Dr. Linda Sperry

Dr. Linda Sperry
Professor & Dir Grd Stu Srvs
Applied Clinical and Educational Sciences, Department of
Bayh College of Education
University Hall 109H
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812-237-2918

Education

  • Ph.D. - Developmental Psychology, University of Chicago - 1991
  • M.S. - Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, University of Pennsylvania - 1985
  • B.A. - Spanish, Nebraska Wesleyan University - 1980
  • B.S. - Biology, Nebraska Wesleyan University - 1980

Awards and Honors

  • 2015 Distinguished Scholar Award - 2015
  • Coffman Distinguished Professor - 2009
  • Holmsted Distinguished Research Professorship - 2005
  • Diversity Award - 2002

Consulting

  • Served as external evaluator for Even Start programs, created from federal flow-through dollars to each state. Even Start programs reach out to chronically unemployed parents and teach GED, employment, parenting, and family literacy skills. - Parke-Vermillion Even Start for Family Literacy - 2001
  • Served as External Evaluator for the Clay County Even Start Program. - Clay Co. Even Start for Family Literacy - 2002
  • Served as External Evaluator for the Vigo County Even Start Program. - Vigo Co. Even Start for Family Literacy - 2003

Teaching Interests

  • child development, lifespan development, multicultural education, qualitative methods

Intellectual Contributions

  • Language does matter: But there is more to language than vocabulary and directed speech - Child Development - 2019
  • Re-examining the verbal environments of children from different socioeconomic backgrounds - Child Development - 2018
  • It's time to move beyond the word gap - Brookings Institute - 2018
  • Counting in context: Studying children's everyday talk by combining numbers and words - Routledge Press, Manchester - 2016
  • Language socialization - Wiley, New York - 2015

Presentations

  • Coming Back to (South) Baltimore: A Symposium Honoring the Career of Peggy Miller. Society for Research in Child Development, 2019.
  • How Language Socialization Theory Illuminates the Challenge of Imagining Others in Three Episodes of Fantasy Stories. Society for Psychological Anthropology, 2019.
  • Using Overheard Speech to Predict the Verbal Achievement of Young Children. Society for Research on Child Development, 2019.
  • The complexity of discordant speech acts addressed to toddlers in two American communities. Ethnographic and Qualitative Research Conference, 2018.
  • Narrative complexity in very young children in two American communities. American Association of Behavioral and Social Sciences, 2018.

Contract, Fellowship, Grant or Sponsored Research

  • Grant: Childhood Trauma Intervention Project - Center for Community Engagement 2018 - 2019. Funded - $2,628
  • Grant: Early Childhood Program Environment and Child Readiness Assessment for Quality Improvement Project - 2006. Funded - $7,978
  • Grant: Family Perspectives on Educational Outcomes: Interlinkages Between Beliefs, Resources, and School Networks - Social Opportunity Sector - 2004.

Research Interests

  • I study cognitive and social development of young children through language socialization methods. I am particularly interested in documenting the cognitive and social development of culturally different children to enhance the match during the school transition.

University Service

  • Role: Chair - University College Council 2018 - 2018
  • Role: Member - Faculty Senate: Curriculum and Academic Affairs Committee (CAAC) 2017 - 2017
  • Role: Member - Faculty Senate: Faculty Dismissal Committee 2012 - 2021
  • Role: Member - Faculty Senate: University Research Committee 2015 - 2017
  • Role: University Senate Service - Faculty Affairs Committee 2003 - 2009

Professional Service

  • Role: Reviewer, Journal Article - Journal of Black Psychology 2018 - 2018
  • Role: Reviewer, Journal Article - Child Development 2018 - 2018
  • Role: Reviewer, Journal Article - Child Development 2018 - 2018
  • - American Educational Research Association - 2017
  • Role: Reviewer, Journal Article - Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition 2018 - 2018

Public/Community Service

  • Role: Guest Speaker - Blumberg Center for Studies in Interdisciplinary Special Education - 2017
  • Role: Committee Chair - United Methodist Temple Education Committee 2003 - 2005
COUN 793T--Supervision of College Teaching
EPSY 621--Development Through the Lifespan
EPSY 711--Advanced Qualitative Methods Inquiry
SPSY 695--Seminar on Research

Ph.D. in Child Development, University of Chicago

M.S. in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, University of Pennsylvania

B.S. in Biology, Nebraska Wesleyan University, summa cum laude

B.A. in Spanish, Nebraska Wesleyan University, summa cum laude

Linda Sperry's research interests focus on how young children make meaning within their everyday lives using language socialization theory and method.  Her current research projects concern the impact of overheard speech and the impact of discordance in the meaning-making process.  Professor Sperry is currently accepting graduate students.