She received a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from Pennsylvania State University. Her research interests include English as a lingua franca, intercultural communication, gesture and L2 learning/development, multimodality, and roles of materials in L2 classrooms. She has published articles in The Modern Language Journal, TESOL Quarterly, Language Learning, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, Journal of English as a Lingua Franca, and Teacher Development.