Danwei Li

Danwei Li (李丹薇) is a Term Associate of Chinese at Barnard College. She has experience
developing and teaching Chinese language and content-based courses ranging from the
introductory to advanced levels.
Before joining Barnard in Fall 2025, she served as a Visiting Lecturer at Brown University (2016–2018), a Lecturer in the Chinese Flagship Program at the University of Rhode Island (2018–2020), and an Assistant Teaching Professor at URI (2024–2025). Additionally, she has taught in the Chinese immersion program at Middlebury Language Schools for seven summers.

Her research interests include second language acquisition, bilingualism, psycholinguistics, intercultural communicative competence, and language pedagogy. She regularly presents at national conferences and received the NFMLTA–NCOLCTL Research Award in 2024. Committed to bridging theory and practice, she integrates the latest research and acquisition theories into her teaching to support student success and engagement.
Her career goal as a language teaching professor and scholar can be defined by three words, “Inspiration, Creativity, and Sharing”, borrowed from filmmaker Agnès Varda. She strives to support students in reaching their proficiency goals while fostering critical cultural awareness and a lasting interest in the Chinese language and culture.