Elva Knight Research Grant

The Elva Knight Research Grant provides up to US$10,000 for research in reading and literacy. Contingent upon available funds in any given year, as many as four grants may be awarded. Projects should be completed within 2 years and may be carried out using any research method or approach so long as the focus of the project is on research in reading or literacy. Activities such as developing new programs or instructional materials are not eligible for funding except to the extent that these activities are necessary procedures for the conduct of the research.

Each year, it is expected that at least one grant will be awarded to a researcher outside the United States and Canada and that one grant will be awarded to a teacher-initiated research project subject to being of high quality. Non-North Americans and classroom teachers are especially encouraged to apply.

Application Information

For the 2008 award year, applicants will complete their applications online through a Web-based grant management system.

First, download and read the application guidelines.

Next, create a profile on the application site.

Log in to write and edit your application.

The deadline for online submission will be January 15, 2008. Online submissions are required, and once your proposal has been submitted, you will not be allowed to edit your proposal. If this presents a hardship, please contact Marcella Moore at research@reading.org.

Applicants may apply for more than one research grant; however, you are eligible to win only one research grant per award year. All applicants must be International Reading Association members.

For additional information, contact the Research and Policy Division.

Grant Recipients

2007
Elaine Rubinstein-Avila - University of Arizona
Latino/a Students’ Linguistic Repertoire of Practices: A Case of a Dual-Immersion, Middle School Mathematics Classroom

Elsie Rockwell - DIE Centro de Investigacion y de Estudios Avanzados, Mexico City
The Social Appropriation of Literacy in Bilingual Societies: The Experience of a Generation of Indigenous Men and Women in Contla, Mexico

Oluwatoyin Dare Kolawole - Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
Effect of Literacy Activities on Grassroots’ Involvement in Community Development Projects: A Comparative Analysis of Two Groups of Adults in Northern Nigeria

Dana L. Grisham and Shira Lubliner - California State University, East Bay
The Cognate Assessment Project

2006
Rachel Brown - Syracuse University
A Quasi-experimental Study of Professional Development That Enhances Teachers’ Explicit Teaching of Multiple Comprehension Strategies and Students’ Effective Use of Them

Susan K. L’Allier and Laurie A. Elish-Piper - Northern Illinois University
The Effects of Literacy Coaching on Student Achievement in Reading in Grades K–3

Willy Ngaka - University of Kwazulu-Natal
The Role of Literacy in Enhancing Capabilities for Participation in Uganda’s Plan for Modernisation of Agriculture Exploring the Experiences of Rural Subsistence Farmers in Manibe Sub County

2005
George Hunt - University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Investigating Shared Literacy Procedures for Developing Mother Tongue Reading in a Rural South African Community School

Monica Gordon Pershey - Montclair State University, New Jersey
Analysis of Narrative Writings of Grade Four and Six African American Students

Frances J. Riemer - Northern Arizona University
Reading the Word: Literacy, Social Exchange, and Moral Reconstruction in Southern Africa

Jenifer J. Schneider - University of South Florida
Passable Writing? An Examination of the Writing Behaviors and Writing Products of Children’s Book Authors and Business Professionals

2004
Holly V. Blackford - Rutgers University
Multicultural Responses to Canonical Voices: Young Readers of To Kill a Mockingbird and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Dixie D. Massey - North Carolina A&T State University
Bridging School and Home Literacies: Preservice Teachers Negotiation of Literacy Instruction and Family Needs

Lyndsay E. Moffatt - University of British Columbia/Toronto District School Board
Reading and the Performance of Social Identity in a Hetereogeneous Population

2003
Claire Kosnik and Shelley L. Peterson - University of Toronto
Teachers and Their Struggling Adolescent Literacy Learners: Action Research in One Middle School

Peggy S. Rice - Ball State University
Response, Reflection, and Re-Enactment: Investigating Sixth Graders’ Interpretations of Characters in Nontraditional Gender Roles

Patricia R. Schmidt - LeMoyne College
Preparing Urban Teachers to Make Home/School/Community Connections for Reading and Writing Achievement

2002
James F. Baumann - University of Georgia Research Foundation
Donna Ware - Whitehead Road Elementary School
Effects of a Comprehensive, Year-Long Vocabulary Instructional Program in Fifth Grade: A Formative Experiment

Douglas K. Kaufman - University of Connecticut
Organization and Management of the Motion-Rich Reading and Writing Workshop: Influences on Literacy Learning and Teaching Practices

Sylvia J. Pantaleo - University of Victoria, Canada
Constructing Literary Understandings: Grade One Students Respond to Picture Storybook Read-Alouds

Clare P. Wood- The Open University, UK
Variation in beginning readers’ Use of Talking Books Software & Subsequent Outcomes

2001
Kelly Chandler-Olcott - Syracuse University
Donna Mahar - West Genesee Middle School Adolescent Girls’ Use of Electronic Technologies in Their Literacy Practices

Irene-Anna N. Diakidoy - University of Cyprus
The Relationship Between Listening and Reading Comprehension of Different Types of Text at Increasing Grade Levels

Shelley Hong Xu - Texas Tech University
Preparing Preservice and Inservice Teachers to Make School-Home Connection through Diverse Students’ Popular Culture

Laura M. Justice - University of Virginia
Early Literacy Intervention for Children with Speech-Language Impairment

Frank Salomon - University of Wisconsin, Madison
Heritages of Andean Literacy: A Comparative Inquiry into Rural Peruvian Vernacular Writing

2000
Zhihui I. Fang - University of Florida
The Grammatical and Social Construction of Literacy in a Literature-Based, Multigrade Classroom

Sandra K. Goetze and Barbara J. Walker - Oklahoma State University
Early Morning Reader-Response: Text, Talk, and Technology as Tools to Mediate Thinking for Mixed-Age, At-Risk Readers

Kenneth S. Goodman - University of Arizona
An Exploration of Reading Processes Using Eye-Movements and Miscue Analysis

Marjorie E.F. Orellana - Northwestern University
Language Brokering: Bridging the Home and School Literacy Practices of Latino Immigrant Children

Susan L. Smith - University of San Diego
Classroom Teacher Delivery of Reading Intervention: Effects on Student Achievement and Teacher Perceptions of Efficacy

Patricia Worrell - University of the West Indies, Trinidad
Initiation Into a Discourse Community: An Investigation of The Classroom Context For The Development of Understandings About Academic Discourse By Speakers of Trinidadian English Lexicon Creoles

1999
Diane D. Allen - University of North Texas
An Investigation of the Impact of Portfolio Use in Undergraduate Literacy Courses on Portfolio Use by New Teachers

JoAnn Dugan - Clarion University
An Inside Look: Children’s Perceptions of Literature Experience in the Classroom

Kristen Pammer - Australian National University
Integrating Perceptual and Cognitive Models of Dyslexia

Melina Porto - National University of La Plata
Learning and Teaching Diaries: Value and Potential

Jeanne Swafford - Texas Tech University
Reading and Writing to Learn: Using Informational Texts in a Primary Grade Classroom

Len Unsworth - University of Sydney
Reading Demands of School Science Explanations in CD Rom and Textbook Format

1998
Barbara Moss - University of Akron
An Ethnographic Examination of Sixth Graders’ Responses to Nonfiction Tradebooks

Fidelma Healy Eames- University College Trianlair, Maree, Ireland
The Teaching of Writing in Irish Primary Schools

Eurydice B. Bauer - University of Georgia
Becoming a Reader in Two Languages: A Case Study of a Preschool Bilingual’s Code-switching During Shared and Emergent Reading

Gay Ivey and Karen Broaddus - Rutgers University
An Investigation of Middle School Literacy Environments in Which Students Like to Read

Adebayo Lawal - University of Ilorin, Nigeria
The Reading Interests of Neo-Literate Adult Participants in the FGN-EEC Middle Belt Programme in Nigeria

William McGinley and Shuaib Meacham - University of Colorado, Boulder
Literacy, Storytelling, and Vernacular Culture Among Adults in an Urban Community

Shelley Peterson - Ohio State University
Third-Grade and Sixth-Grade Teachers’ Assessment of Girls’ and Boys’ Narrative and Persuasive Writing

Mary Jo Worthy - Texas
How Much Preparation and Supervision Do Literacy Tutors Need to Make Significant Progress With Struggling Readers?

1997
Mona Matthews and John E. Kesner - Georgia State University
Literacy Learning and Social Status: Merging the Two to Better Understand Children’s Pursuit of Literacy

Elizabeth B. Moje - University of Utah
Graffiti is a of State Mind and a Sign of Respect: A Study of Marginalized Adolescents’ Literacy Practices

Ruth C. Feldsberg - Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Literacy Uses of Bolivian Community Children in Argentina’s Public School System and at Home

1996
Diane Bushner and Jo Ann Brewer - Salem State College
A Study of the Effect of a Planned Program of Multicultural Literature Experiences on the Racial Attitudes of Elementary School Children at Three Grade Levels

Peter Afflerbach and Bruce VanSledright - University of Maryland
The Challenge of Understanding the Past: How Do Fifth Grade Readers Construct Meaning from Diverse History Texts?

Douglas K. Hartman - University of Pittsburgh
Mapping the Intertextual Lives of Two African American Male High School Students: Textual Practices in Classrooms and Communities

1995
George Kamberelis - Illinois
Beyond the Schoolhouse Doors: How Can Teachers Enhance Literacy Learning By Building Stronger Home-School-Community Connections?

Patricia A. Edwards and Kimberly von Allmen - Michigan State University
Examining Dialogues Used in Facilitating Parental Understanding of First-Graders’ Reading and Writing

Ian A.G. Wilkinson and Michael A.R. Townsend - University of Auckland
Organizing for Instruction in Whole Language Classrooms: A Case Study of Grouping Practices in New Zealand

Phyllis A. Wilkinson - Webster University-St. Louis
Children’s Use of Cohesive Harmony in What They Write and Read: An Assessment and a Classroom Intervention

1994
Peter Dewitz - University of Toledo
Assessing the Effects of Portfolio Assessment in Elementary Classrooms

Lea M. McGee - Massachusetts
First Graders’ Responses to Literature: A Classroom Study

Monique Sénéchal and Jo-Anne LeFevre - Carleton University
The Role of Picture-Book Exposure in the Development of Language and Emergent Literacy

Michele L. Simpson and Sherrie L. Nist - University of Georgia
Academic Literacy: A Case Study of Strategic, Task, Domain-Specific, and Epistemological Knowledge

1993
Arua Eke Arua - Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria
Classroom Interaction in English and IGBO Reading Classes in Some Selected Primary Schools in South Eastern Nigeria

Camille Blachowicz and Cathryn Wimett - National Louis University
Supporting Cultural Diversity in Literacy Instruction: A Case Study Analysis

Michelle Commeyras - University of Georgia
A Study of the Process of Transferring Responsibility to Students for Elements of Dialogical-Thinking Reading Lessons

Ignacio Dalton - Argentina
Cooperative Design of Playing Centers in Classroom: The Impact of Play in Early Literacy Development—A Latin American Approach

William McGinley - University of Colorado
Understanding the Personal, Social, and Political Functions of Adolescents’ Self-Selected Reading of Literature

Patricia L. Scharer - Ohio State University
Comparing Narrative and Expository Texts: Exploring Questions of Use and Student/Teacher Verbal Interactions in Fourth- and Fifth-Grade Classrooms

1992
Evelyn Arizpe - Wolfson College
Reading Adolescent Literature in Mexico

Jean Frey - Virginia
Informing Instructional Theory Within a Teacher Research Community

Ellen McIntyre - University of Louisville
Teaching and Learning Skills in Whole Language, Primary Grade Classrooms: How Effective Is It?

Donna Rane-Szostak and Kaye Herth - Northern Illinois University
The Relationship Between Pleasure-Based Reading and Perceived Degree of Loneliness in Later Life

Kathy Short - University of Arizona
Study Groups: Exploring Literacy Issues Through Collaborative Dialogue

1991
Mark W. Conley - Michigan State University
The Rise of the Reading Profession

James Hoffman, Nancy Roser, Miriam Martinez, and Nora Forester - University of Texas
Raising the Level of Classroom Discourse in Storybook Discussions

Elfrieda Hiebert - University of Colorado
Effects of Congruent, Emergent Literacy Experiences Across Grade 1 and Chapter 1 on Becoming Literate

K. Denise Muth - University of Georgia
The Role of Comprehension Strategies in Middle School Mathematical Problem Solving

John O’Flahavan - University of Maryland
Concurrent Social and Intellectual Development in Teacher-Led and Peer Discussions about Literature

C.E. Onukaogu - Obafemi Awolowo Unviersity, Nigeria
An Empirical Validation of the 4P’s Reading Comprehension Teaching Model

Ronald Taylor - Missouri
Family Support Practices of Children’s Reading Development in a Highly Literate Society

1990
Barbara Guzzetti - Arizona State University
Meta-Analysis of the Prior Knowledge Instructional Intervention Research

Amy A. McClure - Ohio Wesleyan University
Third and Fourth Grade Children’s Responses to Poetry in Supportive Literary Contexts

Susan Neuman and Kathy Roskos - Temple University
The Influence of Literacy-Enriched Play Settings on Preschoolers’ Conceptions of Print

Scott Paris - University of Michigan
Innovations for Assessing Students’ Reading and Learning

David Reinking - University of Georgia
The Effects of Computer Based Book Reviews on Middle School Students’ Reading and Writing

Karen Zabrucky - Georgia State University
DeWayne Moore - Clemson University
An On-Line Investigation of Evaluation and Regulation of Understanding in Young and Old Adults

1989
Jo Beth Allen - University of Georgia
Becoming Literate: A Study of Literacy Learning by Students at Risk

Bonnie Konopak and Priscilla Drum - Louisiana State University
Science Learning in the Intermediate Grades: Facilitating the Transition from Basal Readers to Expository Texts

Lesley M. Morrow - Rutgers University
The Impact of a Voluntary Reading Program on Reading Achievement, Attitudes and Use of Literature in Urban Youth

1988
Barbara Murphy and Shirley Love - South Korea
Navajo Parent Child Reading Program

Paula J. Schwanenflugel - University of Georgia
The Influence of Discourse-Level Information on the Processing of Upcoming Words in Sentences

Nelson Rodriguez-Trujillo - Venezuela
Provision of Reading Material to Rural Areas: Effects on School and Community

1987
Franz Biglmaier - Freie Universitat, Germany
First Grade Reading Study in German Speaking Countries

Timothy Rasinski - Kent State University
How Reading Instruction Fosters or Inhibits the Development of Prosocial and Altruistic Attitudes and Behaviors in Students

1986
Armando Morles and Young Mi Kim - Venezuela
Reading Comprehension Skills Training and Cognitive Styles Among Venezuelan Secondary School Students

Denny Taylor - New Hampshire
Working Parents and Their Children: A Study of Family Literacy and Learning

William Teale and Miriam Martinez - University of Texas
Kindergarten Teachers’ Storybook Reading Styles and Their Relation to Children’s Story Comprehension

1985
David Bloome - University of Michigan
Culture, Language, School and Literacy

Nancy N. Spivey - Carnegie Mellon University
James R. King - Texas Woman’s University
The Development of Discourse Synthesizing Abilities

1984
Donna Alvermann and David Hayes - University of Georgia
How Classroom Discussion Affects Students’ Critical Reading Behavior

Richard L. Allington - New York
What is Remedial Reading? And Why?

Taffy E. Raphael and Bonnie Armbruster - Michigan State University and Center for the Study of Reading
Improving Expository Reading and Writing Skills: Teaching About Information Sources and Text Structure

1983
Lesley M. Morrow and Carol S. Weinstein - New York
Promoting Voluntary Reading: The Impact of a Home and School-Based Program

Karen K. Wixson - University of Michigan
The Effect of Instruction in Vocabulary Concepts on Skilled and Less Skilled Readers’ Comprehension

1982
Catherine Dorsey-Gaines and Denny Taylor - Kean College
The Cultural Context of Family Literacy

Mariam Jean Dreher - Maryland
Cognitive Processes Underlying Instantiation

Lee Galda - University of Georgia
Developmental Factors in Children’s Responses to Literature

Jane Hansen - University of New Hampshire
The Analysis of Data Used to Formulate Hypotheses about the Processes of Reading and Writing