Dr. Ligia Gomez Franco

Ball State University

Abstract: We investigated the role of action on reading comprehension and vocabulary learning. Second and third grade Spanish-speaking children in Chile (N=216) read a seven-chapter informational text about physics. The children were randomly assigned to four conditions. In two of the conditions, the experimenter and the children read the text out loud together as a teacher might read to a small group. In one of these conditions the experimenter also demonstrated gestures to accompany vocabulary words, and the children repeated the gestures. In the other two conditions, the children read the texts on an iPad that included relevant illustrations. Results show that action, independent of technology, significantly enhanced both text comprehension and vocabulary learning.

Dr. Ligia Gómez is a Developmental and Educational Psychologist. Her research interests include language development of monolingual and bilingual children who come from diverse cultural contexts. Dr. Gómez is particularly interested in the role parents, teachers, and technology have in fostering vocabulary learning and reading comprehension.