Insider/outsider status has been recognised in geographical literature as an important aspect of positionality on which researchers should reflect critically. Based on my fieldwork experience in Dali, southwest China, this paper articulates an account of the co‐existence of ‘insiderness’ and ‘outsiderness’ during the research process in a way that adds nuance to scholarly challenges to conceptions of insider/outsider status as an oppositional binary. I touch on several dilemmas that arose over the course of my fieldwork in my home town, such as working with local research assistants, ‘encountering’ a Western supervisor in the field and interviewing local people. I argue that interacting in the field with people from different ethnic, professional or socioeconomic characteristics dynamises a researcher's insider/outsider position, bringing his or her in‐between position to the fore. In this paper, I highlight the tensions and negotiations arising from my experience of in‐betweenness in Dali. I also point out several particularities of doing fieldwork in China by referring to Chinese ways of thinking and communication, and analyse how insiderness complicates the research process with particular regard to China. Finally, I conclude that working in the field is not only a process of data collection, but also a process of learning ‘who I am’.

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for the past decade, China's education system has put much effo rt in bilingual teaching in English. Most Chinese higher education institutions set up bilingual form in professional courses to improve students' professional English skills. This paper discusses problems encountered in the implementation of bilingual courses, such as inefficiency in teaching and low acceptance among students. Through the understanding of students in the teaching practice, this paper finds that the problem is not caused by students' English skills, professional foundation or their learning habits, but by the mismatch of their English skills and pro fessional knowledge reserves, leading to not being able to apply English in learning specialized courses, hence reducing learning interests. We conduct a series of methods on reforming bilingual teaching techniques based on actual experimental teaching and follow-up surveys, and find that use of targeted previews, English keywords, and online platfo rm providing repeatable English micro lessons can largely improve students' learning interests and learning efficiency. This study explores the essential causes of problems in bilingual teaching and explores effective ways to improve teaching outcomes, filling the gap between theoretical and practical research.

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