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Dr. Elena Levy received her M.A.
and Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from the University
of Chicago. Her current research is concerned with
the development of language and thought in young
children. A second area of interest is the coordination
of speech with gestures and other forms of nonverbal
communication to form a single, unified communication
system. She is currently collecting narrations
of movies from children and adults of different
ages, looking at changes over time in how language
is used to create thematic summaries of the stories
they tell. Many students from her undergraduate
classes are assisting her in this project.
Named Faculty of the Year in 1999-2000, Dr. Levy
regularly teaches the Psychology of Language (PSY
221), History and Systems of Psychology (PSY 291)
and important special seminars (PSY 295), such
as Disorders of Language and the Brain and the
Development of Oral and Written Language.
Dr. Levy encourages students to conduct research
projects, both in her classes and in one-on-one
student contact. Examples of past undergraduate
research projects are: "The Development of Children's
Story-Telling Skills," "The Effect of Repeated
Reproductions on Verbal Summaries," "Phonemic Analysis
of Readers-at-Risk," and "Promoting Sources of
Motivation for Elementary School Children."
Students combine research and direct experience
working with learning-disabled children in Dr.
Levy's Directed Research Practicum program. In
the Reading Program, for example, students work
in an elementary school with children who are at
risk for reading disabilities. In the Autism Program,
students work with children who have been diagnosed
with autistic spectrum disorders.
Publications:
Levy, E.T. and Fowler, C.A. (2000). A multichannel
view of communication:
The grounding of language comprehension in perception.
In D. McNeill (Ed.),
Language and Gesture. Cambridge University Press.
Levy, E.T. (1999). A social-pragmatic account
of the development of planned discourse.
Human Development, 42, 225-246.
Fowler, C.A., Levy, E.T. & J.M. Brown (1997).
Reductions of spoken words in certain
discourse contexts. Journal of Memory and Language,
36.
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