I received my Ph.D. in Comparative and International Education and M.A. in both Chinese Pedagogy and Educational Psychology from Indiana University-Bloomington. Before joining the Department of Asian Studies at UBC, I taught courses in international and comparative education at Indiana University (2010-2011), Chinese language courses from beginning to advanced levels at Indiana University (2011-2015) and the University of Virginia (2015-2017). My language teaching experiences also include teaching students in the Chinese Flagship Program, which aims to educate students to reach professional levels of Chinese language proficiency and achieve global citizenship. In addition, I served as Chinese intensive course developer and level coordinator for the Flagship Chinese Institute in the US (2014-2015) and as academic advisor and field director in the UVa-in-Shanghai Summer Intensive Language Program (2016-2017).

Prior to coming to North America, I taught K-12 students in both China and Taiwan and worked for Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture and the Legislative Yuan on cultural and educational policies and laws.

My research interests are grounded in the intersection of Chinese pedagogical studies, international education, and socio-cultural anthropology. With my interdisciplinary background, I am particularly interested in language, culture and globalization.

I conducted a multi-sited ethnographic study in both China and Taiwan, investigating how the youths’ identities are contested, negotiated, and legitimated through the dynamic interplay among institutional sources of power, public discourse, and individual subjectivity. In particular, my research examines how young people (re)construct and perform their socio-cultural and political identities through daily language use and socio-cultural practices.

To understand students’ diverse learning experiences in a global context, my recent research interests focus on the development of language learners’ cross-cultural competencies and intercultural communication skills through language learning and study abroad experiences. I am also interested in the integration of authentic resources and instructional technology in language for specific purposes (LSP) courses, particularly business Chinese, to promote the learning autonomy of advanced learners. The recent project I have been developing is to integrate collaborative learning, service-learning, and language learning which taking center stage in this new age of global education in my advanced business Chinese courses. Through working with local community partners and business organizations that engage with critical local issues, students learn to build up and apply their language competency, critical thinking skills and leadership to identify and resolve problems in the real world together.

Another major project that I am coordinating is to renovate course design and curriculum development of heritage language courses at all levels. My other research interests also include Chinese language acquisition and pedagogy as well as teacher training and professional development.