Linnea Carlson Ehri is an American

educational psychologist An educational psychologist is a psychologist whose differentiating functions may include diagnostic and psycho-educational assessment, psychological counseling in educational communities ( students, teachers, parents, and academic authorit ...

and expert on the development of

reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

. She is a Distinguished Professor Emerita of Educational Psychology at the

Graduate Center of the City University of New York The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York (CUNY Graduate Center) is a public research institution and postgraduate university in New York City. Formed in 1961 as Division of Graduate Studies at City University ...

. Ehri is known for her theory of orthographic mapping, which describes the process of forming "letter-sound connections to bond the spellings, pronunciations, and meanings of specific words in memory" that underlies fluent reading. As a consequence of orthographic mapping, written words are tightly linked with their pronunciations and meanings in memory and can be recognized by sight. Ehri served on the

National Reading Panel The National Reading Panel (NRP) was a United States government body. Formed in 1997 at the request of Congress, it was a national panel with the stated aim of assessing the effectiveness of different approaches used to teach children to read. ...

, commissioned by the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower body, the U.S. House of Representatives, and an upper body, the U.S. Senate. They both ...

to report on research-based methods of effective reading instruction from 1997 to 2000. As a member of the panel, she chaired the

alphabet An alphabet is a standard set of letter (alphabet), letters written to represent particular sounds in a spoken language. Specifically, letters largely correspond to phonemes as the smallest sound segments that can distinguish one word from a ...

ics subgroup. Using

meta-analysis Meta-analysis is a method of synthesis of quantitative data from multiple independent studies addressing a common research question. An important part of this method involves computing a combined effect size across all of the studies. As such, th ...

, the group documented the benefits of systematic phonics and

phonemic awareness Phonemic awareness is a part of phonological awareness in which listeners are able to hear, identify and manipulate phonemes, the smallest mental units of sound that help to differentiate units of meaning (morphemes). Separating the spoken word " ...

instruction in helping children learn to read.

Awards

*William S. Gray Citation of Merit from the

International Literacy Association The International Literacy Association (ILA), formerly the International Reading Association (IRA), is an international global advocacy and member professional organization that was created in 1956 to improve reading instruction, facilitate dial ...

(2022) *Fellow of the

American Educational Research Association The American Educational Research Association (AERA, pronounced "A-E-R-A") is a professional organization representing education researchers in the United States and around the world. AERA's mission is to advance knowledge about education and ...

(2008) *Distinguished Scientist Award from the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (2002) *

Sylvia Scribner Sylvia Scribner (1923 – July 20, 1991) was an American psychologist and educational researcher who focused on the role of culture in literacy and learning. Her parents were Gussie and Harry Cohen, and Sylvia Scribner also had a sister, Shirley. ...

Research Award from American Educational Research Association, Division C (1998) *Reading Hall of Fame of the

International Reading Association The International Literacy Association (ILA), formerly the International Reading Association (IRA), is an international global advocacy and member professional organization that was created in 1956 to improve reading instruction, facilitate dial ...

(1998) *Oscar S. Causey Award for Distinguished Research from the National Reading Conference (1991) *Milton D. Jacobson Award from the International Reading Association (1981) *Fellow of the

American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychologists in the United States, and the largest psychological association in the world. It has over 170,000 members, including scientists, educators, clin ...

, Division 15 Educational Psychology (1980)

Biography

Ehri received her B.S. in psychology at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

in 1963; her M.A. in psychology at

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is ...

in 1966 and her doctorate in Educational Psychology from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

in 1970. Ehri was a faculty member of the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

School of Education from 1969 to 1991, prior to joining the faculty of the Graduate Center, CUNY as a Distinguished Professor in 1991. Her research on the development of reading and spelling was supported by the

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development The ''Eunice Kennedy Shriver'' National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) is one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States Department of Health and Human Services. It supports and conducts research ai ...

. Ehri served on the board of directors of the National Reading Conference from 1994 to 1996. She was President of the

Society for the Scientific Study of Reading A society () is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Soc ...

from 1996 to 1997. In addition to her theory of orthographic mapping, Ehri is best known for her work describing the four stages of learning to read words, referred to as pre-alphabetic, partial, full, and consolidated alphabetic phases. Over time and with practice, readers are able to read familiar words by accessing them directly from memory––a process Ehri called sight word reading. Since her retirement in 2018, Ehri has continued advising students and collaborating on research on emerging readers and evidence-based

reading instruction Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word re ...

Books

*Gough, P. B., Ehri, L. C., & Treiman, R. (Eds.). (1992). ''Reading acquisition''. Routledge. *Metsala, J. L., & Ehri, L. C. (Eds.). (1998). ''Word recognition in beginning literacy''. Erlbaum.

Representative papers

*Ehri, L. C. (1987). Learning to read and spell words. ''Journal of Reading Behavior'', ''19''(1), pages 5-31. *Ehri, L. C. (1995). Phases of development in learning to read words by sight. ''Journal of Research in Reading, 18''(2), pages 116–125. *Ehri, L. C. (2005). Learning to read words: Theory, findings, and issues. ''Scientific Studies of reading'', ''9''(2), pages 167–188. *Ehri, L. C. (2014). Orthographic mapping in the acquisition of sight word reading, spelling memory, and vocabulary learning. ''Scientific Studies of Reading'', ''18''(1), pages 5-21. *Ehri, L. C. (2020). The science of learning to read words: A case for systematic phonics instruction. ''Reading Research Quarterly'', ''55'', pages S45-S60.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ehri, Linnea Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American psychologists 21st-century American women CUNY Graduate Center faculty American women psychologists University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences alumni San Francisco State University alumni University of California, Davis faculty UC Berkeley Graduate School of Education alumni American women academics