‍Why did you want to work together?

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I decided to work with Jaye when I first arrived in Australia and began my studies. Although my English proficiency was already quite strong, I quickly realised that academic writing was very different from everyday English. A close friend of mine from Canada recommended the platform Superprof, explaining that it offered tutors who specialised in academic English writing. I searched for “International Relations” on the platform, and that was how I found Jaye.

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At the beginning, I assumed that the main difference between native and non-native writers lay in language itself. However, as I read more academic literature and worked more closely with Jaye, I came to understand that this assumption was incorrect. In academic writing, logic and structure always come first, regardless of language background. During our early sessions, Jaye helped me build the framework of an academic essay from the ground up, explaining what components a strong paper should contain and how an argument should be developed. This process gave me a solid foundation. Even now, when I write policy analyses and research reports, I continue to follow the same structured way of thinking that I developed through our work together.

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What impressed me most about Jaye was her genuine engagement with my ideas. She never dismissed even the smallest thought I raised. Instead, she encouraged me to examine each idea carefully by asking whether it truly fitted the focus of my paper and whether the examples I used effectively supported my argument. Through these discussions, I not only improved my writing skills but also felt that my intellectual contributions as a student were taken seriously.

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What benefits has writing played in your life?

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From my current perspective, writing has become a tool I rely on for my livelihood. However, if you had asked me this question three years ago, I would have found that idea almost unimaginable. At that time, I believed writing could perhaps be a long-term habit or a personal interest, but I could not envision it as part of my professional life.

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As my studies and work progressed, I began to recognise that the benefits of writing extend far beyond language itself. Writing has trained the way I think, particularly in terms of logical reasoning, dialectical thinking, and critical analysis. Through writing, I am required to examine whether my arguments are sound, whether my reasoning is coherent, and how different perspectives relate to one another. This type of thinking does not develop naturally; it requires sustained and deliberate practice.

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Without writing, it is difficult for most people to continue cultivating these forms of thinking in everyday life. Many ideas may appear briefly but remain undeveloped and unexamined. Writing makes me transform vague thoughts into structured and reasoned expressions, allowing them to be refined and strengthened over time.

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For me, thinking is a lifelong capacity, and writing is the means through which thinking becomes enduring. It enables thought to move beyond fleeting moments and turn into a continuous process of reflection and development. In this sense, writing has not only shaped how I express ideas, but also how I understand and engage with the world.

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What are you reading at the moment? 

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Recently, my reading has fallen into two broad categories: popular literature and academic or serious literary works. In terms of popular fiction, I have been revisiting The Summer I Turned Pretty. As a non-native English speaker, I particularly enjoy this kind of accessible and emotionally engaging writing. I still remember that the first English novel I ever read was Twilight, which became my introduction to reading in English. Looking back, this may seem slightly amusing, but at the time it gave me a strong sense of achievement and confidence in engaging with English-language texts.

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In terms of academic reading, I continue to return to M. Sadan’s Being and Becoming Kachin. I first read this book while writing my thesis, and each rereading reveals new layers of meaning. It has helped shape my understanding of the complex relationship between ethnic identity, history, and political struggle.

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Regarding Chinese-language literature, I have recently been rereading Tales of the Coconut Wind and Banana Rain by Liu Yichang. He belongs to an earlier generation of university students and also shares my background as someone originally from Shanghai. His refined and experimental style represents, for me, an important strand of modern Chinese literature. Although this collection was written in the 1950s, it does not feel outdated when read today; instead, it demonstrates how literary experimentation can transcend its historical moment and continue to resonate with contemporary readers.

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What are we working on together at the moment?

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At the moment, Jaye and I are not actively working on a new project together. However, we previously collaborated on my graduation thesis, which remains one of the achievements I am most proud of. From the selection of the topic to the review of the literature and the formulation of the research question, nearly every key stage of the project was developed through our discussions.

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Throughout this process, Jaye never overlooked any idea I raised. Even when an idea seemed tentative or underdeveloped, she treated it seriously and encouraged me to explore what could be built from it. She consistently guided me to consider whether a particular thought could be expanded into a stronger theoretical argument or supported through relevant empirical cases. In this way, I learned how to transform intuitive interests into research questions that could be analytically examined.

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This collaboration gave me more than a completed thesis; it reshaped the way I approach research and writing. I came to understand that academic work begins with questions rather than answers, and that its purpose is not to confirm what one already knows, but to investigate what remains uncertain. Although we are not currently engaged in a new joint project, the intellectual habits and analytical approach that emerged from our earlier collaboration continue to shape how I conduct research and write today.

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What improvements do you hope to make? And what are your goals longer term?

At this stage of my development, the improvement I most hope to make concerns my use of language. I would like my writing to feel more “alive” rather than dry or mechanical. By this, I do not mean adding decorative expressions, but allowing language to carry ideas more naturally, so that readers can engage not only with the argument itself but also with the rhythm and tone of the text. I am aware that this is a difficult goal to achieve, as it depends not only on linguistic proficiency but also on long-term reading, reflection, and sustained practice.

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In terms of thinking, I hope to strengthen my ability to move from small observations to broader insights. I increasingly recognise that many meaningful research questions do not originate from grand theoretical claims, but from close attention to everyday experiences, textual details, or specific cases. Developing the capacity to transform such minor observations into analytically significant arguments is an area in which I would like to make further progress.

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Looking ahead in the longer term, my goal is to continue treating writing as a mode of thinking rather than merely as a tool for producing outcomes. Whether I work in academic research, policy analysis, or another field that relies on writing, I hope to retain a sensitivity to both language and questions. In this sense, I see writing not as a temporary skill to be mastered, but as a lifelong practice through which thought can be continually refined and renewed.

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Do you think writing helps you to think critically? Why or why not?

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I strongly believe that writing helps to develop critical thinking. As I mentioned earlier, it is difficult for people to think in a sustained and systematic way in everyday life. Many thoughts arise only briefly and are quickly replaced by new information or emotions, without being properly examined or developed. Writing provides a way to fix these thoughts in place and subject them to scrutiny.

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Although it is often said that writing is simply an expression of one’s inner thoughts, in analytical or academic writing every sentence must be the result of reflection. What is written down is not merely a record of feelings or intuition, but a product of reasoning that requires coherence and justification. If ideas are written without such consideration, the result is closer to a diary than to critical writing.

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Through writing, I am constantly compelled to ask myself whether a claim is well grounded, whether an argument contains weaknesses, and whether alternative explanations have been overlooked. This process of revision and self-questioning is, in itself, an exercise in critical thinking. Over time, this habit no longer remains confined to the page but begins to shape how I approach real-world issues, encouraging me to analyse them from multiple perspectives rather than accepting the most immediate or convenient answer.

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For me, writing is therefore not only a means of expressing thought, but also a long-term form of intellectual training. It allows thinking to move beyond fleeting mental activity and become a process that can be examined, challenged, and continuously refined.

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Thank you Amber! Really proud of you!

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