Studies look at learning to read, cultural literacy, and social and economic integration among refugees

SACKVILLE, NB — Six Mount Allison University faculty members received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) during the latest funding competition announcement.

Dr. Gene Ouellette, associate professor and department head of psychology, received $101,513 in funding through SSHRC’s Insight Grant program for his study Storybooks, oral vocabulary, and learning to read: Exploring causal connections.

Over the course of four years, Ouellette and his research team, including several Mount Allison students, will conduct a series of teaching studies in New Brunswick schools to look at the relationship between storybook exposure, oral language development, and how children learn to read. The team will focus on kindergarten and Grade 1 classes.

“While it’s important to read to children, very few kids actually learn to read solely by being read to,” explains Ouellette. “Our study will seek to look at the role oral language plays when children are being read to and learning to read.”

Mount Allison University Provost and Vice-President, Academic and Research Dr. Jeff Ollerhead says the funding secured by University researchers is far-reaching.

“Mount Allison faculty members are working to engage with students, colleagues at other universities, and community organizations on research projects and presentations that will have a significant impact on our society,” he says. “I wish to congratulate all researchers on their latest SSHRC funding results.”

Five other Mount Allison faculty members also received funding during the latest SSHRC competition results. Morgan Poteet (sociology) and Janine Rogers (English) each received grants from the SSHRC Partnership Engage program.

Poteet’s project, entitled Social and economic integration among the children of Central American refugees in Toronto, in partnership with the Hispanic Development Council in Toronto, ON received $24,540. Rogers received $24,948 for her project Cultural literacy: addressing learning barriers with museum literacy, in partnership with ABC Life Literacy Canada.

Modern Languages and Literatures professor Christina Ionescu (French) received a SSHRC Connections Grant valued at $28,534, in partnership with a colleague from the University of Guelph, to facilitate an upcoming conference, Wonder in text and image being held in Niagara Falls this year.

Patrick Nickleson, assistant professor in Music also received a Connections Grant valued at $19,109 for his project Intersectional Approaches to Music and Settler Colonialism, an event held in Kingston, ON this spring.

English and Canadian Studies professor Dr. Christl Verduyn with colleagues Andrea Beverley (Canadian Studies), Kirsty Bell (French), and Andrea Cabajsky (UdeM) received $25,000 in funding through the SSHRC Connections program for the international conference ReSurfacing/Refaire surface: Women Writing across 1970s Canada/écrivaines canadiennes des années 1970 hosted at Mount Allison and UdeM in April.

Photo captions: Dr. Gene Ouellette (psychology); Dr. Janine Rogers (English); a presentation at the conference ReSurfacing/Refaire surface: Women Writing across 1970s Canada/écrivaines canadiennes des années 1970.