Rebecca Knoph

• Lindberg, Sara; Grozman, Vitali; Karlsson, Kristin; Onjukka, Eva; Lindbäck, Elias & Palme, Joanna Östling [Show all 34 contributors for this article] (2025). Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) of centrally located medically inoperable early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (T1-T3N0M0) − A subgroup analysis of the expanded HILUS study. Lung Cancer. ISSN 0169-5002. 203. doi: 10.1016/j.lungcan.2025.108527. Full text in Research Archive
• Prilutskaya, M.; Knoph, Rebecca & Enoksen-Schistad, Stein-Erling (2025). Intercultural competence in teacher education in Northern Norway: examining pre-service teachers’ insights and study program focus. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research. ISSN 0031-3831. p. 1–22. doi: 10.1080/00313831.2025.2588684. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This pilot study explores intercultural competence (IC) in teacher education at two universities in Northern Norway. Using a mixed methods design, we examine pre-service teachers’ understanding of IC, their self-reported IC levels, and their views on its importance for teacher education and practice. In addition, we explore relevant national policy documents and study plans for pedagogy courses and practicum modules to contextualize the study. Results highlight the need for a more systematic, hands-on focus on IC in Norwegian teacher education, suggesting the incorporation of IC content across subjects and strengthening its emphasis in pedagogy courses and practicum.

• Lawrence, Joshua; Knoph, Rebecca & Hagen, Åste Mjelve (2025). The Language of Learning: Academic Vocabulary Development and Comprehension. In Neuman, Susan B. & Kuhn, Melanie R. (Ed.), Handbook on the Science of Literacy in Grades 3-8. Routledge. ISSN 9781462558018. p. 80–98. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  From foremost authorities, this needed work demonstrates the importance of a science of literacy perspective for teaching and learning beyond the primary grades. Contributors present cutting-edge research on reading and writing development in grades 3–8 and review evidence-based classroom practices and professional learning frameworks. The Handbook explores how to support upper elementary and middle grades learners in improving morphological knowledge and vocabulary, understanding text complexity, and building comprehension. It describes effective ways to meet the instructional needs of struggling readers and writers, including multilingual students and those with learning disabilities. Timely topics include multi-tiered systems of support, student motivation and engagement, adaptive teaching, digital and multimodal literacies, and culturally responsive and sustaining practices.

• Knoph, Rebecca; Lawrence, Joshua & Francis, David J. (2023). The Dimensionality of Lexical Features in General, Academic, and Disciplinary Vocabulary. Scientific Studies of Reading. ISSN 1088-8438. doi: 10.1080/10888438.2023.2241939. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Purpose There are many aspects of words that can influence our lexical processing, and the words we are exposed to influence our opportunities for language and reading development. The purpose of this study is to establish a more comprehensive understanding of the lexical challenges and opportunities students face. Method We explore the latent relationships of word features across three established word lists: the General Service List, Academic Word List, and discipline-specific word lists from the Academic Vocabulary List. We fit exploratory factor models using 22 non-behavioral, empirical measures to three sets of vocabulary words: 2,060 high-frequency words, 1,051 general academic words, and 3,413 domain-specific words. Results We found Frequency, Complexity, Proximity, Polysemy, and Diversity were largely stable factors across the sets of high-frequency and general academic words, but that the challenge facing learners is structurally different for domain-specific words. Conclusion Despite substantial stability, there are important differences in the latent lexical features that learners encounter. We discuss these results and provide our latent factor estimates for words in our sample.

• Prilutskaya, Marina Yurievna; Knoph, Rebecca & Hanssen, Jessica Allen (2022). “The Use of Students’ Linguistic Resources in Teaching English as an Additional Language in Norway.”. In Krulatz, Anna; Neokleous, Georgios & Dahl, Anne (Ed.), Theoretical and Applied Perspectives on Teaching Foreign Languages in Multilingual Settings: Pedagogical Implications. Multilingual Matters. ISSN 9781788926409. Full text in Research Archive
• Hagen, Åste Mjelve; Knoph, Rebecca; Hjetland, Hanne Næss; Rogde, Kristin; Lawrence, Joshua & Lervåg, Arne [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2021). Measuring Listening Comprehension and Predicting Language Development in At-Risk Preschoolers. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research. ISSN 0031-3831. doi: 10.1080/00313831.2021.1939136. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Listening comprehension involves the ability to understand and extract meaning from spoken sentences, stories, and instruction. This skill is vital for young children and has long-term effects on school achievement, employability, income, and participation in society. There is a lack of measures of young children’s listening comprehension skills. We report on a new measure of listening comprehension (LURI) that we tested in a group of at-risk preschoolers. Using IRT (Item Response Theory) analysis, we examined the psychometric properties of the instrument. Moreover, in a series of regressions, we found that the LURI measure predicted a range of other language skills better than standardized measures. Thus, the LURI test is a reliable and valid measure of listening comprehension. Assessing listening comprehension is a time-effective way of measuring a skill critically important to language development and represents the product of a range of different oral language processes.

• Lawrence, Joshua; Knoph, Rebecca; Mcllraith, Autumn; Kulesz, Paulina A. & Francis, David (2021). Reading Comprehension and Academic Vocabulary: Exploring Relations of Item Features and Reading Proficiency. Reading Research Quarterly. ISSN 0034-0553. doi: 10.1002/rrq.434. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  General academic words are those which are typically learned through exposure to school texts and occur across disciplines. We examined academic vocabulary assessment data from a group of English-speaking middle school students (N = 1,747). We tested how word frequency, complexity, proximity, polysemy, and diversity related to students’ knowledge of target words across ability levels. Our results affirm the strong relation between vocabulary and reading at the individual level. Strong readers were more likely to know the meanings of words than struggling readers were, regardless of the features of the academic words tested. Words with more meanings were easier for all students, on average. The relation between word frequency and item difficulty was stronger among better readers, whereas the relation between word complexity and item difficulty was stronger among less proficient readers. Our examination of academic words’ characteristics and how these characteristics relate to word difficulty across reading performance has implications for instruction.

• Knoph, Rebecca & Buchanan, Erin M (2020). Language Learning and Metacognition: An Intervention to Improve Language Classrooms. Journal of Scientific Psychology. ISSN 2161-7724. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In the USA, the trend of increase in foreign language enrollments at the college level has suddenly begun to decline since 2009, despite the notion that learning multiple languages is becoming essential for effectively communicating with others from diverse native language backgrounds. This new decline may be due in part to inefficient and outdated foreign language courses. The current study examined the effect of how we assess our current knowledge and learning techniques (metacognition) on educational outcomes in hopes to improve the effectiveness of the university classrooms. College students were exposed to new metacognitive strategies that could benefit their language learning throughout the fall 2016 semester. Specifically, students were presented with new information every other week to improve their vocabulary building, listening skills, and writing skills. Hierarchical multiple linear regression provided evidence of a potential way to measure and promote metacognitive strategies that could be useful to language learners.

• Prilutskaya, Marina Yurievna & Knoph, Rebecca (2020). Research on three L2 writing conditions: Students’ perceptions and use of background languages when writing in English. Cogent Education. 7(1). doi: 10.1080/2331186X.2020.1832179. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper gives an account of Norwegian upper secondary school students’ self-reported use of linguistic resources while composing a text in English (L2) under three different writing conditions, i.e. English-only, translation, and translanguaging. After writing a text in English, 200 students answered a questionnaire about their use of background languages as well as their perceptions of the assigned writing condition. A combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches to the analysis of the questionnaire data was employed to capture how the students use their background languages and what they consider to be relative advantages and disadvantages of the assigned writing condition. The results indicate: (i) a strong presence of English as a metacognitive language of choice in all three writing conditions, (ii) students’ strategic use of L1 to generate ideas and structure information, and (iii) students’ willingness to experiment with languages to enhance certain aspects of their writing. By integrating translation and translanguaging into the drafting stage of writing in a target language, the present study contributes to the empirical research that embraces bi- and multilingual approach to English writing instruction in modern language classrooms as they become more linguistically and culturally diverse.

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• Torkildsen, Janne von Koss; Hagelund, Silje & Knoph, Rebecca (2026). What Does My Reader Need? Demonstrations of Audience Awareness in Sixth-Graders’ Written LEGO Instructions. Full text in Research Archive
• Torkildsen, Janne von Koss; Hagelund, Silje; Knoph, Rebecca; Jerijærvi, Camilla Bøen & Lervåg, Arne (2026). Gender differences in self-reported audience awareness in middle schoolers’ argumentative writing. Full text in Research Archive
• Knoph, Rebecca; Lawrence, Joshua; Kulesz, Paulina & Francis, David (2026). Task, learner, and word: A tripartite view of vocabulary assessment outcomes. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Purpose This study examines how vocabulary task format, learner proficiency, and lexical characteristics jointly influence assessment performance. While test development often assumes that the format of a vocabulary measure does not affect what is measured, we challenge this assumption by investigating whether synonym and definition identification tasks show different results for knowing a word, particularly for students at different levels of language proficiency. Method Over 6,000 linguistically diverse middle school students from an urban California district completed 50 synonym items and a randomly assigned 12-item definition form, with 20 target words overlapping across formats. Explanatory item response theory (EIRT) models extended random intercept models to include person-level predictors (ELL classification, grade, gifted participation, socioeconomic status, reading comprehension) and item-level predictors (task type, frequency, complexity, proximity, polysemy, diversity). These models estimated main and interaction effects, capturing variability in both student ability and item difficulty across tasks and proficiency levels. Results Students were generally more accurate on synonym than definition items, but this advantage disappeared for Limited English Proficient (LEP) learners. Words with many meanings and broad contextual use were easier, especially on synonym tasks, suggesting that flexible meaning representations aid identifying semantic relationships. Conclusions Vocabulary task format interacts systematically with both learner proficiency and lexical features, indicating that assessment outcomes depend on how knowledge is elicited and for whom. The findings challenge linear conceptions of vocabulary “depth” and highlight the importance of designing and interpreting vocabulary measures that account for task effects and learner diversity.

• Knoph, Rebecca; Hagelund, Silje & Torkildsen, Janne von Koss (2026). What Does My Reader Need? Audience Awareness in SixthGraders’ Written LEGO Instructions. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Purpose: Audience awareness is central to effective writing, requiring writers to anticipate readers’ needs and misunderstandings (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1987; Hayes, 2012). Failures to support and consider readers have contributed to catastrophic consequences, including fatal radiation explosions linked to technical instructions that failed to anticipate user interpretation (Leveson & Turner, 1993). This study examines how Norwegian sixth-grade students demonstrate audience awareness through reader supports when writing LEGO-based procedural texts for real readers (though low-stakes), and whether these demonstrations differ by writer gender.Method: Seventy sixth-grade students wrote instructions for a specific peer to build a six-piece LEGO figure using only the written instructions, ensuring genuine communication. Three researchers independently coded texts for reader supports indicating audience awareness using a deductively-developed, inductively-refined rubric with seven categories: reader connection, adaptation, emphasis, sequential markers, figurative language, goals, and action support. Patterns of reader support use were compared by author gender using frequency counts and qualitative ex‐ amples.Results: Sixth-grade writers demonstrated audience awareness in procedural writing. Sequence markers were almost always present, and action support appeared in over half of essays, whereas reader-oriented supports (e.g., reader connection and goal orientation) appeared in only about one third. Girls produced substan‐ tially more reader supports than boys, with more than four times as many reader connection instances and twice as many adaptation, action support, and goal orientation instances. Discussion: Authentic, hands-on writing tasks can elicit clear demonstrations of audience awareness through reader supports, even in relatively short procedur‐ al texts (approximately 100 words). Despite the task being designed to align with boys’ LEGO-building interests and spatial reasoning strengths, girls more consistently and flexibly supported their readers. These findings suggest gender differences in how young writers conceptualize and enact audience awareness, underscoring the need for instructional approaches that explicitly support students in anticipating and responding to readers’ needs.

• Knoph, Rebecca; Hagelund, Silje & Torkildsen, Janne von Koss (2026). Writing Quality on a LEGO-Based Procedural Writing Task: Gender Differences in Analytic Traits. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  INTRODUCTION: Young writers demonstrate substantial potential for composing texts, and measures of cognit‐ ive capacity related to writing show no gender differences (Bourke & Adams, 2012). Despite this, boys often report lower motivation for school-based writing and greater difficulty with transcription and text production (Olinghouse, 2008), and girls consistently outperform boys on writing assessments (Kim, 2017). These differ‐ ences may be partly genre- and topic-related, as girls more often prefer narrative texts and boys factual or expository materials (McGeown, 2016). This study therefore examined gender differences in writing quality on a hands-on procedural task designed to broaden engagement and explicitly specify audience and pur‐ pose.METHODS: Seventy Norwegian sixth-grade students viewed an image of a six-piece LEGO figure and wrote instructions so a peer could rebuild the figure without the image. Texts were then rated using the six subdimensions of the 6+1 Traits framework (Culham, 2003).RESULTS: Girls outperformed boys on all dimen‐ sions except Word Choice, with the most robust gender difference observed for Voice (Hedges’ g=0.83). Smaller but underpowered gender differences were observed for remaining traits (0.15-0.48). All subscores were strongly correlated with total score (rs=.67-.94), and the correlational structure was equivalent between genders. Girls produced longer texts than boys (d = 0.48), and word count was moderately related to writing quality (rs=.38-.64). Adjusting for word count partially attenuated gender differences (38-71%), though controlling for word count may remove substantively meaningful variance, as word count likely reflects underlying differences in fluency and task engagement.CONCLUSIONS: Overall, gender differences in writing persisted even on the hands-on task de‐ signed to broaden engagement. Specifically, girls continued to outperform boys in expressive voice even after adjusting for word count, suggesting that while engaging task design is important, it may be insufficient to reduce gender differences in writing quality and potentially a focus on expressive voice for instruction, particularly for boys.

• Knoph, Rebecca; Lawrence, Joshua; Kulesz, Paulina & Francis, David (2025). Diverging Effects of Lexical Dimensions in Speed and Accuracy. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Lexical decision tasks often prioritize reaction time as the main performance metric, discarding accuracy information beyond omitting incorrect trials. While established relationships exist between lexical dimensions, such as word length and frequency, and reaction time, the link to accuracy remains underexplored. This study analyzes word-level data from the English Lexicon Project (40,481 words; Balota et al., 2007) and the British Lexicon Project (28,730 words; Keuleers et al., 2012) to examine how lexical dimensions relate to mean reaction time and word-level accuracy. Multigroup SEM results indicate that certain latent lexical dimensions (Knoph et al., 2023) facilitate quick responses but may hinder accuracy, and conversely, may prompt participants to slow down and increase correct responses. Our findings suggest that speed in lexical decision tasks is not necessarily advantageous—while quick responses can correlate with accuracy, they are not synonymous. This work highlights the importance of further research on the distinction between reaction time and accuracy as separate constructs in understanding cognitive processes in reading.

• Knoph, Rebecca (2025). Reading Comprehension Efficiency: Balancing Speed and Accuracy in Reading Assessment. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Reading efficiently requires not just accuracy or speed individually, but the ability to perform both simultaneously; missing either can lead to inaccurate and/or laborious reading comprehension. This seminar investigates the relationship between reading comprehension accuracy and speed through two timed assessments. It highlights the diverse profiles in assessment strategies and illustrates that quick reading does not always indicate accurate comprehension, and mistakes are not inevitable when reading slowly. Two competing latent models will be contrasted to define reading comprehension efficiency and its relationship to conventional speeded reading tasks (requiring minimal comprehension) and reading comprehension tasks (without imposed time limits).

• Knoph, Rebecca; Lawrence, Joshua & Hagen, Åste Mjelve (2024). Decoding the lexicon: Bridging the gap between pedagogical standards and academic scientific literature. Full text in Research Archive
• Knoph, Rebecca & Lawrence, Joshua (2024). Latent lexical dimensions: Effective predictors of reaction times. Full text in Research Archive
• Hoff, David Armas; Knoph, Rebecca; Lawrence, Joshua & Hagen, Åste Mjelve (2024). Relevance of Early Language Comprehension for School-Age Listening Comprehension. Full text in Research Archive
• Knoph, Rebecca & Lawrence, Joshua (2022). Vocabulary tasks and target words are not equal: How language learners answer differently. Full text in Research Archive
• Lawrence, Joshua; Knoph, Rebecca; Hwang, Jin Kyoung & Hagen, Åste Marie Mjelve (2022). Measures of lexical ambiguity for 62,954 words. Full text in Research Archive
• Prilutskaya, Marina Yurievna & Knoph, Rebecca (2022). Developing metacognitive skills through pedagogical translanguaging: a case of writing in L2. Full text in Research Archive
• Knoph, Rebecca; Hagen, Åste Mjelve; Zhang, Wenjie & Lawrence, Joshua (2021). A LURI Comparison: Listening comprehension for Norwegian and Chinese children. Full text in Research Archive
• Hjetland, Hanne Næss; Hagen, Åste Mjelve; Rogde, Kristin; Knoph, Rebecca & Melby-Lervåg, Monica (2020). LURI: A Listening Comprehension Measure for Preschool Children. Full text in Research Archive
• Knoph, Rebecca & Lawrence, Joshua Fahey (2020). The Impact of word features on lexical decision tasks. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This study used multiple linear regression to determine if special features of academic words (from the Academic Word List) could predict reaction times and accuracy on lexical decision tasks. Specifically, we examined five word feature factors: word frequency from different corpora, word completxity (the number of letters, phonemes, morphemes, syllables, etc.), proximity to other words (the number of phonographic, phonologic, and orthographic neighbors), polysemy (the number of senses and meanings for that word), and diversity (the number of contexts in which the word can be found). We not only discovered a trend in which word features predicted longer lexical decision reaction times, but also found that this trend was different for accuracy. That is, features that predicted shorter mean reaction times did not always predict more participants would accurately identify the word as a word. The different regression weights indicate that how we identify and process words might not only be explained by the length or frequency of a word, but that it also depends on the context in which we can find the word and how many different ways we can use the word.

• Knoph, Rebecca & Lawrence, Joshua Fahey (2019). What’s in a Word? The Impact of Word Features on Item Difficulty. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This study used multiple linear regression to determine the predictability of item difficulty on three types of items (hypernyms, topical associates, and definitions) given specific features of the target words (complexity, diversity, proximity, frequency, and polysemy). We found a trend in which features tend to be related to item difficulty.

• Knoph, Rebecca & Lawrence, Joshua Fahey (2019). A Factor Analysis of Word Features: Are Academic Words Different? Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The current study replicates two previous factor structures for word features (e.g. word frequency and length), but focuses specifically on the structure for academic vocabulary. These words followed a similar but not identical factor structure to words in general. Use of the factor structure can reduce suppression between multicollinear variables.

• Knoph, Rebecca & Hagen, Åste Mjelve (2019). The LURI Assessment: A Listening Comprehension Measure for Preschool Children. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The current study examines a new listening comprehension test for preschool children. The test contains 10 short stories and 3-5 questions per story (total 36 questions) read by an adult. We test the psychometric properties of the measure in a sample of 289 Norwegian preschoolers at risk for language problems.

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