Ningxian Li

Originally from Qingdao, China, a coastal city known for its beaches, mountains, and annual beer festival, Li earned his Ph.D. in Romance Languages with a specialization in Hispanic Linguistics from the University of Georgia in 2024.
 

His research interests include formal syntax, semantics, pragmatics, cognitive linguistics, cognitive grammar, and the interfaces among these areas. His work focuses primarily on Spanish, Chinese, and English, with particular interest in how grammatical structures interact with meaning, discourse, cognition, and language use.
 

At Barnard College, Li teaches Spanish language courses. His teaching emphasizes the connection between linguistic form and meaning, communicative confidence, guided discovery, collaborative learning, and inclusive classroom practices. He is especially interested in helping students understand not only how to use Spanish effectively but also how grammatical patterns express different meanings and perspectives.
 

Li also contributes to projects related to Spanish linguistics, grammar, and language pedagogy. His professional interests include multilingual education, second-language acquisition, curriculum development, and the application of linguistic research to language teaching.
 

In his spare time, he loves discovering new coffee shops, trying out new recipes, baking, cooking, singing, and working with yarn and fabric. He enjoys making blankets and sweaters.