Keiko+Koda

=NLP Member Profile=

[[image:http://ml.hss.cmu.edu/ml/images/faculty/koda.jpg width="82" height="100" caption="Keiko Koda"]]Submitted by: Jessica Saikley
Dr. Keiko Koda is currently a Associate Professor of Japanese and Second Language Acquisition at Carnegie Mellon University and has been a member of the Department of Modern Languages, since 1995. Dr. Koda's research has centered on the development of second language competency, including the areas of second-language reading, biliteracy development, psycholinguistics, and foreign language pedagogy. Her primary focus has been on clarifying the unique nature of second language reading as it has been influenced by dual-language involvement. Besides earning her Ph.D. from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, teaching, writing several book chapters and being published on refereed journals on the literacy acquisition of second language learners, she has particpated as one of the 13 expert panelists chosen to help analyze and synthesize existing research for the Report of the National Literacy Panel on Language -Minority Children and Youth. As a member of the Panel's subcommittee for the Development of Literacy in Language Minority Children and Youth, she was able to continue her devoted effort to exploring the cross-linguistic interactions, including the specific ways reading skills transfer from one language to another; the facilitative impacts of linguistic similarities between the languages; cross-linguistic variations in second language processing; and linguistic and metalinguistic requisites for learning to read in typologically diverse languages. In 2005, Dr. Koda completed a monograph, //Insights Into Second Language Reading// (Cambridge University Press, 2005), which one critic called, "This is a very ambitious book. It seeks to be comprehensive in its coverage of the major themes and in this respect it is remarkably successful within its 273 pages of text...Another sign of the comprehensiveness of this book is the inclusion of details on a topic sometimes overlooked by writers on reading (including Urquhart and Weir!) and yet of growing importance, namely working memory," (Reading in a Foreign Language, April 2006). She is currently collaborating with researchers at Learning Research and Development Center at the University of Pittsburgh, to investigate, through a series of studies, the impacts of first language literacy and second language print exposure on the formation of reading sub skills in typologically diverse second languages, such as, Chinese, English, Korean and Japanese.

Dr. Koda's other positions in the educational community have included:

 * Member of the editorial boards of //TESOL Quarterly, Research in Second Language Learning, International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching,// and //The Modern Language Journal//
 * Consultant for the Educational Teaching Service and the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in language reading and assessment
 * Member of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) Committee of Examiners at the Educational Testing Service
 * Her work has appeared in //Applied Psycholinguistics, Cognition, The Modern Language Journal, Journal of Child Language, Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, Research Learning, Second Language Research,// and //Studies in Second Language Acquisition//

Major Study:
==[|Influence of First Language Orthographic Experience on Second Language Decoding and Word Learning]==

This study examined the influence of first language (L1) orthographic experiences on decoding and semantic information retention of new words in a second language (L2). Hypotheses were that congruity in L1 and L2 orthographic experiences determines L2 decoding efficiency, which, in turn, affects semantic information encoding and retention. College-level English L2 learners with typologically similar (Korean) and dissimilar (Chinese) L1 backgrounds were participants. Their decoding efficiency was measured by a pseudoword naming task with phonologically regular and irregular conditions. They learned the meaning of the pseudowords paired with pictures. Subsequent recall tasks showed that the Korean group had better overall retention but greater impairment with the irregular pseudowords. These findings suggest that L1 orthographic distance influences L2 word learning processes.

**Recent Work**

 * Wang, M., & Keiko, K. (2007). Commonalities and differences in word identificartion skills among learners of English as a second language. //Language Learning//, 57, 201-222. **[|PDF Full Text]**
 * Koda, K. (2005). //Insights into second language reading//: //A cross-linguistic approach//. NY: Cambridge University Press. [|****PDF****]**, [|John Rodger's Review of Keiko's Koda's Insights into Second Language Reading for Reading in a Foreign Language]**
 * Koda, K. (2005). Learning to read across writing systems: Transfer, metalinguistic awareness and second-language reading development. In V. Cook & B. Bassetti (Eds.), //Writing systems and second language learning// (pp. 311-334) . UK: Multilingual Matters.
 * Wang, M., & Koda, K. (2005). Commonalities and differences in word identification skills among English second language learners. //Language Learning//, 55, 73-100. [|PDF Full Text]
 * Wang, M., Koda, K., & Perfetti, C. A. (2003). Alphabetic and non-alphabetic L1 effects in English semantic processing: A comparison of Korean and Chinese English L2 learners. __Cognition__. [|PDF Full Text]
 * Koda, K. (2002). Writing systems and learning to read in a second language. In W. Li, J. S. Gaffiney, & J. L. Packard (Eds.), //Chinese children's reading acquisition: Theoretical and pedagogical issues// (pp. 225-248). Boston: Kluwer Academic.
 * Koda, K. (in press). //Insights into second language reading: A cross-linguistic approach//. Beijing: Beijing World Publishing. (reprint edition)
 * Koda, K. (in press). Phonology and literacy. In M. C. Pennington (Ed.), __Palgrave guide to phonology__. UK: Macmillan.
 * Koda, K. (in press). Development of Lexical competence among second language readers. In M. Nakayama, R. Mazuka, & Y. Shirai, (Eds.), __Handbook of Japanese Psycholinguistics__. New York: Cambridge University Press.
 * Koda, K., & Zheler, A. M., (Eds.). (in progress). //Learning to read across languages//. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates (publication scheduled for 2007).
 * Koda, K. (Ed.). (in progress). //Reading and language learning//. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing (publication scheduled for 2007).
 * Koda, K. (in progress). //Insights into second language reading: A cross-linguistic approach//. Tokyo: Hokuseido. (Japanese language edition).

[|Keiko Koda - Carnegie Mellon University]
Keiko Koda Department of Modern Languages Carnegie Mellon University Baker Hall 166 Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Office: BH 371 Phone: (412) 268-8942 Fax: (412) 268-1328