Dr. Ma’'s research interests include discussion as an instructional tool, strategies across ELA and content areas, the Chinese perspective on education, and English language learners'’ literacy learning and social development. His recent publications focus on Chinese students' and professors’' educational experiences and perspectives in an American context. For example, in Ma’'s (2014) East Meets West in Teacher Preparation: Crossing Chinese and American Borders, a group of educators from China teaching in America’n universities discuss how they view the American and Chinese models of education, what strategies they use to navigate through complex sociocultural boundaries, and what possibilities exist for the American and Chinese educational communities to learn from each other. Another edited book, Learner’'s Privilege and Responsibility: A Critical Examination of the Experiences and Perspectives of Learners from Chinese Backgrounds in the United States (Ma & Wang, 2014), examines the constructs of learner privilege and responsibility in the teaching and learning equation, cultural and linguistic challenges and transitional adjustments, self-concept, learning strategies, comparison and contrast of differences and similarities between Chinese and American students, and/or critical reflections on significant issues confronting Chinese learners. Such research not only brings to light the Chinese students/professors’ educational journeys and transformations, but also provides useful lenses for the educational communities in both countries to rethink about the larger theoretical and pedagogical issues across the Pacific shores.