She holds a PhD in Anglo-Germanic Philology from the University of Valencia (Spain). Prior to her appointment at UNC Charlotte, she held positions at the University of Valencia and the University of Seville, where she founded a research group on intercultural pragmatics (EPICS). Her research interests include second language acquisition, discourse analysis, pragmatics and intercultural communication. She is especially interested in Identity, Politeness and Relevance Theories. Recent publications include “Studies in Intercultural, Social and Cognitive Pragmatics” (Cambridge Scholars Publishing).