Rate My Professor Yen-Chen Hao

Yen-Chen Hao is an Associate Professor of Chinese and Chair of the Chinese Program in the Department of World Languages and Cultures at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She also serves as Chair of the Linguistics Program. Hao earned her bachelor's degree at National Taiwan University and completed her master's degree and Ph.D. in Linguistics at Indiana University, concentrating on phonetics, phonology, and second language speech acquisition. Her academic career at UT Knoxville includes significant contributions to program development, notably expanding the Chinese language offerings and enhancing enrollment through innovative teaching and outreach efforts.

Hao's research focuses on second language acquisition of Mandarin Chinese, with emphasis on phonetics, phonology, speech perception, and production, particularly tones, segments, prosody, and orthographic influences. She investigates how learners from tonal and non-tonal language backgrounds process Mandarin sounds, the role of orthographic input in phonological encoding, and cross-linguistic effects in L2 speech learning. Her publications include 'Phonolexical processing of Mandarin segments and tones by English speakers at different Mandarin proficiency levels' (2024), 'Perceptual and acoustic analysis of prosody in Mandarin Chinese by advanced L2 learners' (2024), 'The effect of second-language orthographic input on the phonological encoding of Mandarin words' (2021, Applied Psycholinguistics), 'Second Language Perception of Mandarin Vowels and Tones' (2018, Language and Speech), 'Featural generalization in second language identification performance: Comparing learners with different L1s' (2018), 'The role of orthography in L2 segment and tone encoding by learners at different proficiency levels' (2018), 'Imitation of second language sounds in relation to L2 perception and production' (2016), and 'Second language acquisition of Mandarin Chinese tones by tonal and non-tonal language speakers' (2012). With over 370 citations, her work has advanced understanding of L2 phonological acquisition processes. Hao has received College of Arts and Sciences faculty awards, including recognitions in 2021 and 2025, and participates in dissertation committees and Asian Studies initiatives.