CAO Feng-bio-cropped

Cao Feng

Senior Lecturer

Contact Information

Telephone: 6601 5012
Email: elccf@nus.edu.sg
Office: CELC #02-18 (10 Architecture Drive, Singapore 117511)

Dr. CAO Feng is an applied linguist (Ph.D.) with extensive experience teaching undergraduate and postgraduate courses in language and communication. Guided by an evidence-based philosophy, he aims to bridge theory and practice in the classroom. He also conducts targeted writing workshops and consultancy courses to support NUS research students in their academic writing journeys. His research portfolio spans Language Teaching and Learning as well as Higher Education—fields in which he regularly contributes new insights. Additionally, he serves the broader academic community as an active manuscript reviewer for multiple peer-reviewed journals.

Recent Courses Taught and/or Coordinated

  • ES5101 Technical Communication for Engineers
  • ES5001A Graduate English Course (Intermediate level)
  • ES5002 Graduate English Course (Advanced level)
  • GS5002/6889B Academic Professional Skills and Techniques
  • MDG5214 Research Skills
  • ES1103 English for Academic Purposes

Awards & Recognition

  • Third Prize, International Contest on Blended Teaching and Learning, organized by Peking University, 2021

Grant Projects

  • CDTL Teaching Enhancement Grant Research, 2017- 2020 (PI): NUS Learner Corpus of Academic Writing.
  • CTLT Teaching Enhancement Grant Research, 2023-2024 (Co-investigator): Blended learning 2.0: best practices in designing a community of injury to enhance student learning in language and communication courses
  • CTLT Teaching Enhancement Grant Research, 2024-2025 (Member): What does a healthy, positive and realistic teacher-student relationship (TSR) in higher education (HE) look like? Uncovering the dynamics of teacher-student relationships that motivate learning and support teachers’ wellbeing in our classroom today.

Editorial Board

  • Editorial board member, Journal of English for Academic Purposes

Selected Publications (since 2019)

  • Cao, F., & Hu, G. (2026). English for Academic Purposes. In: Nesi, H., Milin, P. (Eds.), International Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 3e. Vol 8., pp. 639–644. UK: Elsevier. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-95504-1.00203-9.
  • Gong, H., Cao, F., & Liu, L. (2025). Interactive metadiscourse across languages and writer groups: A comparison among L1 Chinese, L2 English and L1 English research articles. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.22116.gon
  • Cao, F. & Hu, G. (forthcoming). English for Academic Purposes. In H. Nesi & P. Milin (Eds.). International Encyclopaedia of Language and Linguistics (3rd ed.). Elsevier.
  • Yue, Y. Cao, F., & Hu, G. (2024). Exploring Evaluative Prosody (评价韵律探究). Foreign Language Research (外语学刊), 238, pp.43-47.
  • Gong, H., Liu, L., & Cao, F. (2023). A cross-linguistic study of interactional metadiscourse in English and Chinese research articles by the same Chinese scholars. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 22(6), 542–558. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2021.1932504
  • Cao, F., & Wu, S. M. (2022). Evaluative Phrase-Frames and Patterns in Doctoral Thesis Conclusions. International Journal of Computer-Assisted Language Learning and Teaching (IJCALLT), 12(1), 1-17. http://doi.org/10.4018/IJCALLT.301196
  • Cao, F., & Hu, G. (2022). Multifunctionality of stance markers in soft sciences: A cross-disciplinary and cross-paradigmatic study. In Z. Yin & E. Vine (Eds.), Multifunctionality in English: Corpora, language and academic literacy pedagogy (pp. 51-73). London, UK: Routledge.
  • Cao, F. (2021). A comparative study of lexical bundles across paradigms and disciplines. Corpora, 16 (1), 97-128. https://doi.org/10.3366/cor.2021.0210
  • Cao F. (2021) Chinese ethnolinguistic influences on academic English as a Lingua Franca. In Ye Z. (eds) The Palgrave handbook of Chinese language studies. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi-org.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/10.1007/978-981-13-6844-8_55-2

Selected Presentations (since 2021)

  • Cao, F. (2026, May 28-31). Helpful but not authoritative: EAP students’ critical engagement with AI-assisted revisions [Paper presentation]. 24th Asia TEFL International Conference 2026, Xi’an, China.
  • Lee, S. Thompson, A.A., Toh, A. Cao, F., Tan, D., Phan, J., Ong, C., Tan, I., and Hah, S.X. (2026, April 8). Healthy student-educator relationships: Supporting students without burning out educators [Poster presentation]. NUS TEG-LC Poster Symposium 2026. National University of Singapore, Singapore.
  • Cao, F., Lee, M. C., Mattar, N. & Norhayati, I. (December 3, 2024). The efficacy of instructional practice and support on student engagement and wellbeing in blended learning [Paper presentation]. Higher Education Conference in Singapore (HECS) 2024, National University of Singapore.
  • Cao, F. (August 14-16, 2024) Lexical and phraseological development in postgraduate academic writing: A longitudinal study. AILA2024 World Congress, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
  • Cao, F. (December 7, 2023,). Does AI-generated writing differ from human writing in style? A literature survey [Lightning talk]. Higher Education Campus Conference (HECC) 2023, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
Scroll to Top