UROP Project

Testing reading automaticity in learners of English as a second language

We recently developed a novel way (on the basis of backward masking) to assess reading automaticity (Roembke et al., 2019; Journal of Educational Psychology), i.e. one’s ability to read words quickly and without effort. Until now, this test has only been used to assess reading automaticity in struggling middle-school students in the US. In this project, we will adapt the paradigm to investigate reading automaticity in adult learners of English and evaluate its usefulness in this context.

Task

The intern is expected to adapt the existing paradigm, so that it can be used with different participant groups. The tasks include the planning of the study (including stimulus development), data collection, data analysis, and report.

Requirements

Being enrolled in a B.Sc. Psychology program; interest in reading development/ language acquisition