Language & Literacy

Faculty

Please click on each faculty name to read a full profile:

• Vicki A. Jacobs
• Michael Kieffer
• Jacy Ippolito
• Nonie K. Lesaux
• Pamela Mason
• Barbara Alexander Pan
• Lolly Robinson
• Catherine E. Snow
• Kathleen Spencer
• Jennifer Thomson
• Paola Uccelli

Selected Faculty Work

Catherine Snow

Catherine Snow is director of the Boston Field Site of the Strategic Education Research Partnership [SERP; www.serpinstitute.org], which is an effort to understand the literacy problems facing middle school students in the Boston Public Schools, to develop ways to assess these problems, and to design and test effective teaching practices for various student populations. A major initiative launched within the BPS Field Site has been Word Generation, an intervention to promote academic language knowledge and use in middle school classrooms.

With the rapid growth of English Language Learners (ELLs) in today's schools, best practices for educating ELLs is a heated topic in both academic and popular discourse. The current research of Language and Literacy faculty Nonie Lesaux and Barbara Pan reflects the importance of generating useable knowledge in this area.

Nonie Lesaux

Related to links between research, instruction and policy for ELLs, Nonie Lesaux leads the Language Diversity & Literacy Development Research Group, which aims to investigate the reading development of language minority learners and their classmates in urban schools from preschool through the middle school years. In collaboration with five districts across the U.S., the team, comprised of HGSE faculty, graduate students, alumni, and staff, is pursuing a range of projects designed to inform instructional efforts to prevent reading difficulties and enhance reading comprehension outcomes among learners from linguistically diverse backgrounds. HGSE doctoral students play a key role in each of the projects and, together, have published papers and given presentations for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. Michael Kieffer coordinates the project investigating the effects of academic language instruction on middle schoolers’ reading comprehension skills. In doing so, he works closely with teachers and district leaders, in San Diego, who are charged with developing and improving middle school literacy curriculum to support struggling readers. Amy Crosson coordinated a longitudinal study of Spanish-speakers’ reading comprehension in English; the findings informed much of the program developed for the academic language study. Jeannette Mancilla-Martinez coordinates a study that investigates preschool indicators—home, family, and school—of later reading ability to better understand how we can prevent reading difficulties in this population. Kieffer and Crosson have each recently been awarded prestigious national doctoral fellowships to support their work.

On the research end, Barbara Alexander Pan and Nonie Lesaux, together with doctoral students Jeannette Mancilla-Martinez and Shaher Banu Vagh, are working on a three-year project funded by the Head Start Bureau, “Tracking Vocabulary Development of English Language Learners.”  The goal of the project is to pilot, refine, and validate instruments to be used to track children’s vocabulary skills in English and Spanish over time, as well as their changing exposure to and use of each language at home and school.  Program-friendly tools to track toddlers’ and preschoolers’ exposure to, use of, and skill in two languages are crucial if preschool programs are to identify children in need of intensive developmental intervention prior to kindergarten entry. Students interested in becoming involved in the project should contact either Barbara Alexander Pan or Jeannette Mancilla-Martinez.

Jenny Thomson’s research group is currently investigating dyslexia from a variety of angles. In collaboration with the Center for Reading and Language Research, Jenny is working on a project to improve the accuracy of pre-school assessments for reading difficulty risk. With her newly established neuroscience (ERP) lab, projects are also underway exploring processing strengths in dyslexia, as well as the neural profile of individuals who do not respond to phonics instruction even when it is provided intensively and systematically.

L&L Faculty Research

Mason, P. & Ippolito, J. (in press). What Is The Role of Reading Specialists in Promoting Adolescent Literacy? In Lewis, J. (Ed.), Essential Questions in Adolescent Literacy: Teachers and Researchers Respond Together on What Works in Classrooms, New York: Guilford Press.

Mason, P. & Dobbs, C. (2008). Classroom assessment strategies: Who uses what and when. Massachusetts Reading Association www.massreading.org

Catherine Snow

"Middle Ground: Shattuck Professor Catherine Snow's Project on Adolescent Literacy", Ed. Magazine, September 1, 2005.

"The ESL Advantage: A Lift-Off to Literacy", Ed. Magazine, April 1, 2004.

"Initiating a Global Research Bank: The Development of the Strategic Education Research Project", March 1, 2004.

"The New Head Start: From Cradle to Classroom", Ed. Magazine, August 1, 2003.

"Strategic Education Research Partnership", An Interview with Shattuck Professor Catherine Snow, June 1, 2003.

"Looking Closely at Second Language Learning", An Interview with Shattuck Professor Catherine Snow, October 1, 2002.

Jeanne Chall Reading Lab

The Jeanne Chall Reading Lab (JCRL) is named for a well-respected Harvard professor who made significant contributions to the field of reading research. Housed on the ground floor of Larsen Hall, the JCRL provides students and faculty with many opportunities to exchange ideas and knowledge. Whether they are conferring on research, discussing effective instruction, or planning for practicum assignments, students have access not only to an abundance of carefully chosen resource materials but also to personal guidance on best practices in effective language and literacy instruction.