Josh
Lawrence

My mission is to bridge the gap between research and practice, ensuring middle and high school students harness their full literacy and learning potential.

I am dedicated to realizing this vision through my teaching, instructional leadership, and rigorous research. My active involvement in research-practice collaborations underscores my commitment to uniting diverse stakeholders in addressing educational inequities and supporting diverse learners.

Josh
Lawrence

My mission is to bridge the gap between research and practice, ensuring middle and high school students harness their full literacy and learning potential.

I am dedicated to realizing this vision through my teaching, instructional leadership, and rigorous research. My active involvement in research-practice collaborations underscores my commitment to uniting diverse stakeholders in addressing educational inequities and supporting diverse learners.

About

Blog Posts

Teaching Academic Vocabulary Words

In a recent study in Reading Research Quarterly, we examine what features make words harder for adolescent learners. In this post, I show how teaching connections between words can help students master academic vocabulary.

September 7, 2022

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Traveling from Research to Practice

We discuss some of the barriers that prevent teachers from applying research to practice and what resources you, as an instructional leader, can use to bridge the gap.

January 10, 2023

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Supporting Critical Thinking with Rich Academically Productive Talk in Middle and High Schools

The term critical thinking evokes images of the ancient town-squares of Athens or the salons of the Enlightenment. In our increasingly digital "town squares," we may have limited contact with those who hold opposing views from our own or even be oblivious to the existence of dive

January 10, 2023

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Recent Works

Knoph, R. E., Lawrence, J. F., & Francis, D. J. (2023). The Dimensionality of Lexical Features in General, Academic, and Disciplinary Vocabulary. Scientific Studies of Reading, 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2023.2241939

The Dimensionality of Lexical Features in General, Academic, and Disciplinary Vocabulary

The Dimensionality of Lexical Features in General, Academic, and Disciplinary Vocabulary

Lawrence, J. F.,  & Thorbjørnsen, J. M. (2022). Leseforståelse i skolen: Å utvikle elevers  kritiske tenkning gjennom lesing, argumentasjon og debatt. In V. Grøver I.  Bråten (Eds.), Leseforståelse i skolen: Utfordringer og muligheter (pp. 130-142). Oslo, Norway: Cappelen  Damm Akademisk.

Leseforståelse i skolen: Å utvikle elevers  kritiske tenkning gjennom lesing, argumentasjon og debatt

Leseforståelse i skolen: Å utvikle elevers  kritiske tenkning gjennom lesing, argumentasjon og debatt

Hagen, Å, Knoph, R., Hjetland, H.N., Rogde, K., Lawrence, J.F., Lervåg, A., Melby-Lervåg, M. (2021). Measuring Listening Comprehension and Predicting Language Development in At-Risk Preschoolers. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research (CSJE). https://doi.org/10.1080/00313831.2021.1939136

Measuring Listening Comprehension and Predicting Language Development in At-Risk Preschoolers

Measuring Listening Comprehension and Predicting Language Development in At-Risk Preschoolers

Lawrence, J. F., Knoph, R., McIlraith, A., Kulesz, P. A., & Francis, D. J. (2022). Reading comprehension and academic vocabulary: Exploring relations of item features and reading proficiency. Reading Research Quarterly, 57(2), 669-690.  https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.434

Reading comprehension and academic vocabulary: Exploring relations of item features and reading proficiency

Reading comprehension and academic vocabulary: Exploring relations of item features and reading proficiency

Yang, J., Lawrence, J. F., & Grøver, V. (2022). Parental expectations and home literacy environment: A questionnaire study of Chinese-Norwegian dual language learners. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 37(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/02568543.2022.2098427

Parental Expectations and Home Literacy Environment: A Questionnaire Study of Chinese-Norwegian Dual Language Learners

Parental Expectations and Home Literacy Environment: A Questionnaire Study of Chinese-Norwegian Dual Language Learners

View All Academic Works

Get in Touch

If your research team, organization, school district or state wants support in thinking about best practices to support support middle and high school school literacy outcomes, please reach out!

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