Davynn Xu is a first-year Ed.D. student in Applied Linguistics at Teachers College, Columbia University, specializing in Language and Technology. She also holds an M.A. in Applied Linguistics from Teachers College. Her research focuses on AI-mediated speaking assessment and the role of artificial interlocutors in eliciting and evaluating interactional competence. Integrating principles from conversation analysis and language assessment, she investigates how constructs such as naturalness, turn-taking organization, and repair practices can be operationalized as measurable indicators of communicative ability.

With over a decade of teaching experience in Mandarin Chinese across K–12 and university contexts in the United States, Davynn currently serves as the Director of Teaching and Research at an educational technology startup specializing in conversational AI.