Ruey-Jiuan Regina Wu, Ph.D.
Professor and Chinese Language Program Advisor
Ruey-Jiuan Regina Wu is Professor of Chinese and Linguistics in the Department of Linguistics and Asian/Middle Eastern Languages at San Diego State University. She received a master’s degree in TESOL from the University of Washington, and a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from UCLA (specializing in conversation analysis and language assessment). Prior to joining SDSU in 1999, Professor Wu has taught at UCLA and the University of Washington. She has served, by invitation, as the external evaluator for the 2005 Chinese Summer Institute on Pragmatics in the Chinese as a Foreign Language Classroom, jointly sponsored by the East Asian National Research Center and the National Foreign Language Research Center of the University of Hawaii-Manoa. She has also participated in several language testing projects, including the co-development of a nation-wide preparation test for the SAT-II Chinese Language Test, and has published in Assessing Writing. Teacher-training has long been a passion of hers as well. Since her arrival at SDSU, she has been involved in projects related to K-12 Chinese language education and teacher-training in the San Diego area.
Currently, Professor Wu serves as Associate Editor of Pragmatics, the flagship journal of the International Pragmatics Association. Her research interests include conversation analysis, pragmatics, functional linguistics, and language assessment. Her current primary research interests revolve around interactional and communicational aspects of language use, both in English and in Mandarin Chinese. Her book, Stance in Talk: A conversation analysis of Mandarin final particles (2004, John Benjamins), explores how participants in Mandarin conversation display stance in the unfolding development of action and interaction through the use of two Mandarin final particles, and is one of the pioneering conversation analytic studies of Mandarin Chinese. She has received a “top paper” award in the Language and Social Interaction Division by the National Communication Association, and also served on the faculty to teach a pre-conference workshop for the International Conference on Conversation Analysis.
Scholarly Book
Wu, R. (2004). Stance in Talk: A Conversation Analysis of Mandarin Final Particles. Amsterdam/Philadelphia, John Benjamins (Pragmatics and Beyond New Series 117).
Journal Articles & Book Chapters
- Wu, R. (2022). “Gestural repair in Mandarin conversation.” Discourse Studies, 24, 1, 65-93. (published online on October 4, 2021)
- Wu, R. (2018). “Indexing epistemic authority/primacy in Mandarin conversation: aiyou-prefacing as an interactional resource.” Journal of Pragmatics, 131, 30-53.
- Wu, R. (2018). “Turn design and progression: The use of aiyouin Mandarin conversation.” In Heritage, J., and Sorjonen, M.-L. (eds.), Between Turn and Sequence:Turn-Initial Particles across Languages, pp. 287-314. Amsterdam/Philadelphia, John Benjamins.
- Wu, R. and Heritage, J. (2017). “Particles and epistemics: Convergences and divergences between English and Mandarin.” In Raymond, G., Lerner, G., and Heritage, J. (eds.), Enabling Human Conduct: Studies of Talk-in-Interaction in Honor of Emanuel A. Schegloff, pp. 273-297. Amsterdam/Philadelphia, John Benjamins.
- Wu, R. (2016). “Doing conversation analysis in Mandarin Chinese: Basic methods.” Chinese Language and Discourse, 7, 2, 179-209.
- Wu, R. (2016). “Turn design and progression: Aiyou in Mandarin conversation.” Chinese Language and Discourse, 7, 2, 210-236.
- Thompson, S. A., and Wu, R. (2016). “Introduction.” Chinese Language and Discourse, 7, 2, 175-178.
- Wu, R. (2014). “Managing turn entry: The design of EI-prefaced turns in Mandarin conversation.” Journal of Pragmatics, 66, 139-161.
- Wu, R. (2013). “Native and non-native students' interaction with a text-based prompt.” Assessing Writing, 18, 3, 202-217.
- Wu, R. (2012). “Self-praising through reporting: Strategic use of two reporting practices in Mandarin conversation.” Discourse Processes, 49, 8, 622-659.
- Wu, R. (2011). “A conversation analysis of self-praising in everyday Mandarin interaction.” Journal of Pragmatics, 43, 13, 3152-3176.
- Wu, R. (2009). “Repetition in the initiation of repair.” In Sidnell, J. (ed.), Conversation Analysis: Comparative Perspectives, pp. 31-59. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press (Studies in Interactional Sociolinguistics Series).
- Wu, R. (2006). “Initiating repair and beyond: The use of two repeat-formatted practices in Mandarin conversation.” Discourse Processes, 41, 1, 67-109.
- Wu, R. (2005). “‘There is more here than meets the eye!’: The use of final ou in two sequential positions in Mandarin Chinese conversation.” Journal of Pragmatics, 37, 7, 967-995.
- Wu, R. (2002). “Discourse-pragmatic principles for temporal reference in Mandarin Chinese conversation.” Studies in Language, 26, 3, 513-541.
- Wu, R. (1997). “Transforming participation frameworks in multi-party Mandarin conversation: The use of discourse particles and body behavior.” Issues in Applied Linguistics, 8, 2, 97-117.
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