The visual system is tuned by its inputs. The behavior of reading offers a unique way to examine tuning for visual representations (letters) because readers have massive experience recognizing letters in a systematic context (reading). One aspect of reading is that letters are highly crowded within words, which severely limits their…

The functional neuroanatomy of language localization in dyslexia has primarily been studied in the context of reading. However, dyslexia is sometimes referred to as a "language-based learning disability," yet the functional signature of the core language comprehension network in dyslexia is far less understood. This thesis presents a…

Prelingually and profoundly deaf individuals learn to read without complete access to the sounds of language. Nevertheless, many become proficient readers, and the neurocognitive underpinnings of deaf readers' processes differ from those of hearing readers, particularly in orthographic processing. In English, morphological structure is relatively…

Individuals with aphasia (IWA) often exhibit challenges in single word reading as well as in reading comprehension. Recently, eye-tracking technology has become instrumental in delving deeper into reading behaviors. Specifically, it has illuminated the differences in word reading and comprehension abilities among aphasic English speakers. However,…

Organic chemistry is a class well known to be difficult and necessary for many careers in the sciences, and as a result, has garnered interest in researching ways to improve student learning and comprehension. One potential way involves using eye tracking techniques to understand how students visually examine questions. Organic chemistry involves…

Since corpus linguistics gained popularity as a methodology in the latter half of the 20th century, second language acquisition research has seen the emergence of work investigating formulaic language, such as idioms, lexical bundles, and collocations. A collocation is a string of words that co-occur more routinely than probability would predict,…

This embedded experimental mixed-methods study examined the implementation and outcomes of World Music Drumming (WMD) curriculum on reading fluency in primary elementary children and teacher perceptions of its effectiveness in student-to-curriculum, student-to-student, and student-to-teacher interactions in a summer camp setting. WMD, with its…

Researchers have investigated the promise of unimodal and bimodal input in enhancing vocabulary learning from meaning-focused activities. Compared to unimodal input, the simultaneous presentation of written and aural input in bimodal input has been argued to direct L2 learners' attention to words and enhance the form-meaning links for new…

I examine the formation of power as it relates to canonicity through online delivery systems, Amazon and Goodreads, and the academic sector in the contemporary period. The digital age has radically changed literature by providing for a textuality of literature that is multi-channeled, and this project responds by engaging new critical lenses for…

This study examined the reading and writing processes that seventh-graders used in hypertext versus traditional print environments. Additionally, it considered the impact of incorporating technology and collaboration into pedagogical practice. Three separate literacy activities involved students in finding information, creating presentations, and…

This study sought to validate adult-child shared storybook reading as a method for teaching target vocabulary words to preschool children with disabilities. The Vocabulary Learning through Books (VLTB) instructional procedure incorporates, adult-child book reading, questioning during reading requiring the child to answer with a target word, and…

I present an analysis of antecedent mismatch effects under ellipsis based on information structure, in which apparent syntactic parallelism effects are explained as a consequence of an information structural constraint requiring topic/comment parallelism for contrastive topics. Experimental findings in support of this hypothesis demonstrate first…

Concern over worldwide literacy rates prompted the United Nations to establish the UN Literacy Decade (2003-2012) with one area of focus being to provide support to schools to develop effective literacy programs (UNESCO, 2005). This study addressed the area of providing support to schools to develop effective literacy programs by exploring the…

The purpose of this study was to compare the variety, complexity, and frequency of reading behaviors of three groups of first grade students--students who discontinued from Reading Recovery (D-RR), students who did not discontinue from Reading Recovery (ND-RR), and students who never needed Reading Recovery (A-NRR). Students were asked to read…

Fluent reading hinges on automatic word recognition, yet little research has investigated the acquisition process with repeated exposure to novel words. In this study, elementary students in grades three to six were asked to read two-syllable pseudowords five times each (in varied sequences) during two sessions (n = 49). The goal was to study…