Research Interests

My scholarly expertise brings composition studies, argumentation, teaching multilingual students, and instructional design and technology together. For example, the three main areas are: writing instructions and writing pedagogy, multilingual international students’ academic literacy, and the use of educational technology in designing and supporting teaching, learning, and writing.

I am interested in how our written communication can be interpreted differently if we apply certain frameworks or genres. I am also interested in building the quality of argumentation – what makes an effective argument? What qualities does an effective have? How do we evaluate an argument?

In my capacity as an educator, I assist K-12 immigrant students or new undergraduate international students with transitioning to academic communities by developing their academic literacy and writing. I was a writing advisor (Graduate Writing Facilitator) at the Student Learning Commons for 8 years. I have worked closely with Writing Centre members and continuously seek to expand writing centre pedagogy.

Another stream of my scholarly activity is the use of technology in educational settings and online instructional design. Having worked closely with Drs. Phil Winne and Michael Pin Chuan Lin, we, along with other team members, have developed a writing chatbot. The chatbot could assist writers with developing their argumentative thesis statements and evaluating the strength of the thesis statements writers produced. I have also worked closely with Dr. John Nesbit’s research team on Dialectical Map (An Argument Visualization Software). I often seek innovative ways that can integrate technology in classroom teaching and enhance student learning experience.

As a key member of a faith-based institution in Richmond (Lingyen Mountain Temple), I collaborate closely with the religious members, City Hall councils, researchers, Buddhists, monks and nuns to establish their religious-based curriculum that preaches the values of inclusion, compassion and diversity to the community. I also work closely with the institution to develop digital strategies that can preach religious thinking and ideologies to the communities, domestically and internationally.

Teaching