College of Humanities and Social Sciences staff

Emeritus Professor Thomas Nicholson staff profile picture

Contact details +64 (06) 356 9099

Emeritus Professor Thomas Nicholson

Emeritus Professor

Institute of Education

Recent publications include:

Nicholson, T., & Dymock, S. J. (2023, July-September). Teachers are our best resource to help students with dyslexia. Literacy Today, pp. 15-16.

Dymock S., & Nicholson T. (2022). Dyslexia seen through the eyes of teachers: An exploratory survey. Reading Research Quarterly, 58(2), 333-344.  doi:10.1002/rrq.490

Arrow A., Neville A., Denston, A., & Nicholson T. (2022). Investigating the number and type of literacy assessments and interventions in Aotearoa New Zealand primary schools Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties 27(2):185-199.

Nicholson T., & McIntosh S. (2020). An exploration of the relationship between phonological and phonics knowledge, and self-efficacy for teaching. Dyslexia 26 (3):286-304

Jones E., Southwood H., Cook C., & Nicholson T. (2020). Insights into paediatric tube feeding dependence: A Speech-language pathology perspective International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology 22 (3):327-337

Carvalho L., Nicholson T., Yeoman P., & Thibaut P. (2020). Space matters: Framing the New Zealand learning landscape Learning Environments Research 23 (3):307-329 

My careeer started as a high school teacher and later as an educational research officer, a doctoral student and teaching assistant at the University of Minnesota, and as an academic in three New Zealand universities, University of Waikato, The University of Auckland, and Massey University. Awards: Member, Reading Hall of Fame, Onassis Foreign Scholar (Greece), Visiting Professor (Stanford, U Texas, Catholic U., Sydney, U. Tasmania), Doctoral Dissertation Award (International Literacy Association), Mona Tobias Award (Learning Difficulties Australia). An upcoming publication is the second edition of New Zealand Dyslexia Handbook (NZCER Press).

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Professional

Contact details

  • Ph: 43519
    Location: 3.32, Atrium
    Campus: Albany

Prizes and Awards

  • Lecturer of the Year Award - Albany Students Association - Albany Students Assocaition (2016)
  • Lecturer of the Year Award 2015 - Albany Students Association - Albany Students Association (2015)

Research Expertise

Research Interests

phonics, phonemic awareness, dyslexia, literacy learning difficulties, teaching reading and writing

Thematics

Health and Well-being

Area of Expertise

Field of research codes
Curriculum and Pedagogy (130200): Education (130000): English and Literacy Curriculum and Pedagogy (excl. LOTE, ESL and TESOL) (130204)

Keywords

dyslexia, phonics, literacy learning difficulties, teaching reading and writing

Research Projects

Completed Projects

Project Title: Talking about Text

It is well known in the literacy field that students who know how writers organise their ideas and present them in fiction and non-fiction have higher achievement in reading comprehension and writing (Calfee & Patrick, 1995; Dymock & Nicholson, 2012; McLachlan, Nicholson, Fielding-Barnsley, Mercer, & Ohi, 2013). On the other hand there is little research in New Zealand on this topic and this study will address this gap. In the study, 150 year 5/6 children in two primary schools were randomly assigned to text structure teaching, a treatment control group, or a no-treatment control group. Children were taught either text structure strategies or math (for the treatment control group) three days a week in one hour lessons for 10 weeks. Teaching was in small groups by trained tutors. Tutored students completed weekly quizzes related to the texts they studied and a writing task where they had to summarise the main points of a fiction or non-fiction text. Children were assessed using normed tests prior to the training and immediately at the end of the training programme. The prediction was that training in text structure for the experimental group would produce better reading and writing than for the two control groups.
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Date Range: 2007 - 2008

Funding Body: Massey University

Project Team:

Teaching and Supervision

Contact Supervisor

Completed Doctoral Supervision

Main Supervisor of:

  • 2016 - Alicia Ritter - Doctor of Philosophy
    Why do they stay? An Analysis of Factors Influencing Retention of International Teachers
  • 2015 - Shanthi Tiruchittampalam - Doctor of Philosophy
    School years, summer holidays and the reading achievement gap
  • 2014 - Mary Turner - Doctor of Philosophy
    The effects of book reading over the summer holidays on the reading skills and attitudes to reading of Year 3 students
  • 2012 - Laura Tse - Doctor of Philosophy
    Can Phonics Instruction & Big Book Shared Reading in Combination Work Better Than on their Own?

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Last updated on Monday 27 February 2023