Dissertations Completed

2012 Lee, Sun Hwa
Effects of the Interactive Strategies Approach on At-risk Children's Spelling Development
Chair: Donna Scanlon

2011 Affinito, Stephanie
Literacy Coaching: Negotiating Roles and Realities
Chairs: Sean Walmsley and Cheryl Dozier

2010 Albert, Marta K.
Enhancing Literacy among Rural, Work-Oriented Youth: A Cultural Analysis
Chair: George Kamberelis

2010 Cheong, Cheonghwa
Unsung Voices: The Transformation of Writing and Identity of Korean ESL Students in U.S. Secondary Schools
Chair: Peter Johnston

2010 Rowley, Anne
The Role of Grammar Knowledge for Identifying Language Needs
Chair: Donna Scanlon

2009, Anderson, Kimberly L.
The Effects of Professional Development on Early Reading Skills: A Comparison of Two Approaches to Word Solving
Chair: Donna Scanlon

2009  Shim, Jenna Min
Location Matters: Investigation of Responses to Intercultural Differences and Tensions as Represented in Fictional Short Stories and Films
Chair: Jamie Myers

2009, Lewis, Tisha Y.
Family Literacy and Digital Literacies: A Redefined Approach to Examining Social Practices of an African-American Family
Chair: Peter Johnston

2008 Feeney, James J.
A Study of Literacy in Three Adults with Moderate-to-Severe Intellectual Impairments Who Use Augmentative and Alternative Communication Systems
Chair: Sean Walmsley

2007 Kreutter, Cheryl A.
Preservice Teachers Examining Social Class Through Critical Literacy
Chair: Virginia Goatley

2007 Rutten, Ilene
Preparing Literacy Teachers for Cultural Realities
Chair: Peter Johnston

2007 Yanoff, Elizabeth
Inquiry and Ideological Becoming in First Grade Literature Discussions
Chair: Peter Johnston

2007 Pollack Day, Jennifer
Balancing Balance: A Multi-Case Study of Professional Development around Balanced Literacy
Chair: Peter Johnston

2006 Hong, Carrie Eunyoung
Learning Other Cultures' Ways of Knowing: Literacy and subjectivity among Korean students learning English.
Chair: Rose-Marie Weber

2005 McCloskey, Erin
Taking on a Learning Disability: Negotiating Special Education and Learning to Read
Chair: Virginia Goatley

2005 Van Bramer, Joan M.
The Role of Revealing and Telling in Self-Regulated Literacy Learning
Chair: Peter Johnston

2005 Layden, Susan B.
Discourse, Diversity, and Disadvantage: Investigating How Minority and Working-Class Students Negotiate Identities During the First Year at a Selective Liberal Arts College
Chair: James Collins

2004 Woodcock, Christine
"But I want to read my girl stuff...": Portraits of late adolescent girls and how relational literacies play a role in their negotiations of gender.
Chair: Rose-Marie Weber

2004 Frank, Martha
A comparative case study of three preschool sites to explore how four year old children demonstrate their literacy knowledge and how their teachers take advantage of this knowledge in their classrooms.
Chair: Sean Walmsley

2003 Killian-Munro, Jackie
Parent response to the books their first-grade children self selected for home reading.
Chair: Richard Allington

2003 Lassonde, Cynthia
The Co-construction of Positional Writing Practices in the Context of My Fifth-Grade Classroom
Chair: Rose-Marie Weber

2003 Verbeck, Katherine.
Comprehension Monitoring Among Underprepared College Freshmen.
Chair: Peter Johnston

2002 Woodside-Jiron, Haley
The Language of Politics and the Politics of Language: A Critical Analysis of California Reading Policy.
Chairs: Peter Johnston & James Collins

2001 Bates, Richard
Developing Haudenosaunee Heritage-Based Literacy Curriculum at the St. Regis Mohawk School
Chair: Rose-Marie Weber

2001 Dozier, Cheryl
Constructing Teacher Knowledge: Learning From the Field
Chair: Sean Walmsley

2001 Dickinson, Sherry
Learning to Read Through the Shadows: A Portrait Narrative of a Struggling Reader Who is Emotionally Disordered.
Chair: Rose-Marie Weber

2000 Porter, Dolores
Classroom Community: Influences on Literacy Development of Students in One Second Grade Inclusive Classroom
Chair: Richard Allington

2000 McTernan,Thomas
High School Literacy Students Making Choices
Chair: James Collins

2000 Rogers, Rebecca
Literate identities, discursive practices and social structures: An extended case study of family literacy practices. Chair: Peter Johnston

2001 Peck, Sharon
Now We Know Something: Elementary Teachers’ Perspectives on Change in Reading Instruction.
Chair: Rose-Marie Weber

1999 Haneke, Dianne
Early Adolescents’ Perceptions of Literacy and Literacy Self-Perceptions.
Chair: Peter Johnston

1999 James, Ioney
The Literacy Experience of Caribbean Immigrants in American Schools: Case Study of a Jamaican Pupil.
Chair: Richard Allington

1999 Kerr, John
Conflict and Struggle in the College Basic Writing Classroom: Listening to the Silence in the Contact Zone.
Chair: Sean Walmsley

1999 Chou, Li-Hua
Extending Spoken and Written English Abilities through Literature Discussion Groups among Secondary Students in Taiwan.
Chairs: Peter Johnston and Rose-Marie Weber

1999 Brooks, Greg
Exploring the Relationship Between Teachers' Reading and Writing and Their Teaching of Reading and Writing. Chair: Richard Allington

1999 Cowan, Reva
Journeys to Literacy Instructional Knowledge: Case Studies of Four Primary Teachers.
Chair: Anne McGill-Franzen

1999 Henderson-Leftwich, Stacey
Between Two Domains: Addressing Multicultural Education Through State English Language Arts Standards. Chair: Richard Allington

1997 Baker, Kim
Five Years in Meg's Classroom: Teacher Change in an Era of Complex Educational Reform.
Chair: Richard Allington

1997 Shouping, Li
The Semantic Analysis Method for Teaching Chinese Characters.
Chair: Rose-Marie Weber

1997 Gioia, Barbara
"Once Upon a Time...": A Collaborative Study of the Storybook Experiences of Three Deaf Preschoolers.
Chair: Peter Johnston

1997 Rosenthal, Irene.
Sixth Graders Interpretive Thinking About Texts Significant to their Peer Culture.
Chair: Sean Walmsley

1997 Chang, Ru
Strategies for Reading English as a Foreign Language.
Chair: Rose-Marie Weber

1996 Yaworski, JoAnn
Why Students Succeed or Fail: Theories of Underachieving Affluent College Students.
Chair: Rose-Marie Weber

1995 Michelson, Nancy
Reading the Context Clues: One Teacher's Construction of Literacy Instruction in an Inner-city, First Grade Classroom
Chairs: Richard L. Allington and Rose-Marie Weber

1995 Adams, Ellen
A Descriptive Study of Second Graders' Conversations About Books.
Chair: Sean Walmsley

1995 Whipple, Michele
Unraveling Julie's Web: A Case Study of Factors Affecting the Self-Initiated Changes of One Sixth Grade Language Arts Teacher.
Chair: Sean Walmsley

1994 Brandau, Deborah
Schooling and Work: A Literacy-Based Inquiry in a Rural Working Class Community.
Chair: James Collins

1994 Li, Shouming
The On-Line Construction of Macrostructure During the Reading Comprehension Process of Experienced Native & Advanced Non-Native English Readers.
Chair: Richard Allington

1992 Zhao, Peisheng
Effects of Text Structure on the Use of Cognitive Capacity in Reading for the Main Idea: A Comparative Study. Chair: Rose-Marie Weber

1992 Broikou, Kathleen
Understanding Classroom Teachers' Special Education Referral Practices.
Chair: Richard Allington

1992 Howard, Janet
Literacy Learning in a Waldorf School.
Chair: Richard Allington

1991 Mike, Dennis
Literacy and the Multiply Disabled: Ethnography of Classroom Interaction.
Chair: Peter Johnston

1991 Stuetzel, Helen
Use of and Influence on Basal Reader Manual Activities by Second Grade Teachers.
Chair: Richard Allington

1990 Jachym, Nora
Analysis of Basal Workbooks at the First-Reader Level.
Chair: Richard L. Allington

1990 Gaskins, Robert
Affective Involvement and Its Effect Upon Comprehension.
Chair: James T. Fleming

1990 Meents, Cassandra
Literacy Instruction in High School Resource Rooms.
Chair: Richard L. Allington

1990 Wong, Colleen
The Development of Anaphora in Chinese Listening and Reading.
Chair: Rose-Marie Weber

1989 Weiping, Jiang
Effects of Differential Word Order and Semantic Information on L2 Readers’ Short-Term Memory and on Their Decision, Selection and Control of Language Processing Strategies.
Chair: James T. Fleming

1989 Vassar, Marian
The Sensitivity of Cloze Procedure to Passage Organization.
Chair: Richard L. Allington

1989 Byrd, Marjorie 
Summary Writing Behaviors of Junior College Students.
Chair: Sean A. Walmsley

1988 Beach, John 
Writing Tasks and the Integration of Reading and Writing in American Basal Reader Series: A Descriptive and Analytical Study.
Chair: Richard L. Allington

1988 McGill-Franzen, Anne
Early Schooling and Literacy: Recursive Questions of Child Development and Public Responsibility.
Chair: James T. Fleming

1988 Habayeb, Ali
Effects of Illustrations on Text Comprehension.
Chair: Edward R. Sipay

1986 Adams, Arlene
Strategy Preference for Assigning Pronoun Antecedents: A Comparison of Normal and Disabled Readers in Listening and Reading Comprehension.
Chair: Edward R. Sipay

1986 Lawson, Joan
An Interview/Observation Study of the Role of the Caregiver in Five Daycare Centers.
Chair: James T. Fleming

1985 Afflerbach, Peter
The Influence of Prior Knowledge on the Construction of Main Ideas.
Chair: Peter Johnston

1985 Grant-Griffin, Lucinda
The Role of Sea Island Creole in the Use and Understanding of Causal and Temporal Connectives in Oral and Written Discourse.
Chair: Edward R. Sipay

1985 Osman, Safiah 
Comprehension of Expository Text by Readers of English as a Second Language.
Chair: James T. Fleming

1985 Pike, Kathryn M. 
The Content of Instruction in Pullout Compensatory Reading Instruction and Its Relationship to Regular Classroom Instruction.
Chair: Richard L. Allington

1985 Scott, Kathleen F. 
Children’s Revision Abilities: Reading and Rewriting as Component Processes.
Chair: James T. Fleming

1985 Steubing, Jayne
Elementary School Teacher Locus of Control, Causal Attributions, and Student Reading Group Placement. Chair: Richard L. Allington

1984 Domaracki, Jane
The Relationship of the Amount and Structure of Children’s Prior Knowledge to Reading Comprehension of Expository Prose.
Chair: James T. Fleming

1984 Lyon, Kathleen
The Effect on Comprehension of Increasing the Single-Word Recoding Speed of Poor Readers.
Chair: Edward R. Sipay

1984 Shake, Mary C.
The Congruence Between Instructional Philosophies and Practices: A Study of Teacher Thinking.
Chair: Richard L. Allington

1983 Kim, Byong Won
Three Korean Children’s Acquisition of Textual Knowledge of English Articles in Monologue Production and Reading-Retelling.
Chair: James T. Fleming

1982 Eshel, Rina
Effects of Contextual Richness on Word Recognition in Pointed and Unpointed Hebrew Text.
Chair: Richard L. Allington

1982 Hynes, John 
Propp and His Progeny: An Evaluation of Story Grammars and a Reappraisal of the Value of Propp’s Theories for Literacy Analysis and Reading Research.
Chair: Sean A. Walmsley

1982 Krieger, Veronica
Sixth Graders’ Recall of Text as a Function of Standardized Paragraph Comprehension, Word Identification Speed, Textual Explicitness and Theme Placement.
Chairs: Peter B. Mosenthal and Richard L. Allington

1981 McDermott, Peter C.
The Social Context of Adult Reading Instruction
Chair: James T. Fleming

1981 Na, Tong Jin 
Automatic and Controlled Context Effects on Encoding and Decision Processes.
Chair: James T. Fleming

1980 Morgado, Mary Lou
Literacy Competence of Mentally Retarded Adults Residing in Community Residencies.
Chair: Richard L. Allington

1979 Bolchazy, Marie C.
Classroom Verbal Interaction: Teachers’ Perceptions of Students’ Autonomy and Self-Concept, and Reading Group Placement.
Chair: James T. Fleming

1979 Jacqueline Marino, Jacqueline
Children’s Use of Phonetic, Graphemic, and Morphophonemic Cues in a Spelling Task.
Chair: Sean A. Walmsley

1979 Taylor, Elizabeth
The Effect of Schemata and Text Length on the Number of Inferences Produced by Adult Readers in the Free Recall of Fictional Story.
Chair: Pat Rigg

1978 Gormley, Kathleen
Memory Coding Strategies Used by Deaf, Severely Hearing Impaired and Hearing Children on Consonant Tasks Related to Reading.
Chair: James T. Fleming

1978 Gould, Sandra
Cloze restoration, recall and discourse processing in middle grade readers.
Chair: James T. Fleming

1977 Fisher, Sharon
Conceptual Tempo and Oral Reading Performance.
Chair: Edward R. Sipay

1975 Finder, Natalie
Effects of Instructing Teachers in a Task Analysis of Comprehension on Children’s Reading Achievement.
Chair: James T. Fleming

1975 Fitzgerald, Thomas
Levels of Difficulty in Connected Discourse, Presented in the Auditory and Visual Modes, on Responses of Educationally Disadvantaged Adults with Differing Abilities.
Chair: James T. Fleming

1975 Judge, Robert
The Effect of Presentation Mode and Material Difficulty on Third and Seventh Graders’ Use of Phonemic and Semantic Attributes to Encode Words Into Long-Term Memory.
Chair: James T. Fleming

1974 Binzer, Patricia
The Effect of Direct Instruction in Comprehension Through Listening on Reading Comprehension.
Chair: Edward R. Sipay

1974 Miller, Etta
Relationships Among Modality Preference, Method of Instruction, and Reading Achievement.
Chair: Edward R. Sipay

1974 Niles, Jerome A.
The Use of Featural and Letter Dependency Information in Word Recognition by Elementary School Children. Chair: James T. Fleming

1974 Fusaro, Joseph 
Eye-Voice Span and Linguistic Constraints in Elementary-School Children.
Chair: Edward Sipay

1973 Pressman, Raymond
The Relationship of Sensory-Integration Matching Abilities and Reading Instructional Approaches to Word Recognition Ability.
Chair: Edward R. Sipay

1972 Frauley, Ronald F.
Relationship Among Receptive Language Skills, Type of Second Language Acquisition Program, and Reading Achievement.
Chair: Edward R. Sipay

1972 Rovelli, Virginia 
A Comparison of Three Instructional Sequences for Learning the Grapheme-Phoneme Vowel Correspondences.
Chair: Edward R. Sipay

1972 Santora, Olga 
The Effect of Question Position, Pacing, and Mode of Presentation on Learning from Written Prose in Elementary School Children.
Chair: James T. Fleming

1972 Siler, Earl
The Effects of Syntactic and Semantic Constraints on the Oral Reading Performance of Second and Fourth Graders.
Chair: James T. Fleming

1972 Tregaskis, George
The Relationship Between Sex Role Standards of Reading and Reading Achievement of First-Grade Boys. Chair: James T. Fleming

1972 Martin, Jane Sullivan 
The Effect of Dialect Interference and Response Focusing on the Assessment of Auditory Discrimination.
Chair: James T. Fleming

1972 Nevins, Rosemary
The Effect of Training in Letter Names, Letter Sounds and Letter Names and Sounds on the Acquisition of Word Recognition Ability.
Chair: Edward R. Sipay

1972 Early, Edward J.
Effects of Extrinsic Reinforcement on the Reading Achievement of Disadvantaged Retarded Readers.
Chair: Edward R. Sipay