Yu Lei, Ph.D.

Graduate Assistant-Teaching

Yu Lei is a Ph.D. student in the applied linguistics program at A&M-Commerce. Her current research interests are the linguistics of humor and computer-mediated communications. She received a Ph.D. in Linguistics and Applied Linguistics from Beijing Language and Culture University in China in 2015. Her focus was on Chinese linguistics and teaching Chinese as a second language. She taught Chinese language classes at all levels at Western Washington University for five years.

A Conversation with Yu

How do you help students?

How I help students depends on the objectives of my courses and students' goals. At the beginning of my course, I ask students to talk about and write down their college and career goals, goals for my course and how my course could help them achieve their goals. Then, I adjust course materials, including lesson plans, assignments and activities according to students' needs. If students need my help outside the class, I am also glad to help them.

What is your teaching philosophy?

Currently, I have been teaching a writing class at A&M-Commerce. The main objectives of teaching writing extend beyond equipping students with writing and research skills. More importantly, the goal of the writing class, or higher education in general, is to cultivate students into better global citizens. Fostering students’ critical thinking, challenging them with various writing projects and encouraging exploration of language and ideas are ways to achieve this goal.

Why did you choose your area of study and research?

I am currently most interested in the linguistics of humor and computer-mediated communications. Humor is beneficial to people's well-being, particularly mental health. Comedies bring laughter and happiness to people in our daily lives. They help us relax, release stress and evoke a positive attitude. Any form of comedy and other humorous content would be my research interest. My research goal is to find the principles behind them to make people better understand why they are humorous and how to create humor more easily. Computer-mediated communication is a prominent way to communicate nowadays, especially during and after COVID-19. I have also begun studying machine learning with the aim of applying it to my linguistics research, as computational linguistics plays a vital role in our daily lives. For example, it helps people make predictions based on their data and facilitates the conversation between people and machines.

Describe a project you are working on or have completed

A project I have been working on is “Bullet Comments on Stand-up Comedy in China.” This research investigates the features of bullet comments in terms of typology distribution and sentiments by comparing them to regular comments. Bullet comment is a novel genre of online comments. They are anonymous comments superimposed on videos. They synchronize with the scenes and scroll along the videos like bullets flying over the videos.

Educational Background:

• Ph.D., Applied Linguistics, Texas A&M University-Commerce, Ongoing
• Ph.D., Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, Beijing Language and Culture University, 2015
• M.A., Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, Shanghai Normal University, 2012
• B.A., Teaching Chinese as a Second Language, Jiangxi Normal University, 2009

Professional Experience:

• Graduate Assistant Teacher of Record, Texas A&M University-Commerce, 2022-present
• Research Assistant, Texas A&M University-Commerce, 2022
• Visiting Assistant Professor, Western Washington University, 2016-2021
• Princeton in Beijing Chinese Summer Program, 2016
• Chines Language Teacher, Beijing Language and Culture University, 2015-2016
• Visiting Scholar, The University of Florida, 2013-2014
• Chinese Instructor, Shanghai Normal University, 2010-2011

Awards and Honors:

• Fall 2023 Fred A. Tarpley English Endowment, Texas A&M University-Commerce, 2023
• 3^rd Place Doctoral-level Oral Presentation in Humanities, 18^th Annual Pathways Student Research Symposium of the Texas A&M University System, 2023
• Ronald Kleinknecht Excellence in Teaching Award, Western Washington University, 2019
• Excellent External Teacher, Beijing Language and Culture University, 2016
• National Scholarship for Ph.D. Candidates, Ministry of Education of P.R.C, 2014
• Second Prize for Youth Linguistics, Joint Conference of the Academic Front Forum and the 11th Academic Annual Conference of the Beijing Linguistic Association, 2014