Her teaching and research areas include: socio-cognitive dimensions of L2 acquisition, health literacy, immigrant literacies, and teacher identity formation. From 2008-2013, she was a research fellow funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health, Research Infrastructure in Minority Institutions (RIMI) program. Her health literacy research explores ways that adult ESL participation serves as a health-protective factor in immigrant communities. In collaboration with the University of California-San Francisco, she is studying the effects of peer support networks and innovative curricula on health literacy outcomes among beginning-level adult ESL learners.