Welcome! 欢迎！

I am an Assistant Professor of Second Language Acquisition in the Department of World Languages and Cultures at Howard University. I hold a Ph.D. in Multilingual Language Education (The Ohio State University), an M.S. in TESOL (Fordham University), and a certificate in teaching Chinese as a second language (Teachers College, Columbia University).

My research examines how language ideologies shape the learning experiences of students and the teaching practices in world language and ESOL classrooms. I draw on ethnographic and discourse analytic approaches to explore how language learning and teaching are situated in broader social contexts and how these ideologies are manifested through everyday classroom discourse, as well as their implications for language teacher education. I am particularly interested in how translanguaging and culturally sustaining pedagogies can promote equity and participation among students from historically marginalized communities. 

I also engage in interdisciplinary projects that investigate how linguistic diversity and socioeconomic factors intersect in public and institutional spaces. This includes a line of research on linguistic landscapes, where I examine how multilingualism and social class are represented and negotiated in public signage, and how these representations reflect broader language ideologies.

AI literacy: A core practice in world language education 

During the 2023–2024 academic year, in collaboration with Anna Zaitseva and Dr. Francis J. Troyan, we investigated how world language teacher candidates develop AI literacy through their engagement with generative AI in lesson planning. Our article has now been published in Foreign Language Annals. The study shows how teacher candidates built competencies across technological, pedagogical, professional, and ethical dimensions of AI use, and how they shaped their developing professional identities while working with AI. By framing AI literacy as a core teaching practice, we offer a reflective, practice-based model for preparing future world language teachers to integrate AI with care and responsibility. 

Socioeconomic status and linguistic diversity in shaping multilingualism in the U.S. Midwest 

Excited to share my new article in the International Journal of Multilingualism, co-authored with Bethany Martens and Peter Sayer! Drawing on data from our linguistic landscape study in Columbus, Ohio, we examine how socioeconomic status and linguistic diversity interact to shape the visibility of multilingualism in public spaces—and how these factors influence local language ideologies. Free access for the first 50 readers: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/IFXEVXTIBUA3PTQNSCB8/full?target=10.1080/14790718.2025.2540453

Translanguaging in a culturally and linguistically diverse Mandarin FLES program

Excited to share my latest publication in Foreign Language Annals, drawn from my dissertation! This is among the early empirical studies on translanguaging in U.S. world language classrooms. We suggest rethinking rigid interpretations of ACTFL’s “90% target-language” guideline, showing how, when used strategically, translanguaging can complement extensive target-language exposure to foster language development, participation, and learner agency.

A Raciolinguistic Perspective of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students in a Mandarin Chinese FLES Program

My dissertation study investigates a K-5 Mandarin FLES program in a Title I urban public school, applying an ecosocial framework (Lemke, 2000) to understand how different stakeholders (i.e., parents, teachers, and multilingual students) conceptualize cultural and linguistic diversity issues within the program. This project was supported by the NFMLTA - NCOLCTL Graduate Student Resaerch Award and Ohio State's Alumni Grants for Graduate Research and Scholarship. 

An Interdisciplinary Approach to Mapping Linguistic Landscape in Education 

This interdisciplinary project (in collaboration with Peter Sayer, Bethany Martens, Mario Martinez) examines the linguistic landscape of Columbus, Ohio through a mixed-method study design. The study contributes to the broader understanding of how socioeconomic status and bilingualism mediate the language ideologies around multilingualism. This project was funded by the Graduate Student Interdisciplinary Research Initiative (GSIRI) and led to a publication in the Linguistic Landscape Journal (Lu et al., 2022), a book chapter in Language and Space (Lu & Martens, 2022), several conference presentations, and another paper under review.

Chinese Language Learner’s Academic Discourse Socialization in a U.S. University 

This project investigates the academic discourse socialization of three American students enrolled in a graduate-level Chinese Language Flagship program in the U.S. The findings identify teaching practices that serve as loci and resources for students’ language socialization through discourse analysis of the classroom interactions, offering new perspectives on how expertise is negotiated in advanced language learning contexts. This project was funded by the International Journal of Chinese Language Teaching (IJCLT)《国际汉语教学学报》and was published in the same journal. 

NSF Project (Award Number: 2032668): Developing a National Research Agenda for STEM Education for Students with Visual Impairments (VI) 

Worked as a graduate research assistant, I assisted Dr. Tiffany Wild with her National Science Foundation project on developing a National Research Agenda for STEM education for students with visual impairments. This collaboration led to several joint publications (Lu & Wild, 2022; Wild et al., 2022).