Literacy Ph.D.

The purpose and mission of the Concentration in Literacy is to prepare literacy professionals who will hold research and literacy education positions in universities across the country as well as for roles in local, regional, state, or national educational agencies and corporations. The program of study engages doctoral students in a theoretical and research-based examination of the cognitive, linguistic, social, cultural, political, and economic factors that impact literacy teaching and learning at all levels of development, from early childhood through adult, and emphasizes social opportunity and educational access for all learners.

The Concentration in Literacy is designed to provide doctoral students with the knowledge and skills essential for reading and interpreting scholarship in the field, as well as conceptualizing, designing, implementing, and disseminating original research. To that end, students engage in a variety of mentored and guided experiences that integrate theory, research, and practice. The program faculty expects doctoral candidates to provide leadership locally as well as contribute to a national research community. The Concentration in Literacy also offers doctoral students the opportunity to engage in mentored and guided university teaching experiences.

Through a combination of required courses and electives, doctoral students, together with their mentors, design a program of study uniquely fitted to their individual interests, expertise, and professional goals. The degree program requires a minimum of 90 semester credit hours, as described below. At least one year of the program of study must be completed through full time study.

  • LSLS 9021 Frameworks for Literacy Research
  • LSLS 9046 Advanced Seminar in Literacy I
  • LSLS 9047 Advanced Seminar in Literacy II
  • LSLS 9051 Mentored Research in LSLS
  • LSLS 9055 Writing for Publication in Education
  • LSLS 9057 Seminar in University Teaching 
  • LSLS 9059 Mentored University Teaching
  • LSLS 8030 Miscue Analysis
  • LSLS 8032 Language and Emergent Literacy
  • LSLS 8036 Adolescent Literacy
  • LSLS 8037 New Literacies
  • LSLS 8040 Research in Reading and Writing
  • LSLS 8041 Current Issues in Literacy
  • LSLS 7030 Discourse Analysis
  • LSLS 7031 Principles of Organizing a Literacy Curriculum
  • LSLS 7032 Teaching Ethnic American Literature
  • LSLS 7033 Seminar in Literature for Children and Adolescents
Headshot of Allison Dawn Breit

Allison Dawn Breit

Professor (F2), CECH Literacy & Second Language Studies

260B Teachers College

513-556-7119

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Ying Guo

Professor of Literacy Education, CECH Literacy & Second Language Studies

638M Teachers College

I am most passionate about exploring research questions that address the improvement of reading and writing skills of children. Three lines of research have emerged within this area: identification of the malleable factors that are associated with better reading and writing outcomes, development and validation of reading and writing interventions, and development and validation of assessment. My research focuses on supporting children with or at risk for disabilities, which includes those living in poverty, children with disabilities (e.g., children with language impairment/LI), and children from immigrant families (e.g., dual language learners).
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Susan Watts-Taffe

Associate Professor, CECH Literacy & Second Language Studies

615J Teachers College

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Stephanie Reid

Asst Professor (F2), CECH Literacy & Second Language Studies

638K Teachers College

TBD

Stephanie F. Reid (she/her) is an Assistant Professor in the Literacy and Second Language Studies program in the School of Education. She is a first-generation college student from an industrial and historic town in Kent, England. She studied English Literature at the University of Cambridge (BA and MA) and then secondary English education at the University of Oxford. She achieved her MA in Education and K-12 Reading Teacher endorsement at Hamline University and her doctoral degree in Learning, Literacies, and Technologies at Arizona State University (2020). Prior to pursuing her doctorate and her career she was a middle school Language Arts and/or Reading teacher for 15 years in both England and the US. She earned national, state, and local recognition for her teaching excellence.
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Stephanie’s current research and scholarship is organized around three key strands:
  1. Content analyses of visual and multimodal texts relevant to education and literacy pedagogy (e.g., picturebooks, middle-grade multimodal novels, TIME magazine covers representing education issues).
  2. Explorations of multimodal approaches to literacy and content area pedagogy in K-12 school contexts (with an emphasis on co-designing curricula with teachers and students).
  3. Interdisciplinary and collaborative research that explores how literacy scholarship intersects with knowledge-building in other fields (e.g., special education and art education) to understand how educators might work across disciplinary boundaries to benefit children and youth in PK-12 formal and informal educational spaces.
Stephanie has published her scholarship across various venues, including The Reading Teacher, Visual Communication, Written Communication, the Journal of Language and Literacy, the Theory and Research in Social Education, and Voices from the Middle. She has also presented her scholarship and shared pedagogical ideas at international, national, and state conferences.
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