Dr Panayiota Kendeou named the winner of the Tom Trabasso Young Investigator Award by the Society for Text & Discourse
The Society for Text & Discourse is an international society of researchers who investigate all aspects of text and discourse including processing and analysis. The purpose of the Society is to foster and promote excellence in research, to enhance communication among researchers in different disciplines, and to contribute to the education and professional development of those in the field or entering the field.
The Tom Trabasso Young Investigator Award commemorates Professor Tom Trabasso and his dedication to fostering young scholars in the field of text and discourse. The award recognizes outstanding early career contributions to text and discourse research. Recipients have demonstrated exceptional and innovative contributions to discourse research and show superior promise as leaders in the field.
This year’s recipient is Dr. Panayiota Kendeou. Dr. Kendeou received her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Minnesota in 2005 and is now an Assistant Professor at Neapolis University Pafos, Cyprus. Dr. Kendeou’s impact on the field is evident through two related lines of inquiry. In the first, Dr Kendeou has focused on the development of reading comprehension skills in young children. Her research has been highly influential in increasing our understanding of the nature of the skills that are critical to reading comprehension, as well as their developmental trajectories. In the second, Dr Kendeou has examined the interaction between text processing and background knowledge and, in particular, misconceptions. This research has shed light on how texts that explicitly acknowledge, refute, and explain potential learner misconceptions facilitate learning. This work has direct implications for the design of texts as learning tools.
Dr. Kendeou also has been highly visible in serving the field. She is an active member of several professional associations and is on the editorial boards of Learning & Instruction, Contemporary Educational Psychology, Scientific Studies of Reading, and Reading Psychology. Dr. Kendeou is Associate Editor for the Journal of Research in Reading.
