Dongping Zheng

Dongping Zheng is an Associate Professor in the Department of Second Language Studies at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Her work integrates ecological perspectives with cutting-edge technologies, focusing on distributed language learning environments. She leads projects like the Guardians of the Mo‘o Mobile App and a Virtual Reality initiative with the Chinese Academy of Forestry’s VISLAB, fostering bilingual/bicultural development and environmental awareness. Zheng actively contributes to ISSILC and emphasizes humane AI in instructional design.

Education: PhD, University of Connecticut.

Research Interests: Ecolinguistics, translanguaging, virtual reality, and mobile-assisted language learning. She designs immersive environments to enhance linguistic and environmental awareness, leveraging technologies like VR and AI to create inclusive bilingual ecosystems. Recent projects explore how languaging practices in digital spaces can cultivate mindful ecological citizenship.

Articles Trends: Zheng’s publications span ecological language pedagogy, VR design, and multimodal discourse analysis. Her work bridges theoretical frameworks (e.g., distributed language perspectives) with applied technologies, emphasizing interdisciplinary collaboration between education, ecology, and computer science.

Advising & Labs: Collaborates with global teams (e.g., VISLAB) and serves as a corresponding author on several projects. Her lab work focuses on virtual ecosystems for language learning, blending ecological sustainability with linguistic innovation.