Esther+Geva

=Esther Geva=

Submitted by Matiana Elias

At the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto, Dr. Esther Geva is a Professor and the Chair to the Human Development and Applied Psychology. Her main focus of study has been the development of literacy and language in children as second language learners. Through research and course teachings, Dr. Geva has created a body of work that examines reading in second language learners, and children’s psychological problems through a cross-cultural perspective.

Specialty Courses at the University of Toronto HDP5284: Assessment and Intervention in Multicultural/Bilingual Contexts HDP 3221: Cross-cultural Perspectives on Children’s Problems CTL3017: Reading in a Second Language

She has studied in Israel, US, and Canada and her research interests reflect her own background. She is a panel member for the National Literacy Panel of Language—Minority Children and Youth. As part of the National Literacy Panel she reviewed the literature on the development of literacy among language minority children and youth.

One of the articles published by Dr. Geva in April of 1997 in the Journal of Scientific Studies of Reading she looked at the development of accurate and fast reading processes learning to read simultaneously in English which was their first language (L1) and their second language Hebrew (L2). This study was a longitudinal study where they compared 66 children’s speed and accuracy in grade 1 and grade 2. She examined letter naming, reading isolated words and same words in text. She found that accuracy and speed across the two languages are highly correlated. Dr. Geva also found that in reading, speed for reading isolated words were similar in both L1 and L2; in contrast, when students read in a passage, they were more efficient when reading in L1 than L2. She concluded that specific linguistic features from L1 effect the development of L2 reading skills.

Selected Publications
Yaghoub Zadeh, Z., Geva, E., & Fagan, M. (2008) The impact of acculturation on the perception of academic achievement by immigrant mothers and their children. School Psychology International, 29(1), 39-70.

Mila Schwartz, Esther Geva, David L. Share, & Mark Leikin (2007). Learning to Read in English as Third language: The Cross-linguistic Transfer of Phonological Processing Skills Written Language & Literacy, 10, 25-52

Tardif, C.Y., & Geva, E. (2006). The link between acculturation disparity and conflict among Chinese-Canadian immigrant mother-adolescent dyads. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 37, 191-211.

Geva, E., & Yaghoub Zadeh, Z. (2006). Reading Efficiency in Native English-Speaking and English-as-a-Second-Language Children: The Role of Oral Proficiency and Underlying Cognitive-Linguistic Processes, Scientific Studies of Reading, 10, 31-58.

Geva, E. & Wade-Woolley, W. (2004). Issues in the Assessment of Reading Disability in Second Language Children. In I. Smythe, J. Everatt, & R. Salter (Eds.), The International Book of Dyslexia: A Cross Language Comparison and Practice Guide (2nd ed.), 195-206. New York:

Wiley. Gersten, R. & Geva, E. (2003). Teaching reading to English learners in the primary grades: Insights into the New Research Base on Teaching Reading to English Learners. Educational Leadership, 60, Spring, 44-49.

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Submitted by: Matiana Elias