Research Interests
My research focusses on languages, literacies and communication writ large as they relate to learner identities, educational experiences, and broader social processes (e.g., of inclusion or exclusion). While this research has primarily focused on adolescent immigrant and refugee learners in public K-12 institutions, as well as their families, and teachers, I also explore questions around language access and interpretation in other community and institutional contexts, such as in immigrant-serving community organizations, and in medical settings.
Overarching research foci:
- Multilingualism and learning in school and society
- Intersections of language and literacy, race, ethnicity, gender, and social class
- Qualitative research in applied linguistics: ethnographic methods, discourse analysis, sensory/embodied methods
Education
Education, Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Teaching English as a Second Language, M.Ed., University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Comparative Education, MA, University of Minnesota
Anthropology, French, BA, Grinnell College
Additional Campus Affiliations
Associate Professor, Education Policy, Organization and Leadership
Co-Director of Graduate Studies, Education Policy, Organization and Leadership
Associate Professor, Women & Gender in Global Perspectives
Associate Professor, European Union Center
Associate Professor, Biomedical and Translational Sciences
Associate Professor, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Recent Publications
T. Dávila, L. (2023). Immigrant Outreach and Language Access During First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Applied Linguistics. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amad035
Dávila, L. T., & Doukmak, N. (2022). Immigration Debated: Central African Immigrant Youth’s Discourses of Fairness and Civic Belonging in the United States. Equity and Excellence in Education, 55(1-2), 118-132. https://doi.org/10.1080/10665684.2021.1997364
Dávila, L. T. (Guest ed.) (Accepted/In press). Introduction to Special Issue: Researching Language Teaching, Learning and Policy in Refugee Resettlement Contexts in the United States. Linguistics and Education, 70, Article 101056. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2022.101056
Dávila, L. T., & Susberry, V. (2021). Multimodal and multilingual co-authoring in high school social studies ESL classrooms. In D. Shin, T. Cimasko, & Y. Yi (Eds.), Multimodal Composing in K-16 ESL and EFL Education: Multilingual Perspectives (pp. 55-71). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0530-7_4
Dávila, L. T. (2021). Newcomer refugee and immigrant youth negotiate transnational civic learning and participation in school. British Educational Research Journal, 47(4), 855-871. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3702