Dr. Johnson’s research examines young children’s learning experience with an interest in pedagogies that support the rich linguistic and cultural background of the Mexican heritage students in the El Paso region. She applies methods and theories to her work from linguistic anthropology that allow her to study in intricate detail the complex social ecology of learning. Her experience teaching in under-resourced schools in East Oakland, California and Bronx, New York, where she observed students from non-dominant backgrounds receive a subpar education, motivates her interest in examining “what’s possible” given the right educational conditions for children whose potential has been minimized by labels such as, “at risk,” or “English Language Learner.” Dr. Johnson is additionally interested in issues related to teacher development and teaches methods courses in the Teacher Education Department at UTEP.As a former Lecturer of qualitative research methods in the education department at UCLA and as a Postdoctoral Scholar at USC’s Center for Economic and Social Research, Dr. Johnson brings a diverse range of methodological expertise to her research and is interested in questions of how social science research methods can best study learning as a socially situated process.