Bio

Jennifer Johnson is an Advanced Lecturer in the Program in Writing and Rhetoric (PWR) at Stanford University. She holds a B.A. in Art History with Honors from the University of Maryland at College Park and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Education from the University of California, Berkeley. She has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in education and linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, and Sonoma State University. While at Berkeley, she received the Berkeley Language Center Research Fellowship, Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award, and Teaching Effectiveness Award. Before beginning her graduate studies, she taught English in Japan for seven years, gaining extensive experience in language education.

At Stanford, she served as PWR 2 Coordinator, supporting curriculum development and professional development of instructors teaching courses focused on research-based writing and oral and multimedia communication. She also served as curriculum coordinator for Stanford’s Leland Scholars Summer Bridge Program, developing courses and curriculum for first-generation college students and students from low-income or under-resourced schools. Jennifer was part of a team that received a Hoagland Curricular Innovation Grant to develop a multilingual writing studio, a course specifically designed to support multilingual student writers, which she continues to teach. In 2025, she co-founded Backstory, Stanford’s undergraduate journal, and continues to mentor its student editorial team.

Her academic and research interests include applied and anthropological linguistics, second-language writing pedagogy, literacy and education, and Deaf Studies and multimodal communication. She has published articles in the L2 Journal, Applied Linguistics, and Composition Forum, and is a co-editor of a collection on multilingual writing and pedagogy.

Outside of academia, Jennifer windsurfs and rock climbs. After two decades living aboard sailboats, she recently moved ashore.

Academic Appointments

  • Advanced Lecturer, Program in Writing and Rhetoric

Administrative Appointments

  • PWR Curriculum Coordinator -Writing/Research, Leland Scholars Summer Bridge Program (2024 - 2025)
  • PWR 2 Course Coordinator, Program in Writing and Rhetoric (2020 - 2023)
  • PWR Curriculum Coordinator-Writing/Research, Leland Scholars Summer Bridge Program (2018 - 2020)

Honors & Awards

  • Research Grant "Cultivating the cross-disciplinary writer-researcher in a FLI bridge program", Program in Writing and Rhetoric (2019)
  • Research Grant "Supporting multilingual students at Stanford", Program in Writing and Rhetoric (2018)
  • Hoagland Award Fund for Innovations in Undergraduate Teaching, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education (2016)
  • OpenXChange Grant "Highlighting Linguistic Diversity: New Approaches to Supporting MLL Students”, VPUE, VPFDD & VPTL (2016)

Current Research and Scholarly Interests

SPECIALIZATION: Intersections of Language, Identity and Culture, Sociocultural Studies in Education, Second Language Acquisition Theory and Bilingualism, Multimodal Communication and Theories of Embodiment, Deaf Studies

2026-27 Courses

All Publications

  • Reflexivity memos in undergraduate research-based writing: Opening spaces to value students’ experiences and stories in research In Storied practices: Positionality in writing studies Johnson, J. WAC Clearinghouse. 2026

    View details for DOI 10.37514/PRA-B.2026.2906

  • Transcription as ethics:(Re) Presenting young children’s complex communicative repertoires in Applied Linguistics research Ethical Issues in Applied Linguistics Scholarship Bernstein, K., Bhattacharya, U., Johnson, J. - John Benjamins B.V.. 2024: 87-109
  • Bringing an Awareness of Language Difference to Oral Communication Pedagogy Across Contexts Pedagogical Innovations in Oral Academic Communication Fahim, N., Johnson, J., Lie , H. University of Michigan Press . 2022
  • Research Writing Pedagogy as Sustaining First-Generation College Student Identities in a Bridge Program Beyond Fitting In. Rethinking First-Generation Writing and Literacy Education Alfano, C., Formato, M., Johnson, J., Newby, A. MLA . 2022
  • Linguistic Justice on Campus: Pedagogy and Advocacy for Multilingual Students edited by Schreiber, B., Lee, E., Johnson, J., Fahim , N. Multlingual Matters . 2021
  • Why linguistic justice, and why now? Linguistic Justice on Campus: Pedagogy and Advocacy for Multilingual Students Lee, E., Johnson, J., Schreiber, B. 2021
  • Participation in a Global Hearing Culture: Hearing Mothers' Translations of Their Childrens' Deafworlds APPLIED LINGUISTICS Johnson, J. T. 2020; 41 (1): 84–108

    View details for DOI 10.1093/applin/amz022

    View details for Web of Science ID 000522851500005

  • Translating Culture in Global Times: Dialogues APPLIED LINGUISTICS Hua, Z., Kramsch, C., Gramling, D., House, J., Johnson, J., Wei, L., Park, J. 2020; 41 (1): 148–60

    View details for DOI 10.1093/applin/amz021

    View details for Web of Science ID 000522851500008

  • From the Special Issue Editors. Promoting Social Justice for Multilingual Writers on College Campuses Composition Forum Johnson , J., Lee, E., Brooke, S., Norah , F. 2020; 44
  • Performing Deafness: Symbolic Power as Embodied by Deaf and Hearing Preschoolers L2 Journal Johnson, J. T. 2017; 9 (2)

    View details for DOI 10.5070/L29232712