Gender, Discourse and Society (Postgraduate)
  • Writing Consultant of Linguistics (Postgraduate)

Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Oxford

  • The Language of Pop Culture in East Asia (UNIQ Programme)

Undergraduate Admissions and Outreach, University of Oxford

  • Introduction to Phonetics (TCAT Programme)
  • Would It be better if we all spoke the same language? (Oxplore Programme)
  • Introduction to Higher Education (BeUNIQ Programme)

Recent publications

Monographs

  • Kiaer, J. & Lo, A. W. T.* (2025). Fandom Language Learning: A Digital Transformation of Language Education in the AI Age. London: Bloomsbury Academic. (*corresponding author)

Journal Articles

  • Lo, A. W. T. (2025). A Digital Pedagogy for Transcultural ELT through Global Englishes. ELT Journal. 1-13.
  • Lo, A. W. T. (2025). The educational affordances and challenges of generative AI in Global Englishes-oriented materials development and implementation: A critical ecological perspective. System, 130(10361), 0.

  • Lo, A. W. T. (2024). Students’ self-regulatory processes in content and language integrated learning: a vignette-based microanalytic study. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 28(1), 19–35.

  • Lo, A. W. T. (2024). Unlocking CLIL success: exploring the interplay between students’ self-regulation levels, linguistic challenges and learning outcomes in Hong Kong secondary education. Language and Education, 1–19.

Book Chapter

Textbook(s)

  • Lo, A. & Yoon, T. (2025). Annyeong? Korean 1 Workbook. Seoul: Hello Korean Inc.

Professional Community Service

  • Junior Editorial Member, TESOL Quarterly (2025 - 27)

  • Pronunciation Consultant (Hong Kong English), Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford University Press (2024 - )

  • Student Editor (Behind the Scenes Scheme), Review of Education BERA (2024 - 25)

  • Academic Officer - Arts, Humanities and Social Science, Oxford University Hong Kong Scholars Association (2023 - 24)

  • Year Convenor, China Oxford Scholarship Fund (2023-24)

  • Ad-hoc Peer Reviewer of:
  • International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism
  • Discourse, Context and Media
  • System
  • Computers and Education: X-Reality
  • Language and Education
  • The Language Learning Journal
  • Review of Education
  • International Journal of TESOL Studies
  • Semiotics in Education, American Education Research Association (AREA)
  • Bloomsbury Academic (Linguistics, Language Education and Research Methods)