Dr Heather Winskel
- Biography
- Areas of Research / Teaching Expertise
- Grants / Current Projects
- Publications
- Contact Details
Biography
Qualifications
B.Sc. (Hons) Sussex University
Postgraduate.Diploma in Education (Primary/Special Education) UWA
Postgraduate Diploma Language Studies (TESOL) Edith Cowan University
PhD Durham University
Position Description
Lecturer in Psychology
Teaching
Psychology of Language
Cross-cultural Psychology
Areas of Research / Teaching Expertise
Cross-linguistic language acquisition.
Interaction between language, cognition and culture.
Reading research and reading different orthographies.
Language and literacy development in children - monolinguals and bilinguals.
Language socialization of the child through interaction with caretakers.
Second language acquisition.
Discourse pragmatics or language use in context.
Grants / Current Projects
Reading Research
The overall aim of this research is to gain greater understanding of both universal and script-specific reading processes through examining reading in different orthographies. The methods used have involved collecting data on phonological awareness and reading in children, the use of voice response technology, and tracking eye movements when reading using the latest eye tracking technology.
Cross-Linguistic Language Acquisition
We are investigating language acquisition from a cross-linguistic perspective. We are particularly interested in delineating between universal and language-specific aspects of language acquisition. We have used short animations to elicit temporal language from children in Thai and English, which has resulted in the following paper:
Cross-Cultural Investigation of the Age of Acquisition Effect in Australian, UK and Thai residents in comparison with migrants to Australia
How children and adults acquire the ability to name objects in the environment is of primary importance in human language development, and is one of the first linguistic functions mastered by young children. This project investigates this fundamental ability from a cross-cultural perspective. As Australia is a multicultural society it offers an ideal opportunity to examine the effects that culture has on lexical category formation. Recent research (Ghyselinck, Custers & Brysbaert, 2004; Ghyselinck, Lewis & Brysbaert, 2004) indicates that items that are encountered early appear to shape categories or concepts more than late acquired items, for example an Australian child may learn the word kangaroo prior to the name for badger, which is subsequently more readily accessed and retrieved than badger due to its relatively early acquisition. This effect is known as the Age of Acquisition effect (AoA).
The Development of Phonological Awareness and Reading Skills in Bilingual Children
Learning to read fluently is an extremely important skill for all children to acquire. Children who fail to learn to read and write in general suffer the long-term consequences of this disability. It is critical that problems or delays in reading are detected early, so that appropriate intervention programs can be implemented. In multicultural Australia many children these days are growing up bilingual and facing the challenge of learning to speak and often read in more than one language. This raises important concerns in relation to assessment and diagnosis of reading problems in the bilingual child.
Publications
BOOK CHAPTERS
Winskel, H. (2010). Learning to read in bilingual and multilingual contexts. In M. Cruz-Ferreira (Ed.), Multilingual Norms. Peter Lang Publishing Group.
Khazriyati Salehuddin & Winskel, H. (2008). Child language acquisition in Malaysia. A psycholinguistic perspective. In Khaidzir Hj. Ismail, Hanina Halimatusaadiah Hamsan & Lukman Z.M. (Ed.), Child development: Theories, Issues and Challenges: Bangi: School of Psychology and Human Development, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
Winskel, H. (2007). Interaction between language and cognition in language development. In A. C. Schalley & D. Khlentzos (Eds.), Mental States. Vol.2: Language and Cognitive Structure, Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Winskel, H. (2007). Unfolding language acquisition in Thai children. In W. Aroonmanakun (Ed.), Unfolding linguistics in honour of Sudaporn Luksaneeyanawin. Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University Press.
Winskel, H. (2002). Evaluating an academic literacy program through the assessment of student essays. In J. Webb & P. McLean (Eds.), Academic Skills Advising: Evaluating for program improvement and accountability (pp. 184-198), Victoria, Australia: Victorian Language and Learning Network.
Winskel, H. (accepted). Learning to read in bilingual and multilingual contexts. In M. Cruz-Ferreira (Ed.), Multilingual Norms. Language Norming in Multilingual Contexts. Mouton de Gruyter (submitted to publisher).
JOURNAL ARTICLES
Winskel, H. (in press). Orthographic and phonological parafoveal processing of consonants, vowels, and tones when reading Thai. Applied Psycholinguistics.
Winskel, H. & Iemwanthong, K. (2010). Reading and spelling acquisition in Thai children. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal. Online First doi:10.1007/s11145-009-9194-6.
Winskel, H. (2010). A comparison of caretaker-child conversations about past personal experiences in Thailand and Australia. Journal of Cross-cultural Psychology. OnlineFirst, published on June 22, 2009 as doi:10.1177/0022022109339209.
Winskel, H., Radach, R., & Luksaneeyanawin, S. (2009). Eye movements when reading spaced and unspaced Thai and English: A comparison of Thai-English bilinguals and English monolinguals. Journal of Memory and Language, 61, 339-351.
Miramontes, L.G., Church, A.T., Katigbak, M.S., Winskel, H., de Jesús Vargas-Flores, J., Ibáñez-Reyes, J., Reyes, J.A.S., White, F., & Adams, N.A. (under review). Culture and Explanations of Everyday Behavior: Integrating Trait and Cultural Psychology Perspectives. Journal of Cross-cultural Psychology.
Stevens, C.J., Winskel, H., Howell, C., Vidal, L-M, Latimer, C. & Milne-Home, J. (in press). Watching Dance: Schematic Expectations Guide Experts’ Scanning of a Contemporary Dance Film. Journal of Dance Medicine & Science.
Winskel, H. & Luksaneeyanawin, S. (2009). Obligatory grammatical categories and the expression of temporal events. Journal of Child Language, 36(2), 355-380.
Winskel, H. (2009). Reading in Thai: The case of misaligned vowels. Reading and Writing. An Interdisciplinary Journal, 22(1), 1-24.
Salehuddin, K., & Winskel, H. (2009). An investigation into Malay numeral classifier acquisition through an elicited production task. First Language, 29(3), 291-313.
Winskel, H. (2009). A comparison of caretaker-child conversations about past personal experiences in Thailand and Australia. Journal of Cross-cultural Psychology Online First doi:10.1177/0022022109339209
Winskel, H., Radach, R., & Luksaneeyanawin, S. (2009). Eye movements when reading spaced and unspaced Thai and English: A comparison of Thai-English bilinguals and English monolinguals. Journal of Memory and Language Online First doi:10.1016/j.jml.2009.07.002
Winskel, H., & Iemwanthong, K. (2009). Reading and spelling acquisition in Thai children. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal Online First doi:10.1007/s11145-009-9194-6
Schmitz, M. J. & Winskel, H. (2008). Towards effective partnerships in a collaborative problem-solving task. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 78(4), 581-596.
Lekgoko, O. & Winskel, H. (2008). Learning to read Setswana and English: Cross-language transference of letter knowledge, phonological awareness and reading skills. Perspectives in Education, 26(4), 1-18. 57-73
Winskel, H. (in press). A comparison of caretaker-child conversations about past personal experiences in Thailand and Australia. Journal of Cross-cultural Psychology
Winskel, H., Radach, R. & Luksaneeyanawin, S. (accepted with revisions). Eye movements when reading spaced and unspaced Thai and English: A comparison of Thai-English bilinguals and English monolinguals. Journal of Memory and Language.
Winskel, H. (2007). The expression of temporal relations in Thai children's narratives.First Language, 27(2), 133-158.
Winskel, H. & Widjaja, V. (2007). Phonological awareness, letter knowledge and literacy development in Indonesian beginner readers and spellers. Applied Psycholinguistics 28(1), 21-43.
Winskel, H. (2006). The effects of an early history of otitis media on children’s language and literacy skill development. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 76(4), 727-744.
Winskel, H., Luksaneeyanawin, S. & Yangklang, P. (2006). Language socialisation of the child through caretaker-child personal narratives: A comparison of Thai and English. RELC Journal, 37(3), 356-368.
Winskel, H. (2004). The acquisition of temporal reference cross-linguistically using two acting-out comprehension tasks. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 33(4), 333-355.
Winskel, H. (2003). The acquisition of temporal event sequencing: a cross-linguistic study using an elicited imitation task. First Language, 23(1), 65-95.
Winskel, H. & Iemwanthong, K. (revised and resubmitted). Reading and spelling acquisition in Thai children. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal.
Winskel, H. (under review).Consonant, vowel and tone processing when reading: Evidence from Thai. Journal of memory and Language.
REFEREED CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
Winskel, H. & Luksaneeyanawin, S. (2008) A comparison of the expression of simultaneity in Thai and English adults and children using short animations. Proceedings of South East Asian Linguistics Society XVI (SEALS XVI), Atma Jaya University, Jakarta, Indonesia, September 21-23, p.135-142
Salehuddin, K. & Winskel, H. (2008) Malay Numeral Classifiers. Proceedings of South East Asian Linguistics Society XVI (SEALS XVI), Atma Jaya University, Jakarta, Indonesia, September 21-23, p. 65-74
Stevens, C., McKechnie, S., Glass, R., Schubert, E. Chen, J., Winskel, H., Healey, S. & Gordon, M. (2007). "Three Techniques for Measuring Audience Reactions". AHRC ICT Methods Network Workshop – De Montfort Univ. Leicester 12 June 2007
Stevens, C., McKechnie, S., Glass, R., Schubert, E. Chen, J., Winskel, H. (2007). Methods for measuring audience reactions. The Inaugural International Conference on Music Communication Science, Sydney, 5-7 December.
Widjaja, V. & Winskel, H. (2004). Phonological awareness and word reading in a transparent orthography: Preliminary findings on Indonesian. Proceedings of the Tenth Australian International Conference on Speech Science & Technology, Macquarie University, December 2004.
Winskel H. (2001), Application of schema theory to academic discourse. Proceedings of the National Language and Academic Skills Conference, La Trobe University, November 2000.
Winskel, H. (2000). Development of coherence in novice tertiary student essays. Proceedings of the National Language and Academic Skills Conference, Monash University, November 1999.
