Teaching approach
My teaching is shaped by the same commitments that drive my research: an interest in how language and communication work in the world, a belief that the gap between theory and practice is where the most interesting questions live, and a conviction that health communication — like all communication — is always embedded in relations of power, culture, and meaning.
I teach at the intersection of applied linguistics and health communication, working with students in English studies, applied linguistics, nursing, and medicine. Whether in a seminar on discourse analysis or a simulation with final-year medical students, I am interested in building the capacity to notice — to see how communication shapes clinical encounters, health outcomes, and the experiences of patients and practitioners.
Clinical communication education is a particular focus. My General Research Fund (GRF) project on multilingual simulation-based training (2025–2026) is both a research project and a pedagogical one: it tests new approaches to developing the communicative competences that medical and nursing curricula rarely address explicitly — how to communicate with patients whose language, culture, and health literacy differ from the clinical norm.
I received the PolyU Faculty of Humanities Award for Outstanding Achievement in Teaching in 2021, recognising both the quality of classroom teaching and the development of simulation-based clinical communication curricula.
HDR Supervision
I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD and professional doctorate candidates. Topics of particular interest are health communication, applied linguistics, migration and health, and clinical communication education. Please contact me directly with a brief research proposal.
Current students — Chief Supervisor
- PhD
Coping strategies of young Chinese female cancer survivors with fertility-related concerns after gonadotoxic treatment
- PhD
Mediating the use of digital health technologies with older Chinese adults
- Doctor of Applied Linguistics
Health professional communication in congenital heart defect multidisciplinary team meetings