Jane Oakhill is a British
cognitive psychologist
Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of mental processes such as attention, language use, memory, perception, problem solving, creativity, and reasoning.
Cognitive psychology originated in the 1960s in a break from behaviorism, which he ...
and expert on the development of
reading comprehension
Reading comprehension is the ability to process text, understand its meaning, and to integrate with what the reader already knows. Fundamental skills required in efficient reading comprehension are knowing meaning of words, ability to understand ...
.
She holds the position of Professor of
Experimental Psychology
Experimental psychology refers to work done by those who apply experimental methods to psychological study and the underlying processes. Experimental psychologists employ human participants and animal subjects to study a great many topics, in ...
at the
University of Sussex
, mottoeng = Be Still and Know
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £14.4 million (2020)
, budget = £319.6 million (2019–20)
, chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar
, vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil
, ...
.
Oakhill was awarded the
British Psychological Society
The British Psychological Society (BPS) is a representative body for psychologists and psychology in the United Kingdom.
History
It was founded on 24 October 1901 at University College London (UCL) as ''The Psychological Society'', the organ ...
Spearman Medal
The Spearman Medal is an early-career award of the British Psychological Society's Research Board, given in recognition of outstanding published work in psychology which represents a significant body of work in terms of theoretical contributions, o ...
for early career research contributions in 1991. In 2019, she received the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the
Society for Text and Discourse in 2019 in recognition of her decades-long research program on children's reading difficulties. Other awards include the 2016 Research Impact Award from the University of Sussex.
Oakhill has served on the Governing Board of Society for Text and Discourse and on the Editorial Board of
Discourse Processes.
Biography
Oakhill received her Bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences and Education from the University of Sussex.
She became a primary school teacher for two years where her experiences working with young readers sparked an interest in children’s reading comprehension problems.
Reflecting on her research journey, Oakhill stated, "it occurred to me that my observations about discrepancies between children’s word reading and text comprehension competence could make for an interesting research topic."
Oakhill returned to the University of Sussex to pursue a PhD in the Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, which was headed by
Stuart Sutherland.
Oakhill completed her dissertation on children's reading comprehension, under the supervision of
Philip Johnson-Laird
Philip Nicholas Johnson-Laird, FRS, FBA (born 12 October 1936) is a philosopher of language and reasoning and a developer of the mental model theory of reasoning. He was a professor at Princeton University's Department of Psychology, as well a ...
, in 1981. After graduating, she worked for several years with Johnson-Laird on studies of
deductive reasoning
Deductive reasoning is the mental process of drawing deductive inferences. An inference is deductively valid if its conclusion follows logically from its premises, i.e. if it is impossible for the premises to be true and the conclusion to be fals ...
and
discourse comprehension.
After joining the faculty of the University of Sussex as a lecturer in 1990, Oakhill's primary research focus shifted back to reading comprehension and how children draw inferences while processing text.
Research
Oakhill has had a prolific career researching how children learn to read, make inferences, and comprehend text. Her research program has been influenced by conversations with children and educators,
and has led to the development of improved methods and
curriculum
In education, a curriculum (; : curricula or curriculums) is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view ...
for teaching children how to read and learn, especially in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
.
Oakhill distilled critical insights from her research into a set of key points.
First, teachers should model processes of analysis and inference and engage their students in discussion. Second, teachers should ask children what they don't understand in order to encourage
metacognition
Metacognition is an awareness of one's thought processes and an understanding of the patterns behind them. The term comes from the root word '' meta'', meaning "beyond", or "on top of".Metcalfe, J., & Shimamura, A. P. (1994). ''Metacognition: knowi ...
and develop their comprehension monitoring skills. Third, teachers should avoid teaching definitions, as vocabulary should be understood rather than memorized. Oakhill argues that it is inefficient to force memorization, and that reading comprehension is enhanced through oral discussions in which ideas are questioned and debated.
In her keynote address to the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction,
Oakhill summarized key findings from research on reading comprehension. She emphasized that inference making is essential to both understanding vocabulary and reading comprehension. When readers (both adults and children) lack such skills, it affects their ability to understand what they are reading. Poor readers have difficulties thinking beyond the scope of the sentences before them and connecting notions between sentences. Such inference making is necessary to develop a coherent representation or
mental model
A mental model is an explanation of someone's thought process about how something works in the real world. It is a representation of the surrounding world, the relationships between its various parts and a person's intuitive perception about thei ...
of the text. Oakhill stated that "Comprehension skills need to be taught. They don't just develop in all children."
She called for changes in the way
reading comprehension
Reading comprehension is the ability to process text, understand its meaning, and to integrate with what the reader already knows. Fundamental skills required in efficient reading comprehension are knowing meaning of words, ability to understand ...
is approached.
Oakhill has had long-standing research collaborations with Kate Cain, Alan Garnham, Nicola Yuill, and others. One of her widely-cited
longitudinal studies
A longitudinal study (or longitudinal survey, or panel study) is a research design that involves repeated observations of the same variables (e.g., people) over short or long periods of time (i.e., uses longitudinal data). It is often a type of obs ...
focused on associations between
working memory
Working memory is a cognitive system with a limited capacity that can hold information temporarily. It is important for reasoning and the guidance of decision-making and behavior. Working memory is often used synonymously with short-term memory, ...
, inference making, comprehension monitoring, and reading comprehension in 8- to 11-year-old children. The researchers found that each of these variables predicted individual differences in reading comprehension at all ages, after controlling for vocabulary knowledge and decoding (word reading) skills. Other work, focusing specifically on children with fluent and accurate word reading who exhibit poor text comprehension, failed to find a single underlying factor that would explain the children's reading difficulties.
Books
* Cain, K., & Oakhill, J. (Eds.). (2008). ''Children's comprehension problems in oral and written language: A cognitive perspective''. Guilford Press.
*Cornoldi, C., & Oakhill, J. V. (Eds.). (2013). ''Reading comprehension difficulties: Processes and intervention''. Routledge.
*Garnham, A., & Oakhill, J. (1994). ''Thinking and reasoning.'' Basil Blackwell.
* Garnham, A., & Oakhill, J. (Eds.). (2013). ''Mental models in cognitive science: Essays in honour of Phil Johnson-Laird''. Psychology Press.
*Oakhill, J., & Beard, R. (Eds.). (1999). ''Reading development and the teaching of reading: A psychological perspective.'' Blackwell Science.
* Oakhill, J., Cain, K., & Elbro, C. (2015). ''Understanding and teaching reading comprehension: A handbook''. Routledge.
* Oakhill, J., & Garnham, A. (1988). ''Becoming a skilled reader''. Basil Blackwell.
* Yuill, N., & Oakhill, J. (1991). ''Children's problems in text comprehension: An experimental investigation''. Cambridge University Press.
Representative publications
* Oakhill, J. (1982). Constructive processes in skilled and less skilled comprehenders' memory for sentences. ''British Journal of Psychology'', ''73''(1), 13-20.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8295.1982.tb01785.x
*Oakhill, J. (1984). Inferential and memory skills in children's comprehension of stories. ''British Journal of Educational Psychology'', ''54''(1), 31-39.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8279.1984.tb00842.x
*Oakhill, J. V., & Cain, K. (2012). The precursors of reading ability in young readers: Evidence from a four-year longitudinal study. ''Scientific Studies of Reading'', ''16''(2), 91-121.
https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2010.529219
*Oakhill, J. V., Cain, K., & Bryant, P. E. (2003). The dissociation of word reading and text comprehension: Evidence from component skills. ''Language and Cognitive Processes, 18''(4), 443-468.
https://doi.org/10.1080/01690960344000008
*Oakhill, J., Hartt, J., & Samols, D. (2005). Levels of comprehension monitoring and working memory in good and poor comprehenders. ''Reading and Writing'', ''18''(7-9), 657-686.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-005-3355-z
References
External links
Faculty Homepage*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oakhill, Jane
British women psychologists
British psychologists
Cognitive psychologists
Experimental psychologists
British educators
Living people
Alumni of the University of Sussex
Year of birth missing (living people)