Professor CHOI, William T. M.

Research interests:

- Cantonese tone perception

- English stress perception

- Music perception

- Music and language relationship

Teaching areas:

- SLPC 1035  Clinical Linguistics II: Phonetics

- SHSC 3033  School-Age and Adolescent Language & Literacy Disorders

- SHSC 3035  Complex Cases Paediatric

- SHSM 8400  Research Issues and Methodology in Communication Sciences and Disorders

Administrative duties:

- Year 1 Coordinator of the BSc(SLP) Programme (Programme level)

- Admissions Tutor of the BSc(SLP) Programme (Programme level)

- Member of the Board of Faculty of Education (Faculty level)

- Member of the Committee on Discontinuation (University level)

- Education Committee Member, Hong Kong Institute of Speech Therapists (Community level)

Fellowship, awarded by the Psychonomic Society, 2024

Faculty Early Career Research Output Award, awarded by The University of Hong Kong, 2022

Croucher Fellowship for Postdoctoral Research, awarded by Croucher Foundation, 2018

Fulbright Lee-Hysan Research Scholar Award, awarded by US Department of State and Lee Hysan Foundation, 2017

Principal Investigator, “Pitch-based and Rhythm-based Music Training Programs for Improving Phonological and Reading Abilities in Cantonese ESL Kindergarteners: A Randomized Controlled Trial”, General Research Fund, Hong Kong Research Grants Council. (2024-2026)

Principal Investigator, “Identifying the Perceptual Strategy of Advanced Learners: Key to Enhancing Mandarin Tone Discrimination in Cantonese Learners of Mandarin”, Faculty Research Fund, The University of Hong Kong. (2025-2025)

Principal Investigator, “Influence of Punjabi Tone System on Cantonese Tone Perception: Evidence from Punjabi Heritage Children in Hong Kong”, Seed Fund for Basic Research for New Staff, The University of Hong Kong. (2022-2024)

(^*PhD/MPhil student, ^{^}undergraduate student)

Choi, W., Lai, V. K. W., Kong, S., & Bautista, A. (2025). Examining the cognitive and perceptual perspectives of music-to-language transfer: A study of Cantonese-English bilingual children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 249, 106069. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2024.106069

Choi, W. (2024). Do Cantonese listeners have a non-native advantage in English stress-related lexical decision? Second Language Research. Advance online publication. http://doi.org/10.1177/02676583241304549

Choi, W., ^*Ling, C. L. K., & ^Wu, C. H. J. (2024). Musical advantage in lexical tone perception hinges on musical instrument: A comparison between pitched musicians, unpitched musicians, and non-musicians. Music Perception, 41(5), 360-377. https://doi.org/10.1525/MP.2024.41.5.360

Choi, W., ^{^}To, C. Y., & ^*Cheng, R. (2023). The choice of musical instrument matters: Effect of pitched but not unpitched musicianship on tone identification and word learning. Applied Psycholinguistics, 44(5), 844-857. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716423000358

Choi, W., & Lai, V. K. W. (2023). Does musicianship influence the perceptual integrality of tones and segmental information? The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 154(2), 852-862. https://doi.org/10.1121/100.0020579

Choi, W., & Tsui, K. Y. R. (2023). Perceptual integrality of foreign segmental and tonal information: Dimensional Transfer Hypothesis. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 45(4), 1056-1073. https://doi.org/doi:10.1017/S0272263122000511

Choi, W., & Chiu, M. M. (2023). Why aren't all Cantonese tones equally confusing to English listeners? Language and Speech, 66(4), 870-895. https://doi.org/10.1177/00238309221139789

Choi, W. (2022). What is 'music' in music-to-language transfer? Musical ability but not musicianship supports Cantonese listeners' English stress perception. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 65, 4047-4059. https://doi.org/10.1044/2022_JSLHR-22-00175

Choi, W. (2022). Theorizing positive transfer in cross-linguistic speech perception: The Acoustic-Attentional-Contextual hypothesis. Journal of Phonetics, 91, 101135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2022.101135

Choi, W. (2022). Towards a native OPERA hypothesis: Musicianship and English stress perception. Language and Speech, 65(3), 697-712. https://doi.org/10.1177/00238309211049458

Choi, W. (2021). Musicianship influences language effect on musical pitch perception. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 712753. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.712753

Choi, W. (2021). Cantonese advantage on English stress perception: Constraints and neural underpinnings. Neuropsychologia, 158, 107888. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.107888

Choi, W. (2020). Review of research in deaf education: Contexts, challenges, and considerations. Deafness & Education International. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/14643154.2020.1816596

Choi, W. (2020). The selectivity of musical advantage: Musicians exhibit perceptual advantage for some but not all Cantonese tones. Music Perception, 37(5), 423-434. https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2020.37.5.423

Choi, W., Tong, X, & Samuel, A. G. (2019). Better than native: Tone language experience enhances second language English lexical stress discrimination in Cantonese-English bilinguals. Cognition, 189, 188-192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2019.04.004

Deng, Q., Choi, W., & Tong, X. (2019). Bidirectional cross-linguistic association of phonological skills and reading comprehension: Evidence from Hong Kong Chinese-English bilingual readers. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 52(4), 299-311. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022219419842914

Choi, W., Tong, X., & Deacon, S. H. (2019). From Cantonese lexical tone awareness to second language English vocabulary: Cross-language mediation by segmental phonological awareness. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 62(6), 1875-1889. https://doi.org/10.1044/2019_JSLHR-L-17-0323

Tong, X.†, Choi, W.†[co-first author], & Man, Y. Y. (2018). Tone language experience modulates the effect of long-term musical training on musical pitch perception. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 144(2),690-697. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.5049365

Choi, W., Tong, X., Law, K. K. S., & Cain, K. (2018). Within- and cross-language contributions of morphological awareness to word reading development in Chinese-English bilingual children. Reading and Writing, 31(8), 1787-1820. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-017-9770-0

Choi, W., Tong, X., & Singh, L. (2017). From lexical tone to lexical stress: A cross-language mediation model for Cantonese children learning English as a second language. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 492. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00492

Choi, W., Tong, X., Gu, F., Tong, X., & Wong, L. (2017). On the early neural perceptual integrality of tones and vowels. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 41, 11-23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneuroling.2016.09.003

Choi, W., Tong, X., & Deacon, H. (2017). Double dissociations in reading comprehension difficulties among Chinese-English bilinguals and their association with tone awareness. Journal of Research in Reading, 40(2), 184-198. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9817.12077

Choi, W., Tong, X., & Cain, K. (2016). Lexical prosody beyond first-language boundary: Chinese lexical tone sensitivity predicts English reading comprehension. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 148, 70-86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2016.04.002

Professional Community Service

Education Committee Member: Hong Kong Institute of Speech Therapists, 2025-present.

Academic Community Service

Associate Editor: Journal of Research in Reading, 2025-present.

Associate Editor: Frontiers in Psychology, 2021-present.

Associate Editor:Frontiers in Communication, 2021-present.

Associate Review Editor: Deafness & Education International, 2019-present.

External Reviewer: Standing Committee on Language Education and Research (語文教育及研究常務委員會), HKSAR Government, 2020.

External Reviewer: National Science Foundation, USA, 2022.

Ad-hoc Reviewer: Cognition; Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research; Reading & Writing; Bilingualism: Language and Cognition; Language Learning; Language and Speech; Deafness & Education International; Learning and Individual Differences; Applied Psycholinguistics; Journal of Research in Reading; Frontiers in Psychology; Journal of Psycholinguistic Research; PLOSONE; etc.

News article:

蔡浚文 (2022年 10 月 18 日)。教育提案：學習音樂有助學習語言嗎？《明報》