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Dr Kate Cain's Homepage

phone:01524 593990
fax:01524 593744
email:k.cain@lancaster.ac.uk

Research Interests

My research concerns the different cognitive and language-related skills that underpin the development of written and spoken language comprehension, both in atypical and typical development. To date, this work has identified several higher-level skill impairments that may be causally linked to their poor comprehension, including the ability to generate inferences, knowledge and use of reading strategies, and the ability to construct coherent and integrated narratives.

Current research projects include:

  • developmental changes and individual differences in children's understanding of figurative language
  • the role of memory and inferential skills in vocabulary acquisition from written contexts
  • the role of interclausal connectives (e.g., because, after, although) in children's memory and comprehension of text
  • reading and pragmatic language impairments in relation to poor attention and hyperactivity

Current PhD students (with topic):

  • Macarena Silva (the development of narrative skills: the role of language and the home literacy environment)
  • Susannah Trotter (reading comprehension skills in children with dyslexia)
  • Angela Tring (language and social cognition in relation to poor attention and hyperactivity)
  • Sunayana Nandagopal (social understanding and family relationships, co-supervision with Charlie Lewis)
  • Nicola Pooley (early comprehension skills: scaffolding and support)

Published books:

  • Cain, K. (2010). Reading Development and Difficulties. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. Click here for details.
  • Cain, K. & Oakhill, J. (Eds) (2007). Children's Comprehension Problems in Oral and Written Language: A Cognitive Perspective. Guildford Press.

Below are selected journal articles since 2003

Publications

Florit, E. & Cain, K. (in press). The Simple View of Reading: Is it valid for different types of alphabetic orthographies? Educational Psychology Review, , .
Hogan, T. P., Bridges, M. S., Justice, L. M., & Cain, K. (in press). Increasing higher-level language skills to improve reading comprehension. Focus on Exceptional Children, , .
Oakhill, J. V., & Cain, K. (in press). The precursors of reading ability in young readers: Evidence from a four-year longitudinal study. Scientific Studies of Reading, , .
Cain, K. Nash, H. (2011). The influence of connectives on young readers processing and comprehension of text. Journal of Educational Psychology, 103, 429-441.
Cain, K., & Oakhill, J. V. (2011). Matthew Effects in young readers: Reading comprehension and reading experience aid vocabulary development. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 44, 431-443.
Deacon, H. & Cain, K. (2011). What we have learned from 'learning to read in more than one language'. Journal of Research in Reading, 34, 1-5.
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.
Cain, K (2009). Making sense of text: skills that support text comprehension and its development. Perspectives on Language and Literacy, 35, 11-14.
Cain, K., Towse, A.S., & Knight, R. (2009). The development of idiom comprehension: An investigation of semantic and contextual processing skills. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 102, 98-108.
Cain, K., & Towse, A. S. (2008). To get hold of the wrong end of the stick: Reasons for poor idiom understanding in children with reading comprehension difficulties. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 51, 1538-1549.
Bignell, S., & Cain, K. (2007). Pragmatic aspects of communication and language comprehension in groups of children differentiated by teacher ratings of inattention and hyperactivity British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 25, 499-512.
Cain, K. (2007). Syntactic awareness and reading ability: is there any evidence for a special relationship? Applied Psycholinguistics, 28, 679-694.
Cain, K. (2007). Deriving word meanings from context: does explanation facilitate contextual analysis? Journal of Research in Reading, 30, 347-359.
Joffe, V. L., Cain, K., & Maric, N. (2007). Comprehension problems in children with specific language impairment: does mental imagery training help? International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 42, 648-664.
Cain, K. (2006). Individual differences in children's memory and reading comprehension: an investigation of semantic and inhibitory deficits. Memory, 14, 553-569.
Cain, K., & Oakhill, J (2006). Assessment matters: Issues in the measurement of reading comprehension British Journal of Educational Psychology, 76, 697-708.
Cain, K., & Oakhill, J. (2006). Profiles of children with specific reading comprehension difficulties. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 76, 683-696.
Cain, K., Oakhill, J., & Lemmon, K., (2005). The relation between children's reading comprehension level and their comprehension of idioms. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 90, 65-87.
Cain, K., Patson, N., & Andrews, L. (2005). Age- and ability-related differences in young readers' use of conjunctions. Journal of Child Language, 32, 877-892.
Cain, K., Oakhill, J., & Bryant, P. E. (2004). Children's reading comprehension ability: Concurrent prediction by working memory, verbal ability, and component skills. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96, 31-42.
Cain, K., Oakhill, J., & Lemmon, K. (2004). Individual differences in the inference of word meanings from context: the influence of reading comprehension, vocabulary knowledge, and memory capacity. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96, 671-681.
Cain, K. (2003). Text comprehension and its relation to coherence and cohesion in children's fictional narratives. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 21, 335-351.
Cain, K., Oakhill, J. V., & Elbro, C. (2003). The ability to learn new word meanings from context by school-age children with and without language comprehension difficulties. Journal of Child Language, 30, 681-694.
Oakhill, J., Cain, K., & Bryant, P. E. (2003). The dissociation of word reading and text comprehension: evidence from component skills. Language and Cognitive Processes, 18, 443-468.

Grants

  • 2010 (for five years), Project grant from U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences.
    The Language Bases of Reading Comprehension
    with Laura J. Justice (PI: OSU); Stephen A. Petrill (OSU); Ann A. O'Connell (OSU); Shayne B. Piasta (OSU); Richard G. Lomax (OSU); Shelley Gray (ASU); M. Adelaida Restrepo (ASU); Hugh Catts (KU); Diane Nielsen (KU); Tiffany Hogan (UNL); J. Ron Nelson (UNL); James Bovaird (UNL) .
    More details about this grant can be found here.
  • 2010 (for 12 months) from Lancaster University Friends Funding Programme.
    Development of an assessment tool to identify undergraduates in need of learning support
    with John Towse (PI: Psychology).
  • 2010 (for 12 months) from Lancaster University Friends Funding Programme.
    Reading circles: supporting young readers

  • 2009 (for 24 months) from Higher Education Innovation Fund.
    Atypical Development Unit
    with Katie Alcock, Melissa Allen, Dina Lew, Charlie Lewis, John Towse, Karen Mattock.
    More details about this grant can be found here.
  • 2009 from Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación.
    Competencia retorica y comprension lectora. Implicaciones para la ensenanza y el aprendizaje por medio del discurso oral y escrito. (Rhetorical competence and reading comprehension. Implications to teaching and learning through oral and written discourse)
    with Emilio Sanchez (PI: Universidad de Salamanca, Spain); J. Ricardo Garcia (Universidad de Salamanca, Spain); Hector Garcia-Rodicio (Universidad de Salamanca, Spain); Nadezhna Castellano (Universidad de Salamanca, Spain); Elena Ciga (Universidad de Salamanca, Spain); Isabel Canedo (Universidad de Salamanca, Spain); Manuel Montanero (Universidad de Extremadura, Spain); Mercedes Rueda (Universidad de Salamanca, Spain); Manuel Lucero (Universidad de Extremadura, Spain); Enma Garcia (Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, Spain).
  • 2008 (for 12 months) from The Royal Society.
    Dimensions and predictors of reading comprehension

  • 2007, Project grant from Lancaster University.
    Variability in child language: a feasibility and pilot study on the exploitation of the Child Language Survey
    with Andrew Hardie and Sebastian Hoffman (Lancaster, Linguistics and English Language), Paul Rayson (Lancaster, Computing), Katie Alcock (Lancaster, Psychology).
    More details about this grant can be found here.
  • 2006 (for 18 months), project grant from The Leverhulme Trust.
    Acquisition of printed word meanings.

    More details about this grant can be found here.
  • 2006 (for 2 years), project grant from ESRC.
    Making links: the role of interclausal connectives in children's comprehension of text.

    More details about this grant can be found here.
  • 2006 (for 2 years), seminar series from ESRC.
    Reading comprehension: From theory to practice
    with Prof Margaret Snowling (York, Principal organiser), Prof Kate Nation (Oxford), Prof Jane Oakhill (Sussex).
  • 2005 (for 8 months), research grant from The British Academy.
    Age- and ability-related differences in children's comprehension of idiomatic expressions.

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