Freshman class II

Speech patterns

Patrick Proctor, assistant professor of education

Ed.D., Harvard University

Specialization: Bilingualism and literacy development

Representative publication: "The Intriguing Role of Spanish Vocabulary Knowledge in Predicting English Reading Comprehension," Journal of Educational Psychology

I am very interested in understanding the cognitive and social processes of bilingual development and second-language learning in the context of 21st century immigration and globalization. I am particularly focused on how literacy development in the first language of bilingual students can positively affect their second-language literacy skills, and how such knowledge can be applied in heterogeneous classrooms.

I first became interested in these topics attending the Hartford, Connecticut, public schools, where half of my peers spoke Spanish as a first language and many others came from countries around the world. As I became increasingly interested in education, I felt the influence of these early experiences and have devoted my teaching and research to better serve the needs of linguistically and culturally diverse students, particularly in urban schools.