Josh
Lawrence

My mission is to bridge the gap between research and practice, ensuring middle and high school students harness their full literacy and learning potential.

I am committed to realizing this vision through my teaching, instructional leadership, rigorous research, and the development of innovative, scalable solutions. My active involvement in research-practice collaborations underscores my commitment to uniting diverse stakeholders in addressing educational inequities and supporting diverse learners.

Josh
Lawrence

My mission is to bridge the gap between research and practice, ensuring middle and high school students harness their full literacy and learning potential.

I am dedicated to realizing this vision through my teaching, instructional leadership, and rigorous research. My active involvement in research-practice collaborations underscores my commitment to uniting diverse stakeholders in addressing educational inequities and supporting diverse learners.

About

Blog Posts

Teaching Academic Vocabulary Words

In a recent study in Reading Research Quarterly, we examine what features make words harder for adolescent learners. In this post, I show how teaching connections between words can help students master academic vocabulary.

September 7, 2022

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Traveling from Research to Practice

We discuss some of the barriers that prevent teachers from applying research to practice and what resources you, as an instructional leader, can use to bridge the gap.

January 10, 2023

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Supporting Critical Thinking with Rich Academically Productive Talk in Middle and High Schools

The term critical thinking evokes images of the ancient town-squares of Athens or the salons of the Enlightenment. In our increasingly digital "town squares," we may have limited contact with those who hold opposing views from our own or even be oblivious to the existence of dive

January 10, 2023

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Recent Works

Snow, C., & Lawrence, J.F. (2024). Opportunities to learn and intersubjectivity. In O. Erstad (Ed.), Education and Dialogue in Polarized Societies. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

Opportunities to learn and intersubjectivity

Opportunities to learn and intersubjectivity

Lawrence, J., Knoph, R., & Hagen, Å. (in press). The language of learning: Academic vocabulary development and reading comprehension. In M. Kuhn & S. Neuman (Eds.), Handbook on the Science of Literacy in Grades 3-8. Guilford Publications.

The language of learning: Academic vocabulary development and reading comprehension

The language of learning: Academic vocabulary development and reading comprehension

Lawrence, J.F. (2024, October). Advancing Vocabulary Assessment: AI-Driven Innovations and Insights from Lexical Dimensionality Research. Stanford University, Stanford, CA.

Advancing Vocabulary Assessment: AI-Driven Innovations and Insights from Lexical Dimensionality Research

Advancing Vocabulary Assessment: AI-Driven Innovations and Insights from Lexical Dimensionality Research

Yang, J., Grøver, V., & Lawrence, J. F. (2024). Chinese mothers use idioms in shared book reading: A predictor for children’s Chinese vocabulary growth? Journal of Child Language.

Chinese mothers use idioms in shared book reading: A predictor for children’s Chinese vocabulary growth?

Chinese mothers use idioms in shared book reading: A predictor for children’s Chinese vocabulary growth?

Yang, J., Lawrence, J. F., & Grøver, V. (2024). What else will I do when I start school? Preschoolers’ wh-questions in dinnertime conversations and their language development. First Language, 44(3), 301–323. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/01427237241242177

What else will I do when I start school? Preschoolers’ wh-questions in dinnertime conversations and their language development.

What else will I do when I start school? Preschoolers’ wh-questions in dinnertime conversations and their language development.

Knoph, R.E., Lawrence, J. F., & Francis, D. J. (2024). The dimensionality of lexical features in general, academic, and disciplinary vocabulary. Scientific Studies of Reading: The Official Journal of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading, 28(2), 142–166. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2023.2241939

The Dimensionality of Lexical Features in General, Academic, and Disciplinary Vocabulary

The Dimensionality of Lexical Features in General, Academic, and Disciplinary Vocabulary

View All Academic Works