Gang Yao

Lecturer

Beijing Foreign Studies University

Biography

Gang Yao is currently a lecturer at Beijing Foreign Studies University, China. He holds a PhD (funded by China Scholarship Council†) in Applied Linguistics from the University of Murcia (Spain). He is a member of the Spanish Association for Corpus Linguistics (AELINCO). His research interests include corpus linguistics, Spanish as a Foreign Language, and academic discourse. He has published articles in several journals such as Ibérica and Research in Corpus Linguistics. He also serves as reviewer for various journals such as Journal of Spanish Language Teaching and Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics.

†If you are interested in studying in China with Chinese scholarship, this organization is the right and first place you should have a look. For more valuable information, please see its English website.

Download my CV (Last update: February 6th, 2023)

Or check my CV in APP version (Last update: February 6th, 2023)

Interests

Corpus linguistics
Spanish as a Foreign Language
Academic discourse
Statistics

Education

PhD in Applied Linguistics, 2022
Universidad de Murcia (Spain)
MA in Spanish Language & Literature, 2018
Shanghai International Studies University (China)
MA in Theoretical & Applied Linguistics, 2017
Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Spain)
BA in Spanish Language & Literature, 2015
Heilongjiang University (China)

Featured Publications

Gang Yao

September 2024 Yunnan University Press

Metadiscourse Use in Spanish Academic Writing

The book examines the extent to which the factors of nativeness and expertise may affect the pattern of metadiscourse use in Spanish academic writing.

Gang Yao

November 2019 RiCL

Vocabulary learning through data-driven learning in the context of Spanish as a foreign language

The present study examines whether there is a statistically significant difference between the DDL approach to vocabulary learning and more traditional learning methods (e.g., dictionary approach) in the context of Spanish as a foreign language (SFL) by Chinese students.

Publications

Metadiscourse Use in Spanish Academic Writing

The book examines the extent to which the factors of nativeness and expertise may affect the pattern of metadiscourse use in Spanish academic writing.

Gang Yao

Sobre el uso del metadiscurso en la escritura académica: Una revisión

A state-of-the-art literature review of metadiscourse use in academic writing.

Gang Yao

Sobre el uso del metadiscurso en la escritura académica: Una revisión

Book review of Metadiscourse in Digital Communication: New Research, Approaches and Methodologies

A scholarly book review of D’Angelo, Mauranen & Maci’s edited volume on Metadiscourse in Digital Communication.

Gang Yao

Book review of Metadiscourse in Digital Communication: New Research, Approaches and Methodologies

名词短语可及性等级理论在西班牙语关系从句中的实证研究

本文通过诱导性语料和自然产出语料考察中国西班牙语专业本科学生西班牙语关系从句习得模式。

姚刚, 赵俊楠

Book review of Corpus analysis in different genres: Academic discourse and learner corpora

A scholarly book review of María Luisa Carrió-Pastor’s edited volume on academic and learner discourses.

Gang Yao

Book review of Corpus analysis in different genres: Academic discourse and learner corpora

Book review of Specialised English: New Directions in ESP and EAP Research and Practice

A scholarly review of Hyland and Wong’s edited volume on specialized English.

Gang Yao

Book review of Specialised English: New Directions in ESP and EAP Research and Practice

Vocabulary learning through data-driven learning in the context of Spanish as a foreign language

Gang Yao

语义场视阈下西班牙语和汉语的表达习惯与翻译

本文运用3种语义场类型（上下义场、反义义场和同义义场）探究汉语和西班牙语之间一些翻译策略的理据。

姚刚

Recent Talks

Inteligencia artificial en el aula de lectura ELE: Experiencias, retos y percepciones estudiantiles

This presentation explores the integration of artificial intelligence in the Spanish as a Foreign Language (ELE) reading course, sharing practical experiences, challenges, and student perceptions.

Jun 15, 2025 10:30 AM Beijing, China

Gang Yao

Inteligencia artificial en el aula de lectura ELE: Experiencias, retos y percepciones estudiantiles

Corpus-based contrastive study of interactional metadiscourse in Spanish academic writing

In this presentation I show how writers' nativeness status and expertise level may have influence on their use of interactional metadiscourse in Spanish academic writing

Oct 28, 2023 3:30 PM — 3:45 PM Xi'an, China

Gang Yao

Corpus-based contrastive study of interactional metadiscourse in Spanish academic writing

Spanish culture and social etiquette

This talk aims to provide students of the Intenational Business School with an overview of Spanish culture and social etiquette.

Nov 11, 2022 5:30 PM — 6:30 PM International Business School, Beijing Foreign Studies University

Gang Yao

See all events

Projects

Book reviews

This project contains all the reviews I have done for scholarly books.

Metadiscourse

This is my thesis project, in which I aim to look at the effects of nativeness and expertise on the use of metadiscourse in Spanish written academic discourse.

Data-driven learning

This project has a pedagogic focus and includes my work on data-driven learning (DDL) and computer-assisted lannguage learning (CALL).

Teaching Experience

Lecturer in Spanish

Department of Hispanic and Lusophone Studies

Aug 2022 – Present Beijing Foreign Studies University, Beijing

Taught courses such as Modern Spanish, Extensive reading, Spanish conversation

Part-time Spanish teacher

Language training institute affiliated to Shanghai International Studies University

Oct 2015 – Jun 2016 Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai

Taught basic-level Spanish to university students

Part-time Spanish teacher

Department of International Education affiliated to Heilongjiang University

Oct 2014 – Jun 2015 Heilongjiang University, Harbin

Taught basic-level Spanish to Korean middle schoolers.

Skills

10%

Python

10%

Statistics

70%

Chinese

Native (PSC二甲)

English

7.5 (IELTS)

Spanish

Excellent (EEE-4); C1 (DELE); Good (EEE-8)

Accomplishments

Courses

Acreditación de examinadores DELE-B1 y B2

Instituto Cervantes Dec 2024 – Jan 2025

Los cursos están destinados a profesores que quieran capacitarse para administrar los exámenes oficiales DELE.

Prompt Engineering for Everyone

Cognitive Class Oct 2024 – Oct 2024

This quick Prompt Engineering course offers invaluable insights into the art of talking effectively to AI.

See certificate

Python for Natural Language Processing (Python4NLP)

LORIA laboratory Aug 2019 – Aug 2019

The Python4NLP summer school targets both computer science and humanities (in particular linguistics) students and aims to give them the ability to collect, process and analyse textual data.

V4Py: Gentle Introduction to Natural Language Processing and Corpus Linguistics

Institute of Formal and Applied Linguistics (Charles University) Jul 2019 – Jul 2019

In this training school the main goal is to know the basic programming concepts while using Python NLTK, the leading Python library suite for human language data.

IV Curso Escribir Ciencia en Inglés: Curso Práctico sobre Redacción Científica. La Redacción de Propuestas Académicas y de Financiación

Universidad Internacional del Mar (UNIMAR) Jul 2019 – Jul 2019

Una exploración de la relación entre ciencia, comunicación y lenguaje, una aproximación a la redacción de documentos científicos en inglés, que permita mejorar la competencia como escritores en lengua inglesa y las competencias transversales para las actividades de investigación.

Python Fundamentals Track

DataCamp Jul 2019 – Dec 2019

This track covers the Python basics, such as how to clean real-world data ready for analysis, use data visualization libraries, how to write Python functions, how to store, manipulate, and explore data using NumPy, and how to visualize data using Matplotlib, manipulate DataFrames and dictionaries using pandas, and write functions and list comprehension.

See certificate

Corpus Linguistics: Method, Analysis, Interpretation

FutureLearn Sep 2018 – Nov 2018

Get a practical introduction to the methodology of corpus linguistics for researchers in the social sciences and humanities.

Statistics and Data Visualisation for Corpus Linguistics

Department of Linguistics and English Language and ESRC Centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science (Lancaster University) Jun 2018 – Jun 2018

The summer school offers a practical introduction to the statistical procedures used for the analysis language corpora. The curriculum provides an overview of the main statistical procedures used in the field of corpus linguistics together with simple examples of application of these methods.