Rate My Professor Helena Sit

Associate Professor Helena Sit serves as School Discipline Lead of Languages in the School of Education at the University of Newcastle, Australia. She earned a Bachelor's degree in English with First Class Honours from China, a Master of Education in TESOL, a Graduate Certificate in Educational Studies, and a PhD in Education from the University of Newcastle in 2011. Her PhD thesis received the university's annual award for the best in the Faculty of Education and Arts and was nominated for the 2011 Australian Association for Research in Education Doctoral Award. Her career includes prior roles as Lecturer in Academic Development at Macquarie University from 2011 to 2015, Post-doctoral Fellow in the Faculty of Education at the University of Hong Kong in 2011, Casual Academic and Research Associate at the University of Newcastle from 2008 to 2011, and Research and Teaching positions at the University of Hong Kong in 2007. Sit teaches in the Master of Education (TESOL) program, EDUC1143 Foundations of TESOL, and EDUC4955 Introduction to Education Research.

Helena Sit's research specializations include second language education, teacher education, international education, cultural diversity and inclusivity, teaching strategies for advanced English learners, LOTE, ESL/EFL/L2 teacher education, innovative language education programs, blended learning, online assessment, and ICT integration in EFL. She has supervised 11 PhD completions and currently oversees approximately 15 doctoral students from Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, China, Indonesia, and Australia in TESOL/ESL/EFL/L2 teacher education areas. Sit has secured 21 research grants totaling $218,403, including the 2022 Women in Research Fellowship ($30,000), CHSF Pilot Research Scheme ($5,000, 2024), and leadership in projects such as The Development of Chinese Community Schools in Australia ($20,000, 2023-2025) and Strategies for Motivating Secondary Students to Learn Chinese ($80,000, 2017-2018). Key publications encompass books like Culture-based Blended Learning Approaches in English as an International or Foreign Language: From Western Applications to Eastern Adaptations (2025, with P. Gayatri and S. Chen), Cultural Interactions of English-Medium Instruction at Vietnamese Universities: The Western Proposition by the Eastern Implementation (2023, with T.Q.H. Luu and S. Chen), The Eastern Train on the Western Track: An Australian Case of Chinese Doctoral Students' Adaptation (2020, with X. Xu and S. Chen), and Inclusive Teaching Strategies for Discipline-based English Studies: Enhancing Language Attainment and Classroom Interaction in a Multicultural Learning Environment (2017). Notable articles include 'The Adaption of Sustainable Blended Global Discussion (SBGD) in English as a Foreign Language Teaching and Learning' (2024, with P. Gayatri) and 'Navigating a Supervision Model in TESOL Research Training: Narrative Insights from Asian International PhD Students' (2023, with T.T. Le). She received the 2022 College Excellence Award for Research Supervision and serves as Information Officer on the Applied Linguistics Association of Australia executive committee since 2022.