Xiqiao (Sonja) Wang

Xiqiao's Affiliations: Asian Studies Center

Xiqiao Wang is an assistant professor in the University of Pittsburgh’s Composition, Literacy, Pedagogy, and Rhetoric program. She received her PhD in Language, Literacy, and Culture from Vanderbilt University and her MA in Rhetoric and Composition from University of South Florida. Before arriving at Pitt, Xiqiao taught in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures at Michigan State University.

Xiqiao’s research program is grounded in an interdisciplinary framework informed by socio-cultural theories of literacy, translingualism, and literacy mobility theories. Her research has examined the changing forms and functions of composition in the broader context of global migration, multilingual and multimodal writing processes across formal, informal, and digital contexts, and best practices in designing translingual and multimodal pedagogy to support diverse learners.

Her research has appeared in a co-authored book entitled Inventing the World Grant University: Chinese International Students' Mobilities, Literacies and Identities, as well as professional journals such as Research in the Teaching of English, College Composition and Communication, Journal of Second Language Writing, Computers and Composition, Language and Education, Journal of Basic Writing, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy among others. Her research has been supported by grants, such as the College Composition and Communication Research Initiative in 2014 and the Fulbright Specialist Program in 2018. Her current project develops theoretical and methodological tools to explore the multilingual writing in entanglement, which invites writing researchers on the move to engage in physical and imaginary movements across borders, listen to multiple temporal rhythms, and attend to indeterminate and unpredictable encounters.

Xiqiao has taught in the following areas:

· ESL Workshop in Composition

· Seminar in Composition

· Professional Writing in Global Contexts

· Language, Literacy, and Learning

· Writing in Global Contexts: Translingual and Mobility Perspectives

Selected Publications

Fraiberg, S., Wang, X., & You, X. (2017). Inventing the world grant university: Chinese international students' mobilities, literacies and identities. Logan, UT: Utah State UP.

Wang, X. (2020). Translation as mobile practice. Journal of Second Language Writing, 49, 100733. 

Wang, X. (2020). Becoming multilingual writers through translation. Research in the Teaching of English, 54(3), 206-230.

Wang, X. (2019). Negotiating disconnects: Reading across personal, academic and disciplinary contexts in and out of FYW. College Composition and Communication. 70(4), 560-589.

Wang, X. (2019). Observing literacy learning across WeChat and first-year writing: A scalar analysis of one transnational student’s multilingualism. Computers and Composition. 52, 253-271. 

Wang, X. (2017). Developing Translingual disposition through a writing theory cartoon assignment. Journal of Basic Writing, 36(1), 56-86.

Wang, X. (2017). Spatial and literacy practices of Chinese international students across a college bridge writing classroom and WeChat. Language and Education, 31(6), 561-579. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2017.1337128

Wang, X. (2016). Transnational students' literacy and networking practices. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 60(6), 687-696.