Alyssa Mengxue Li, B.A., M.P.Ed, M.A.
Curriculum Studies and Studies in Applied Linguistics
Alyssa Mengxue Li, B.A., M.P.Ed, M.A.
Curriculum Studies and Studies in Applied Linguistics
Alyssa is a Ph.D. candidate in Applied Linguistics at Western University. Her research focuses on second language practice. Her M.A. study examined the potential side effects of multiple-choice exercise items on learning English collocations (e.g., pay respect, break the silence) and found that multiple-choice distractors can leave misinformation in learners’ minds, hindering later recall. Her Ph.D. research project consists of three studies examining the effects of different language practice formats and implementations. The first study, now completed, builds on her M.A. research and continues to investigate how practice design influences learning outcomes. Findings from her M.A. and first Ph.D. study, have been presented at international conferences and published in top-tier journals. Alyssa is currently expanding her research to explore the effects of language practice on other aspects of language knowledge, such as English grammar patterns (e.g., tense-aspect distinctions and conditionals).
As a language and education practitioner, Alyssa began her career as a secondary school teacher in China after completing her B.A. degree. While pursuing her graduate studies at Western University, she taught a graduate-level course, Teaching Listening and Speaking Skills, in the Master of Professional Education program, as well as an undergraduate course, Supporting English Language Learners (ELLs), in the Bachelor of Education program. She has also taught Chinese as a second language. Currently, she is an English language instructor for federally and provincially funded Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (commonly known as LINC) program.
Frank Boers, PhD
Supervisor
Course Work Completed
- Ph.D. Seminar
- Ph.D. Independent Read and Research
- M.A. Independent Read and Research
- Advanced Quantitative Research Methods
- Experimental Design, Data Analysis, and Sample Size Calculation
- Teaching Reading and Writing Skills
- Second Language Assessment
- Approaches To Education Research
- Teaching Listening and Speaking Skills
- Introduction To Quantitative Research Methods
- Introduction To Curriculum
- Language Teacher Education
- Computer-Assisted Language Learning
- Teaching & Learning Grammar
- Teaching The Four Skills
- Social Approaches to Language Learning and Teaching
- Discourse Analysis & Language Teaching
- Teaching & Learning Vocabulary
- Understanding Second Language Learning and Teaching
Awards
| 2025 |
Graduate Excellence in Teaching Awards |
| 2023 - 2027 |
Western Graduate Research Scholarship |
| 2022 - 2023 |
Entrance Scholarship |
Conferences Attended
Li, A. M. & Boers, F. (2025, June). Formats and implementations of exercises for collocation learning: A comparison of learning outcomes. [Paper presentation]. Vocabulary at Maryland Conference, Maryland, United States.
Li, A. M. & Boers, F. (2025, May). Formats and implementations of exercises for collocation learning: A comparison of learning outcomes. [Paper presentation]. Pacific Second Language Research Forum, Shanghai, China.
Li, A. M. & Boers, F. (2025, March). Collocation-focused practice: The roles of exercise type and exercise implementation [Colloquium presentation]. The American Association for Applied Linguistics 2025 Conference, Denver, United States.
Li, M. & Boers, F. (2024, June 13). Assessing the usefulness of multiple-choice exercises for collocation learning [Paper presentation]. The Canadian Association of Applied Linguistics 2024 Conference, Montreal, Canada.
Li, M. & Boers, F. (2024, March 17). Learning verb-noun collocations through multiple-choice exercises: A think-aloud study [Paper presentation]. The American Association for Applied Linguistics 2024 Conference, Houston, United States.
Li, M. & Boers, F. (2023, August 31). Using multiple-choice exercises for collocation learning: Do distractors linger in memory? [Paper presentation]. The 32nd conference of European Second Language Association, Birmingham, United Kingdom.
Publications
Li, A. M. & Boers, F. (2025). Formats and implementations of exercises for collocation learning: Learning outcomes and students' beliefs. Modern Language Journal, 109, 868–886. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.70007
Li, A. M., & Boers, F. (2025). A Multiple‐choice exercise on collocations: What do learners actually remember? International Journal of Applied Linguistics. 35(2), 824–833. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijal.12666
Forthcoming
Chen, A., & Li, A. M. (under second review). Language teacher emotions in motion: Duoethnographic accounts of multilingual teaching in Canadian contexts.
Additional Information
Leadership and Services
| 11/2024 – 06/2025 |
Graduate Student Representative |
| 09/2024 – 06/2025 |
Graduate Student Representative |
| 09/2023 – 06/2024 |
Symposium Committee Member |
| 09/2022 – 04/2023 |
Symposium Committee Member |
| 05/2019 – 08/2019 |
Conference Online Support |
Certifications
- Ontario Certified English Language Teacher (OCELT) Certification, TESL Ontario, Canada
- Internationally Certified Teacher of English as an Additional Language (ICTEAL) Certification, TESL Ontario, Canada
- The Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS 2): CORE-2022 (Course on Research Ethics), Government of Canada
- Teaching Certificate (senior; eligible for K-12), Ministry of Education, China
