Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy Podcast

About Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy Podcast

Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy podcast delivers current theory, research, and practice in support of effective literacy instruction. During each episode, Matt Sroka invites a guest from the literacy field to delve into practical concepts for enhancing literacy teaching.

Publisher

JAAL

Category

education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

16 Mar 2023

Latest episode

7 May 2025

Latest episodes

46 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   7 May 2025

   Read STOP Write with Drs. John Strong and Laura Tortorelli

   Read STOP Write with Drs. John Strong and Laura Tortorelli In this episode of the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy podcast, host Matt Sroka welcomes Dr. John Strong and Dr. Laura Tortorelli to discuss their article, Read STOP Write: Teaching foundational skills in a multicomponent informational reading and writing intervention (https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jaal.1389) written by John Z. Strong, Laura S. Tortorelli, and Blythe E. Anderson Strong and Tortorelli explore the design and impact of Read STOP Write, an intervention developed to support upper-elementary and middle grade students in building foundational reading and writing skills through a multicomponent approach. The intervention integrates multisyllabic decoding, fluency, and vocabulary with strategies for comprehending and writing about informational texts. Dr. John Z. Strong is Assistant Professor of Literacy Education in the Graduate School of Education at the University at Buffalo. He is also Associate Director of Research in the Center for Literacy and Reading Instruction and Co-PI in the Center for Early Literacy and Responsible AI. His research focuses on developing and testing reading and writing interventions to support students’ foundational reading skills and comprehension of complex texts. A former high school English language arts teacher, he is coauthor of professional books on literacy instruction in grades 4-12 and has published in leading journals. He has served as associate editor of The Reading Teacher and serves on the editorial review boards of leading journals, including Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. Dr. Laura Tortorelli is an Associate Professor of Elementary Literacy in the Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University. Tortorelli's research focuses on the texts, technologies, and evidence-based practices for developing foundational reading and writing skills. She also teaches future teachers how to teach reading in Michigan State’s #1 ranked elementary education program. Her work has been funded by the Institute for Education Sciences, the National Science Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the Advanced Education Research and Development Fund, and the International Literacy Association. Her current projects focus on supporting informational text reading and writing in 4th and 5th grade and integrating AI into early reading instruction. Resources: Read STOP Write: Teaching foundational skills in a multicomponent informational reading and writing intervention (https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jaal.1389) https://www.readstopwrite.com/ (https://www.readstopwrite.com/)

2. 

   24 Apr 2025

   Redefining and Reimagining Foundational Skills with Dr. Abigail Amoako Kayser and Katie Keown

   Redefining and Reimagining Foundational Skills with Dr. Abigail Amoako Kayser and Katie Keown In this episode of the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy Podcast, host Matt Sroka welcomes Dr. Abigail Amoako Kayser and Katie Keown for a conversation about their article on culturally and linguistically sustaining approaches to foundational skills instruction. Dr. Kayser and Keown discuss how students’ home languages, dialects, and cultural knowledge are too often overlooked in literacy instruction. Together, they explore how classroom teachers can design joyful, rigorous instruction that honors students’ full linguistic repertoires while building the knowledge needed to access complex academic texts. This conversation is based off the JAAL article: Redefining and reimagining foundational skills: Centering joyful, culturally, and linguistically sustaining instruction in literacy instruction for CLD students (https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jaal.1411) written by Abigail Akosua Amoako Kayser, Katie Keown, Carey Swanson, Madeleine Mejia, and Brian Kayser. Katie Keown serves as a Literary Director at Student Achievement Partners, a nonprofit focused on improving student outcomes by ensuring all children receive equitable and essential instruction. Her work focuses on the organization’s secondary literacy initiatives, including teacher training and aligning systems to ensure all students receive the high-quality reading instruction they deserve. Prior to her time at SAP, she worked on the assessment team at HMH-Riverside and taught middle and high school students in Illinois and Mississippi. Katie is currently in the Reading Science doctoral program at Mount St. Joseph University, where her research interests include adolescent literacy and teacher preparation. She holds a Master’s in Reading Science from the Mount and a Bachelor’s in English from the University of Illinois. Abigail A. Amoako Kayser, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Early, Elementary, and Reading Education at James Madison University. She is a Fulbright Scholar and a former elementary school teacher. Her research explores how educators can engage in practices that promote equitable, joyful literacy development in culturally and linguistically sustaining ways for students in both the United States and Ghana. Primary Resources: Special Issue: Foundational Skills in Adolescent Literacy (https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/19362706/2025/68/4) Redefining and reimagining foundational skills: Centering joyful, culturally, and linguistically sustaining instruction in literacy instruction for CLD students (https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jaal.1411) Additional Resources: IES Guide for Providing Reading Interventions for Students in Grades 4-9 (https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/practiceguide/29) Writing to Read: Evidence for How Writing Can Improve Reading (https://www.carnegie.org/publications/writing-to-read-evidence-for-how-writing-can-improve-reading/) Increasing reading Fluency for Middle and High School Students (https://achievethecore.org/page/3254/increasing-reading-fluency-for-middle-and-high-school-students) Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Theory (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781119171492.wecad251) Funds of Knowledge: Theorizing Practices in Households, Communities, and Classrooms (https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9781410613462/funds-knowledge-norma-gonzalez-luis-moll-cathy-amanti?context=ubx&refId=4eede073-c7bb-4738-b4fa-8d1aaa8b63a4)

3. 

   2 Apr 2025

   Word-Level Reading Skills for Adolescent Learners with Dr. Brennan Chandler

   Word-Level Reading Skills for Adolescent Learners with Dr. Brennan Chandler Welcome to the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy Podcast! I’m your host, Matt Sroka, and today’s episode as promised continues a series of episodes on the foundational literacy skills for adolescents. These discussions will be taken from a recent special issue of The Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, which explores supporting adolescent readers' foundational literacy skills. Last episode I talked with the editors of this special issue. Today, I welcome my first author from this special issue Dr. Brennan Chandler. As students progress into middle and high school, the expectation is that they can independently engage with complex texts. However, for students with or at risk for learning disabilities (LD), decoding multisyllabic words remains a significant challenge, often hindering their ability to access content knowledge and read for understanding. In this episode of the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy podcast, host Matt Sroka welcomes Dr. Brennan Chandler to discuss the importance of word reading efficiency, the unique challenges faced by secondary students with LD, and the instructional strategies that can help bridge this gap. This conversation is based on the article written for JAAL titled: Instruction to Support Word-Level Reading Skills for Adolescent Learners with Learning Disabilities (https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jaal.1399) written by Brennan W. Chandler, Jessica R. Toste, Elizabeth J. Hart, and Devin M. Kearns. Brennan Chandler is an assistant professor of dyslexia and special education in the Department of Learning Sciences at Georgia State University. He received his Ph.D. in Special Education from The University of Texas at Austin with a focus on learning disabilities. His research focuses on improving outcomes for students with dyslexia and other significant reading and writing disabilities through developing, testing, and implementing intensive interventions. Resources: Special Issue: Foundational Skills in Adolescent Literacy (https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/19362706/2025/68/4) Instruction to Support Word-Level Reading Skills for Adolescent Learners with Learning Disabilities (https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jaal.1399)

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

7 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

5 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 26 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

31

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

51

Contact Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy Podcast

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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