Her primary focus in classroom instruction is to prepare students for real-life interaction with native speakers of Chinese. Her primary research interests include interactive instruction, comprehension-led learning, cross-cultural communication, teaching material development, and Chinese language teacher training.
Miao has a M.A. in teaching Chinese to speakers of other languages (TCSOL) from Northeast Normal University, China. Before joining Duke Kunshan, she taught Chinese at Taylor University in the United States, and at Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an Eurasia University and Northeast Normal University in China.