John Kirby

Professor of Psychology of Education, Graduate Faculty, Cross-Appointed to Psychology, Member of the Centre for Neuroscience Studies
BA (McGill), PhD (Alberta)

Contact Information

Room: A220
Phone: 613-533-6000 x 77231
Email: kirbyj@queensu.ca

Research Interests

• Cognitive processes in reading
• Learning disabilities
• Spatial cognition
• Educational psychology

Biography

Dr. John Kirby earned an Honours degree in Psychology at McGill University (1972) and a PhD in Educational Psychology at the University of Alberta (1976). He taught in Australia for eleven years in the Faculty of Education at the University of Newcastle. In 1987 he returned to Canada to Queen's University where he is a Professor of Educational Psychology in the Faculty of Education, cross-appointed to the Department of Psychology, and a member of the Centre for Neuroscience Studies. He is a member of the Cognitive Studies group and a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science.

Dr. Kirby's research concerns the applications of cognitive psychology to educational issues and has three major thrusts:

• Cognitive processes underlying successful reading. Processes such as phonological awareness, naming speed, orthographic processing, and morphological awareness are examined in learning to read. Other research concerns reading to learn, addressing comprehension processes and instructional conditions. This research has been supported by grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and has involved numerous graduate students.
• Conceptions of learning. This research explores students' and workers' understanding of learning, for instance with regard to deep and surface learning, lifelong learning, and self-regulated learning, and the effects these conceptions have on the quality of learning in school and the workplace. Current topics include continuing professional education, and the use of information technology in learning.
• Spatial cognition. This research investigates how students learn to use and think about maps, graphs and three-dimensional visual displays.

Dr. Kirby teaches in the Educational Psychology/Cognitive Studies area. At the graduate level, his courses include Cognitive Studies, Psychological Foundations of Learning, Psychology of Reading and Psychology of Learning Disabilities, as well as Quantitative Research Methods. He advises and supervises students at both the Master's and Doctoral levels. His students have a strong record of completion and success, and have won thesis prizes. At the undergraduate level he teaches Psychological Processes of Reading, and Psychology of Learning Problems.

In the Faculty of Education, Dr. Kirby has served as Chair of Faculty Board, Coordinator of Graduate Studies and Research, Coordinator of the Educational Psychology/Cognitive Studies group, and Coordinator of the Literacy Centre. He is a former President of the Canadian Association for Education Psychology.

For a more information, please see Professional Activities.

Recent Research Grants

Kirby, J. R. (2010-2011). Breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge in reading comprehension. Faculty of Education, Queen’s University.

Martinussen, R. Wiener, J, & Kirby, J. R. (2009-2012). Promoting listening and reading comprehension in students with ADHD. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Wade-Woolley, L., Wood, C. & Kirby, J. R. (2009-2012). The role of speech rhythm in reading development. 2009-2012. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

For a more complete listing, please see Research Grants.

Recent Publications

Kirby, J. R. & Lawson, M. J. (Eds.) (2012). Enhancing the quality of learning: Dispositions, instruction, and learning processes. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Li, M. & Kirby, J. R. (in press). Unexpected poor comprehenders among adolescent ESL students. Scientific Studies of Reading.

Li, M. & Kirby, J. R. (2012). Breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge in second language reading. In Avery, J. S. & Stewart, M. H. (Eds.), Language learning: New research. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Publishers.

Kirby, J. R. & Bowers, P. N. (2012). Morphology works: Research into practice. What Works: Research into Practice. Research Monograph #41. Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat, Ontario. www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/WW_Morphology.pdf

Kirby, J. R., Deacon, S. H., Bowers, P. N., Izenberg, L., Wade-Woolley, L., Parrila, R. (2012). Children’s morphological awareness and reading ability. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 25, 389-410.

Li, M., Kirby, J. R., Cheng, L., Wade-Woolley, L., & Qiang, H. (2012). Cognitive predictors of English reading achievement in Chinese English-immersion students. Reading Psychology, 33, 423-447.

Georgiou, G. K., Parrila, R., Manolitsis, G., & Kirby, J. R. (2011). Examining the importance of assessing Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) speed for the identification of children with reading disabilities. Learning Disabilities: A Contemporary Journal, 9, 45-66.

Li, M., Kirby, J. R., & Georgiou, G. (2011). RAN components and reading comprehension in bilingual children. Journal of Research in Reading, 34, 6-22.

Deacon, S. H., Whalen, R. & Kirby, J. R. (2011). Do children see the danger&in dangerous? Grade 4, 6, and 8 children’s reading of morphologically complex words. Applied Psycholinguistics, 32, 467-481.

Kirby, J. R., Ball, A., Geier, B. K., Parrila, R., & Wade-Woolley, L. (2011). The development of reading interest and its relation to reading ability. Journal of Research in Reading, 34, 263-280.

Tong, X., Deacon, S. H., Kirby, J. R., Cain, K. & Parrila, R. (2011). Morphological awareness: A key to understanding poor reading comprehension in English. Journal of Educational Psychology, 103, 523-534.

Kirby, J. R., Georgiou, G. K., Martinussen, R., & Parrila, R. (2010). Naming speed and reading: From prediction to instruction. Reading Research Quarterly, 45, 341–362.

Kirby, J. R., Knapper, C., Lamon, P., & Egnatoff, W. J. (2010). Development of a scale to measure lifelong learning. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 29, 291-302.

Bowers, P. N., Kirby, J. R., & Deacon, S. H. (2010). The effects of morphological instruction on literacy skills: A systematic review of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 80, 144-179.

Deacon, S. H., Campbell, E., Tamminga, M., & Kirby, J. R. (2010). Seeing the harmin harmed and harmful: Morphological processing by children in grades 4, 6, and 8. Applied Psycholinguistics, 31, 759-775.

Bowers, P. N. & Kirby, J. R. (2010). Effects of morphological instruction on vocabulary acquisition. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 23, 515–537.

Georgiou, G. K., Parrila, R., & Kirby, J. R. (2009). RAN components and reading development from grade 3 to grade 5: What underlies their relationship? Scientific Studies of Reading, 13, 508-534.

Kirby, J. R. (2009). Not learning to read: Diversity among children with reading difficulties. In J. Lupart, A. McKeough, M. Porath, L. Phillips & V. Timmons (Eds.), The challenges of student diversity in Canadian schools: Essays on building a better future for exceptional children. Markham, ON: Fitzhenry & Whiteside.

For a more complete listing, please see Publications.