Professor Anne Castles

ARC Laureate Fellow
The Australian Centre for the Advancement of Literacy

Anne Castles

Areas of expertise: reading development; dyslexia; variability within the reading-impaired population and the causes of different types of dyslexia; understand and support literacy development in the secondary school population

Email: Anne.Castles@acu.edu.au

HDR Supervisor accreditation status: HDR Supervisor (Full)

ORCID ID: 0000-0001-8228-8260

Professor Anne Castles is a current Australian ARC Laureate Fellow in the Australian Centre for the Advancement of Literacy. Anne's research focuses on reading and reading disorders. She has a particular interest in variability and causes of different types of reading disorders, including genetic, cognitive and language factors.

Professor Anne Castles received a five-year ARC grant for her project: Literacy in adolescence: The next major challenge in the science of reading. It will investigate secondary school reading achievement, how to improve teaching practices and strategies for students in need of greater literacy support. The research team has commenced looking at basic processes in adolescent word reading and spelling, focussing on their ability to deal with the kinds of complex and technical words they are faced with in high school. It is also developing studies exploring the broader impact of literacy difficulties on children in high school: examining the relationship between literacy, motivation to read, and academic self-concept.

Website 

ACU staff directory

Select publications

  • Wang, HC., Salins, A., Murray, L. et al.Orthographic facilitation of English vocabulary learning in monolingual and bilingual children. Read Writ (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-024-10561-4
  • Castles, A. (2024). From language to literacy: Understanding dyslexia. Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 157(493-494), 49-52. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.T2024062800016102063993579
  • Wang, H. C., Li, L., Xu Rattanasone, N., Demuth, K., & Castles, A. (2023). Morphological Effects on Orthographic Learning in Monolingual English-Speaking and Bilingual Chinese-English-Speaking Children. Scientific Studies of Reading, 27(6), 557-569. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2023.2217965
  • Webber, C., Patel, H., Cunningham, A., Fox, A., Vousden, J., Castles, A., & Shapiro, L. (2024). An experimental comparison of additional training in phoneme awareness, letter-sound knowledge and decoding for struggling beginner readers. British Journal of Educational Psychology., 94(1), 282-305. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12641
  • Wegener, S., Wang, H., Beyersmann, E., Reichle, E. D., Nation, K., & Castles, A. (2023). The Effect of Spacing Versus Massing on Orthographic Learning. Reading Research Quarterly., 58(3), 361-372. https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.492
  • Beyersmann, E., Wegener, S., Pescume, V. N., Nation, K., Colenbrander, D., & Castles, A. (2023). The effect of oral vocabulary training on reading novel complex words. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. 76(6), 1321-1332. https://doi.org/10.1177/17470218221113949
  • Beyersmann, E., Wegener, S., Spencer, J., & Castles, A. (2023). Acquisition of orthographic forms via spoken complex word training. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 30I, 2, 739-750. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-022-02185-y
  • Castles, A., & Nation, K. (2023). Learning to read words. In M. Snowling, C. Hulme, & K. Nation (Eds.) The science of reading: A handbook (2nd Edition). John Wiley & Sons Publishers https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119705116.ch7
  • Salins, A. O., Cupples, L., Leigh, G. & Castles, A., (2023). Orthographic facilitation of oral vocabulary acquisition in primary school children. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 76, 1045-1056. https://doi.org/10.1177/17470218221102916
  • Wang, H. C., Li, L., Xu Rattanasone, N., Demuth, K., & Castles, A. (2023). Morphological effects on orthographic learning in monolingual English-speaking and bilingual Chinese-English-speaking children. Scientific Studies of Reading. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2023.2217965
  • Wegener, S., Yu, L., Reichle, E., Beyersmann, L., Parrila, R. & Castles, A. (2023). Eye movements during reading. Frontiers for Young Minds.https://kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2023.769381
  • Wegener, S., Wang, H. C., Beyersmann, E., Reichle, E., Nation, K., & Castles, A. (2023). The effect of spacing versus massing on orthographic learning. Reading Research Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.492
  • Wegener, S., Wang, H., Beyersmann, L., Nation, K., Colenbrander, D., & Castles, A. (2023). Orthographic expectancies in the absence of contextual support. Scientific Studies of Reading, 27, 187-197. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2022.2127356
  • Poulsen, M., Protopapas, A., Juul, H. (2023). How RAN stimulus type and repetition affect RAN's relation with decoding efficiency and reading comprehension, Reading and Writing, 10.1007/s11145-023-10421-7.
  • Wilmot, A., Hasking, S., Hill, E., Boyes, M. (2023). Understanding Mental Health in Developmental Dyslexia: A Scoping Review, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 10.3390/ijerph20021653, 20, 2, (1653).
  • Wegener, S., Yu, L., Reichle, E.D., Beyersmann, E., Parrila, R., & Castles, A. Frontiers for Young Minds. https://kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2023.769381
  • Colenbrander, D., Kohnen, S., Beyersmann, E., Robidoux, S., Wegener, S., Arrow, T., … Castles, A. (2022). Teaching Children to Read Irregular Words: A Comparison of Three Instructional Methods. Scientific Studies of Reading, 26(6), 545-564. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2022.2077653
  • Pescuma, V.N., Ktori, M., Beyersmann, E., Sowman, P.F., Castles, A., and Crepaldi, D. (2022) Automatic morpheme identification across development: Magnetoencephalography (MEG) evidence from fast periodic visual stimulation. Psychol. 13:932952.
  • Murray, L., Wegener, S., Wang, H. C., Parrila, R., & Castles, A. (2022). Children Processing Novel Irregular and Regular Words During Reading: An Eye Tracking Study. Scientific Studies of Reading, 26(5), 417-431. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2022.2030744
  • Wegener, S., Beyersmann, E., Wang, H. C., & Castles, A. (2022). Oral vocabulary knowledge and learning to read new words: A theoretical review. Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties, 27(2), 253-278. https://doi.org/10.1080/19404158.2022.2097717
  • Wang, H., Nation, K., Gaskell, M. G., Robidoux, S., Weighall, A., & Castles, A. (2022). Nap effects on preschool children's learning of letter-sound mappings. Child Development., 93(4), 1145-1153. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13753
  • Wegener, S., Wang, H.C., Beyersmann, E., Nation,K., Colenbrander,D., Castles, A. (2022). The effects of spacing and massing on children's orthographic learning, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, Volume 214, 2022, 105309, ISSN 0022-0965, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105309.
  • Landerl, K., Castles, A., & Parrila, R. (2021). Cognitive Precursors of Reading: A Cross-Linguistic Perspective. Scientific Studies of Reading, 26(2), 111-124. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2021.1983820
  • Li, L., Marinus, E., Castles, A. et al.(2021). Oral vocabulary affects children's orthographic learning in Chinese. Read Writ 34, 1369-1385 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-021-10121-0
  • Beyersmann, E., Wegener, S., Nation, K., Prokupzcuk,K., Wang, A., Castles, H.C., Castles, A. (2021). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, Vol 47(1), Jan 2021, 87-98
  • Colenbrander D, Wang H-C, Arrow T, Castles A. (2020). Teaching irregular words: What we know, what we don't know, and where we can go from here. The Educational and Developmental Psychologist. 2020;37(2):97-104. doi:10.1017/edp.2020.11
  • Li, L., Marinus, E., Castles, A., Hsieh, M. L., & Wang, H. C. (2020). Semantic and Phonological Decoding in Children's Orthographic Learning in Chinese. Scientific Studies of Reading, 25(4), 319-334. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2020.1781863
  • Wegener, S., Wang, H.C., Nation, K., Castles, A. (2020). Tracking the evolution of orthographic expectancies over building visual experience, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, Volume 199, 2020,104912, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2020.104912.
  • Schmalz, X., Robidoux, S., Castles, A. et al.(2020). Variations in the use of simple and context-sensitive grapheme-phoneme correspondences in English and German developing readers. of Dyslexia 70, 180-199 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-019-00189-3
  • Stefanac, N., Spencer-Smith, M., Brosnan, M., Vangkilde, S., Castles, A., Bellgrove, M. (2019). Visual processing speed as a marker of immaturity in lexical but not sublexical dyslexia, Cortex, Volume 120, Pages 567-581, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2019.08.004.
  • Buckingham, J., & Castles, A. (2019). Why do some children learn to read without explicit teaching? Nomanis, (7), 18-20. https://www.nomanis.com.au/post/why-do-some-children-learn-to-read-without-explicit-teaching
  • Beyersmann, E., Grainger, J., Castles, A. (2019). Embedded stems as a bootstrapping mechanism for morphological parsing during reading development, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, Volume 182, 2019,Pages 196-210,
  • Deacon, S.H., Pasquarella, A., Marinus, E., Tims, T., Castles, A. (2019). Orthographic processing and children's word reading. Applied Psycholinguistics. 2019;40(2):509-534. doi:10.1017/S0142716418000681
  • Litt, R. A., Wang, H.-C., Sailah, J., Badcock, N. A., & Castles, A. (2019). Paired associate learning deficits in poor readers: The contribution of phonological input and output processes. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 72(3), 616-633. https://doi.org/10.1177/1747021818762669
  • Wass, M., Ching, Y.C., Cupples, L., Wang, H.C., Lyxell, B., Martin, L., Button, L., Gunnourie, M., Boisvert, I., McMahon, C., Castles, A. (2019). Orthographic Learning in Children Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools.28.1. pp99-112. https://doi.org/10.1044/2018_LSHSS-17-0146
  • Castles, A., Rastle, K., & Nation, K. (2018). "Ending the reading wars: Reading acquisition from novice to expert": Corrigendum. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 19(2),93. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100618786959
  • Castles, A. (2018). Reading fluency built through systematic phonics. Professional Educator, (Special edition), 6-7. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.284177149475395
  • Marinus, E,, Kezilas, Y., Kohnen, S., Robidoux, S., Castles, A. (2018). Who are the noisiest neighbors in the hood? Using error analyses to study the acquisition of letter-position processing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, Vol 44(9), Sep 2018, 1384-1396.
  • Kohnen, S., Nickels, L., Geigis, L., Coltheart, M., McArthur,G, Castles, A. (2018). Variations within a subtype: Developmental surface dyslexias in English, Cortex, Volume 106, Pages 151-163.
  • Heathcote, L., Nation, K., Castles, A., & Beyersmann, E. (2018). Do 'blacheap' and 'subcheap' both prime 'cheap'? An investigation of morphemic status and position in early visual word processing. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 71(8), 1645-1654. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2017.1362704
  • Cunningham, A., Caravolas, M., Siedlova Malkova, G., Shapiro, L. R., & Castles, A. (2018). Exploring the dual-foundation model: evidence from British and Czech children.
  • Castles, A., Polito, V., Pritchard, S., Anandakumar, T., & Coltheart, M. (2018). Do nonword reading tests for children measure what we want them to? An analysis of year 2 error responses. Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties, 23(2), 153-165. https://doi.org/10.1080/19404158.2018.1549088
  • Pritchard, S., Coltheart, M., Marinus, E., & Castles, A. (2018). A computational model of the self-teaching hypothesis based on the dual-route cascaded model of reading. Cognitive Science, 42, 722-770.
  • Wegener,, Wang, H-C., de Lissa, P., Robidoux, S., Nation, K., & Castles, A. (2018). Children reading spoken words: Interactions between vocabulary and orthographic expectancy. Developmental Science, 21, 1-9.
  • McArthur, G., & Castles, A. (2017) Helping children with reading difficulties: Some things we have learned so far NPJ Science of Learning, 2,
  • Tamura, N., Castles, A., & Nation, K. (2017). Orthographic learning, fast and slow: lexical competition effects reveal the time course of new word learning in developing readers. Cognition 163, 93-102.
  • Schmalz, X., Robidoux, S., Castles, A., Coltheart, M., & Marinus, E. (2017). German and English bodies: No evidence for cross-linguistic differences in preferred grain size. Collabra: Psychology, 3(1), 5.
  • Wang, HC., Wass, M., & Castles, A. (2017). Paired-associate learning ability accounts for unique variance in orthographic learning. Scientific Studies of Reading, 21(1), 5-16.
  • Lah, S., Castles, A., & Smith, M-L. (2017). Reading in children with temporal lobe epilepsy: A systematic review. Epilepsy and Behavior, 68, 84-94.
  • Kezilas, Y., McKague, M., Kohnen, S., Badcock, N., & Castles, A. (2017). Disentangling the developmental trajectories of letter position and letter identity coding using masked priming. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 43(2), 250-258.
  • Wang, HC., Savage, G., Gaskell, G., Paulin, T., Robidoux, S., & Castles, A. (2017). Bedding down new words: Sleep promotes the emergence of lexical competition in visual word recognition. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 24, 1186-1193.
  • McArthur, G., Kohnen, S., Banales, E., & Castles A. (2016). Low self-concept in poor readers: Prevalence, heterogeneity and risk. PeerJ, 4,
  • Kezilas, Y., Kohnen, S., McKague, M., Robidoux, S., & Castles, A. (2016). Word and Pseudoword Superiority Effects on Letter Position Processing in Developing and Skilled Readers. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance. 42(12), 1989-2002.
  • Tucker, R., Castles, A., Laroche, A., & Deacon, S.H. (2016). The nature of orthographic learning in self-teaching: Testing the extent of transfer. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 145, 79-94.
  • Pritchard, S.C., Coltheart, M., Marinus, E., & Castles, A. (2016). A computational model of the implicit acquisition of phonological decoding via training on whole-word spellings and pronunciations. Scientific Studies of Reading, 20, 49-63.
  • Richards, L. R., Michie, P. T., Badcock, D. R., Bartlett, P. F., Bekkers, J. M., Bourne, J. A., Castles, A., Egan, G. F., Fornito, A., Hannan, A. J., Hickie, I. B., Mattingley, J. B., Schofield, P. R., Shum, D. H. K., Stuart, G. J., Vickers, J. C. & Vissel, B (2016) Australian Brain Alliance. Neuron. 92, 597-600.
  • Beyersmann, E., Ziegler, J., Castles, A., Coltheart, M., Kezilas, Y., & Grainger, (2016). Morpho-orthographic segmentation without semantics. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 23, 533-539.
  • Serry, T., Castles, A., Mensah, F. K., Bavin, E. L., Eadie, P., Pezic, A., Prior, M., Bretherton, L., & Reilly, S. (2015). Developing a comprehensive model of risk and protective factors that can predict spelling at age seven: findings from a community sample of Victorian children. Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties, 20(1), 83-102.
  • McArthur, G., Kohnen, S., Jones, K., Eve, P., Banales, E., Larsen, L., & Castles, A. (2015). Replicability of sight word training and phonics training in poor readers: A randomised controlled trial. PeerJ, 3, e922.
  • Schmalz, X., Marinus, E., Coltheart, M., & Castles, A. (2015). Getting to the bottom of orthographic depth. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 22, 1614 - 1629.
  • Wang, H-C., Nickels, L., & Castles, A. (2015). Components of orthographic learning: Evidence from two cases with dyslexia. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 32, 58-79.
  • McArthur, G.M., Castles, A., Kohnen, S., Larsen, L., Jones, K., Anandakumar, T., & Banales, E. (2015). Sight word and phonics training in children with dyslexia. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 48(4), 391-407.
  • Schmalz, X., Marinus, E., Robidoux, S., Palethorpe, S., Castles, A., & Coltheart, M. (2014). Quantifying the reliance on different sublexical correspondences in German and English. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 26(8), 831-852.
  • Wang, H-C., Marinus, E., Castles, A., & Nickels, L. (2014). Tracking orthographic learning in children with different profiles of reading difficulty. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8,
  • Kezilas, Y., Kohnen, S., McKague, M., & Castles, A. (2014). The locus of impairment in English developmental letter position dyslexia. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8, 356.
  • Castles, A., Kohnen, S., Nickels, L., & Brock, J. (2014). Developmental disorders: What can be learned from cognitive neuropsychology? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 369(1634),
  • Castles, A., & Friedmann, N. (2014). Developmental dyslexia and the phonological deficit hypothesis: A commentary on Dehaene (2009). Mind and Language, 29, 270-285.

Books and edited volumes

  • Castles, A & Nation, K (Eds.) (2008). Orthographic Processes in Reading. Special issue of the Journal of Research in Reading, 31, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

Edited book chapters

  • Castles, A., & Nation, K. (2024). Learning to read words. In M. Snowling, C. Hulme, & K. Nation (Eds.) The science of reading: A handbook (2nd Edition). p 148. Anne Castles and Kate Nation Oxford: Oxford University Press
  • Castles, A., & Kohnen, S. (2019). Cognitive approaches to the identification of children with dyslexia. In J. A. Washington, D. Compton & P. McCardle (Eds.) Dyslexia: Revisiting etiology, diagnosis, treatment, and policy. Baltimore: Brookes Publishing.
  • Nation K., & Castles, A. (2017). Putting the learning in orthographic learning. In K. Cain, D. Compton & R. Parilla (eds.) Theories of Reading Development. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 148-168.
  • Marinus, E., & Castles A. (2015). Precursors to reading: Phonological awareness and letter knowledge. In E. Bavin & L. Naigles (Eds.) Handbook of Child Language (2nd) pp 661-680. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Friedmann, N., & Castles, A. (2013). Reading impairments: Dyslexias in Hebrew. In G. Khan (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics. Boston: Brill Academic.
  • Castles, A. & Nation, K. (2006). How does orthographic learning happen? In S. Andrews (Ed.), From inkmarks to ideas: Challenges and controversies about word recognition and reading. New York: Psychology Press.
  • Castles, A., Davis, C. & Forster, K. I. (2003). Word recognition development in children: Insights from masked priming (pp 345-360). In S. Kinoshita & S. Lupker (Eds.), Masked priming: State of the Art. New York: Psychology Press.
  • Johnston, M. & Castles, A. (2003). Dissociating automatic orthographic and phonological codes in lexical access and lexical acquisition (193-222). In S. Kinoshita & S. Lupker (Eds.), Masked priming: State of the Art. New York: Psychology Press.
  • Coltheart, M., Bates, A., & Castles, A. (1994). Cognitive neuropsychology and rehabilitation. In G. W. Humphreys & M. J. Riddoch (Eds.), Cognitive Neuropsychology and Cognitive Rehabilitation. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates pp 17-37.

Projects

  • ARC Discovery Grant (2020-2023). When reading takes off: Children's word learning during independent reading. Castles, A., Nation, K., Beyersmann, L. & Reichle, E. ($584,433)
  • ESRC Research Grant (2015-17). Nurturing a lexical legacy: understanding the transition from novice-to-expert in children's reading development. Nation, K. & Castles, A. (£649,084)
  • ARC Discovery Grant (2015-19). Making words stick: Lexical consolidation effects in learning to read. Castles, A., Nation, K. & Gaskell G. ($661,200)
  • NHMRC Project Grant (2013-16). How language develops, what goes wrong, and why it matters: Following the Early Language in Victoria Study to age 13. Reilly, Wake, Bavin, Eadie, Mensah, Bretherton, Gold, Castles ($857,242).
  • ARC Centre of Excellence (2011 - 2018). Centre of excellence in the study of cognition and its disorders. Crain, Coltheart, Castles, Hodges, Rhodes et al ($21,000,000)
  • ARC Discovery Project Grant (2009 - 2012). Learning to read words: Beyond alphabetic skills. Castles, A. & Nation, K. ($200,000)
  • NHMRC Project Grant (2008 - 2012) A randomised control trial of treatments for children with different types of reading difficulty. McArthur, G., Coltheart, M., & Castles, A. ($840,000)
  • ARC Discovery Project Grant (2008-2012) Children's difficulties in learning to read: Causes and consequences of poor letter-sound knowledge. McArthur, G., Coltheart, M., & Castles, A. ($454,000)
  • NHMRC Project Grant (2006-9) Understanding how language and reading problems develop: a population-based longitudinal study from infancy to age 7. Reilly, S., Prior, M., Castles, A., Wake, M., Bavin, E., Carlin, J. Bretherton, L. ($633,550)
  • ARC Discovery Project Grant (2006-8) Reconciling cognitive and perceptual accounts of dyslexia: The neural rate deficit hypothesis. Castles, A & Stuart, G ($155,000)
  • ARC Discovery Project Grant (2004 - 2006). Does phonological awareness help children learn to read? Castles, A. & Coltheart, M. ($160,000).
  • ARC Research Networks Grant (2004 - 2008) Enabling Human Communication: Tough problems in human communication with bold but informed solutions drawing on sound, speech, and language research capabilities. Dale, R., Burnham, D., Coltheart, M., Nickels, L.A., Castles A., et al ($2,000,000).
  • ARC Network Seed Funding Grant (2004). Developmental disorders of Language: Causes and treatments. Coltheart, M., Castles, A. et al., ($20,000).
  • ARC Network Seed Funding Grant (2004). Brain and Behaviour Network. Murphy, M., Castles, A. et al ($10,000).
  • ARC Discovery Project Grant (2003 - 2006). Language specific speech perception: A mechanism for language acquisition. Burnham, D., Davis, C., Bowey, J., Castles, A. & Luksaneeyanawin, L ($215,000).
  • NHMRC Project Grant (2003 - 2005). Molecular genetics of dyslexia: A component processes approach. Coltheart, M., Castles, A. & Bates, T. ($345,000).
  • ARC Large Grant (2001 - 2003). Word recognition development in children: continuation of a longitudinal study. Castles, A. & Davis, C. ($98,000).
  • ARC Large Grant (2000 - 2002). Visual and auditory processing in subtypes of dyslexia. Castles, A., Stuart, G. & Nicholls, M. ($70,000).
  • ARC Large Grant (1997 - 2000). Tracking the acquisition of word recognition skills in developing readers. Castles, A., Davis, C., & Forster, K.I. ($79,000).

Awards

  • 2020 Economic and Social Research Council "Celebrating Impact" Award, for Outstanding International Impact
  • 2017 Eminent Researcher Award, Learning Difficulties Australia
  • 2016 Senior Visiting Fellow Award, Coventry University
  • 2014 Distinguished Professor Award, Macquarie University
  • 2009 Macquarie University Innovation Award (2009), McArthur, G., Castles, A., & Jones, P. Highly Commended for the Macquarie Online Test Interface: motif.org.au
  • 1989-92 Australian Postgraduate Research Award (priority stipend). Macquarie University.

Appointments and Affiliations

  • 2017-18 President, Learning Difficulties Australia
  • 2016- Member, Steering Committee, Australian Brain Alliance
  • 2015- Fellow, Royal Society of NSW
  • 2010- Fellow, Academy of Social Sciences of Australia (FASSA)
  • 2008-2013 Member, Australian Academy of Science (AAS), National Committee for Brain and Mind
  • 1996- Member, The Psychonomic Society
  • 1997- Member, Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR)
  • 2011- Member, European Society for Cognitive Psychology (ESCoP)
  • 1993- Member, Australasian Experimental Psychology Society (AEPC)
  • 2011- Chair, Steering Committee, NSW Centre for Effective Reading
  • 2009- Member, Council, Learning Difficulties Australia

Editorial roles

  • 2014- Editorial Board, Annals of Dyslexia
  • 2013 -Editorial Board, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
  • 2011 -Editorial Board, Cortex
  • 2010-Associate Editor, Cognitive Neuropsychology
  • 2001-Editorial Board, Scientific Studies of Reading
  • 2006-2010 Associate Editor, Journal of Research in Reading
  • 2009-2012 Editorial Board, Public Library of Science (PLoS) - One
  • 2003-2009 Editorial Board, Journal of Cognitive Psychology
  • 2007 Guest Editor, Journal of Research in Reading, Special issue on Orthographic Processes in Reading

Public engagement

Selected Keynotes and Invited Talks

  • Castles, A. Ross Day Plenary Address. (11-13 April 2024). Invited Keynote. 50th Australasian Experimental Psychology Conference, Adelaide.
  • Castles, A. The Science of Reading: Implications for teaching and assessment. (2 March 2024). Keynote Address, Sharing Best Practice Parramatta, Sydney.
  • Castles, A (2019, May). Becoming expert: The time course of word learning in developing readers. Invited colloquium presentation, University of Iowa, USA.
  • Castles, A. (2018, July). Cognitive approaches to the identification of children with dyslexia. Invited presentation, The Dyslexia Foundation Extraordinary Brain Symposium XVII, South Africa.
  • Castles, A. (2017, October) Becoming Expert: Word learning in developing readers. Invited colloquium presentation, University of NSW, Sydney.
  • Castles, A. (2017, September). The time course of word learning in developing readers. Invited colloquium presentation, University of Sydney, Sydney.
  • Castles, A. (2016, September). Learning to read words: Understanding the transition from novice to expert. Invited colloquium presentation, Centre for Literacy and Language, Coventry University.
  • Castles, A. (2015, November). Putting the learning into orthographic learning. Invited colloquium presentation, Department of Psychology, University of Western Australia.
  • Castles, A. (2015, April). Putting the learning in orthographic learning. Keynote presented at the Reading and Spelling: Development, Disorders and Remediation Conference, Macquarie University, Sydney.
  • Castles, A. (2014, August). Assessing reading and diagnosing dyslexia. Invited paper presented at the Learning Difference Convention, Sydney.

Selected Presentations (past 10 years)

  • Ataman, E., Beyersmann, L., Wegener, S., Castles, A. (19-22 July 2023). Oral vocabulary and learning to read morphologically complex words. Paper presented at the 30th Annual Scientific Study of Reading Conference, Port Douglas, Australia.
  • Colenbrander, C., von Hagen, A., Kohnen, S., Wegener, S., Ko, K., Beyersmann, L., Behzadnia, A., Roebuck-Krautz, A., Parrila, R., Castles, A. (19-22 July 2023). Morphology instruction and literacy outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Paper presented at the 30th Annual Scientific Study of Reading Conference, Port Douglas, Australia.
  • Peixoto, C., Kohnen, S., Castles, A. (19-22 July 2023). The role of the orthographic-visual analyser in between-word reading errors. Paper presented at the 30th Annual Scientific Study of Reading Conference, Port Douglas.
  • Wegener, S., Castles,A., Beyersmann, L., Wang, H.C., Nation, K., Reichle, E. (19-22 July 2023). Eye tracking and modelling the spacing effect during orthographic learning. 19-22 July 2023. Paper presented at the 30th Annual Scientific Study of Reading Conference, Port Douglas.
  • Castles, A. (3-4 Sept 2023). Ensuring a safety net: supporting low achievers in school contexts. Keynote Address, Australian Council for Educational Research Conference, Sydney.
  • Castles, A. (9 Sept 2023). The science of reading: Implications for teaching and assessment.. Keynote Address, Sharing Best Practice, Canberra.
  • Castles, A. The developing Mind. 22 Nov 2023. Paper presented at Royal Society of NSW Forum: Our 21st Century Brain, Sydney.
  • Wegener, S., Castles, A., Beyersmann, E., Nation, K., Wang, H.C. & Reichle, E.D. 2023. Eye tracking and simulating the spacing effect during orthographic learning. Paper presented at the 30th Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading, Port Douglas.
  • Castles, A., Polito, V., Pritchard, S., Anandakumar, T. & Coltheart, M. (2019, April). Do nonword reading tests for children measure what we want them to? An analysis of Year 2 error responses. Paper presented at the 46th Annual Conference of the Australasian Society of Experimental Psychology (EPC), Wellington, New Zealand.
  • Wegener, S., Wang, H-C., Nation, & Castles, A. (2019, April). Orthographic skeletons: What form do they take? Paper presented at the 46th Annual Conference of the Australasian Society of Experimental Psychology (EPC), Wellington, New Zealand.
  • Castles, A., Wang, H-C., Gaskell, G., Weighall, A., Pascoe, J., & Nation, K. (2018, July). Nap effects on preschool children's learning of letter-sound correspondences. Paper presented at the 5th Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR), Brighton, UK.
  • Li, L., Wang, H.-C., Castles, A., Hsieh, M., & Marinus, E. (2018, July). Orthographic learning in Chinese: A role for semantic decoding? Paper presented at the 5th Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR), Brighton, UK.
  • Castles, A., Wang, H.-C., Gaskell, G., Weighall, A., Pascoe, J., & Nation, K. (2018, April). Nap effects on preschool children's learning of letter-sound correspondences. Paper presented at the 45th Annual Conference of the Australasian Society of Experimental Psychology (EPC), Hobart, Tasmania.
  • Li, L., Wang, H.-C., Castles, A., Yu, L. L., Marinus, E. (2018, April). Eye-tracking the effect of semantic decoding in learning to read in Chinese. Paper presented at the Australian Eye-tracking Conference, Sydney.
  • Kung, C., Schmidt, E., de Lissa, P., Castles, A., Kinoshita, S., Johnson, B.W., & Demuth, K. (2017, December). Children do not use subvocal prosody to process commas. Paper presented at the 48th Annual Meeting of the Australian Linguistics Society, The University of Sydney.
  • Castles, A, Tamura, N & Nation, K. (2017, April). Lexical competition effects reveal the time course of written word learning in developing readers. Paper presented at the Developing Lexicon: Representations and Processing Workshop, Macquarie University, Sydney.
  • Marinus, E., Kezilas, Y., Kohnen, S., Robidoux, S., & Castles, A. (2017, April). The Developing Lexicon: The acquisition of letter-position processing in reading.Poster session presented at the Developing Lexicon: Representations and Processing Workshop, Macquarie University, Sydney.
  • Castles, A., & Kohnen, S. (2017, March). Assessing reading and spelling: The MOTIf online test interface.Paper presented at the Language, Literacy and Learning Conference, Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, Perth.
  • McArthur, G., Castles, A., Kohnen, S., & Banales, E. (2017, March). Low self-concept in poor readers: Prevalence, heterogeneity, and risk.Paper presented at the Language, Literacy and Learning Conference, Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, Perth.
  • Li, Y., Kinoshita, S., Sowman, P., & Castles, A. (2016, November). Early feedback from frontal to occipito-temporal cortex during visual word recognition.Poster session presented at the 6th Australian Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference (ACNS), Shoal Bay.
  • Lah, S., Nickels, L., Castles, A., & Hodges, J.R. (2016, August). Memory and reading in children with temporal lobe epilepsy. Paper presented at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders Annual Workshop, The Fairmont Resort, Leura.
  • Li, L., Wang, H.-C., Castles, A., & Marinus, E. (2016, August). How children learn to read in Chinese: Examining the role of phonological decoding in Chinese orthographic learning.Poster session presented at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders Annual Workshop, The Fairmont Resort, Leura.
  • Wegener, S., Wang, H.-C., de Lissa, P., Robidoux, S., Nation, K., & Castles, A. (2016, August). Orthographic learning in children can commence before written words are seen: Evidence from eye movements.Poster session presented at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders Annual Workshop, The Fairmont Resort, Leura.
  • Wegener, S., Wang, H.-C., de Lissa, P., Robidoux, S., Nation, K., & Castles, A. (2016,August). Orthographic learning in children can commence before written words are seen: Evidence from eye movements. Paper presented at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders Annual Workshop, The Fairmont Resort, Leura.
  • Kezilas, Y., Kohnen, S., McKague, M., Robidoux, S., & Castles, A. (2016, July). Letter position processing and the development of orthographic knowledge.Paper presented at the 23rd Annual Meeting Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR), University of Porto, Portugal.
  • Litt, R., Wang, H.-C., Castles, A., Sailah, J., & Badcock, N.A. (2016, July). Phonological output deficits in dyslexia are not the result of impaired acquisition: evidence from paired associate learning.Invited colloquium at the Royal Holloway, University of London, London, UK.
  • Tamura, N., Castles, A., & Nation, K. (2016, July). Children's learning and lexicalisation of novel written words via reading experience.Poster session presented at the 23rd Annual Meeting Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR), University of Porto, Portugal.
  • Tucker, R., Castles, A., Laroche, A., & Hélène Deacon, S. (2016, July). What is the role of decoding in the transfer of orthographic learning? Sounding it out and how simple words affect complex ones.Paper presented at the 23rd Annual Meeting Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR), University of Porto, Portugal.
  • Wang, H.-C., de Lissa, P., Castles, A., & Sowman, P. (2016, July). Orthographic learning in the brain: An MEG study of novel wordlearning.Paper presented at the 23rd Annual Meeting Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR), University of Porto, Portugal.
  • Wegener, S., Wang, H.-C., de Lissa, P., Nation, K., & Castles, A. (2016, July). Do spoken words give rise to orthographic 'skeletons'? Effects of vocabulary knowledge and spelling predictability on silent reading during the initial orthographic exposure.Paper presented at the 23rd Annual Meeting Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR), University of Porto, Portugal.
  • Schmidt, E., Kung, C., de Lissa, P., Castles, A., Kinoshita, S., Johnson, B.W., & Demuth, K. (2016, May). The use of subvocal prosody in the processing of sentences.Paper presented at the CCD Developing Mind Series: Developmental Perspectives on Language Processing Workshop, Macquarie University, Sydney.
  • Castles, A., Wegener, S., Wang, H.-C., de Lissa, P., & Nation, K. (2016, April). Orthographic learning commences before written words are seen: Evidence from eye movements.Paper presented at the 43rd Annual Australasian Experimental Psychology Conference (EPC), Melbourne.
  • Kezilas, Y., McKague, M., Kohnen, S., Badcock, N., & Castles, A. (2016, April). Investigating the developmental trajectory of masked transposed-letter priming effects in primary school children and adults.Paper presented at the 43rd Annual Australasian Experimental Psychology Conference (EPC), Melbourne.
  • Savage, G., Wang, H.-C., Paulin, T., & Castles, A. (2015, November). Bedding down lexical representations of written words: Sleep consolidates new learning.Poster session presented at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders Annual Workshop, Macquarie University, Sydney.
  • Deacon, H., Times, T., Marinus, E., & Castles, A. (2015, July). Testing the self-teaching hypothesis: Does orthographic learning predict gains in word reading?Paper presented at the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR), Hawaii, USA.
  • Litt, R., Castles, A., Wang, H.-C., Sailah, J., & Badcock, N. (2015, July). Task demand matters: Re-interpreting paired associate learning deficits in dyslexia.Paper presented at the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR), Hawaii, USA.
  • McArthur, G., Kohnen, S., Jones, K., Eve, P., Banales, E., Larsen, L., & Castles, A. (2015, July). The reliability of sight word training and phonics training in children with poor reading.Paper presented at the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR), Hawaii, USA.
  • Savage, G., Castles, A., & Wang, H.-C. (2015, July). Bedding down lexical representations of written words: Sleep consolidates new learning.Poster session presented at the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR), Hawaii, USA.
  • Schmalz, X., Robidoux, S., Castles, A., Coltheart, M., & Marinus, E. (2015, July). Body-N effects: Are there cross-linguistic differences?Paper presented at the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR), Hawaii, USA.
  • Tamura, N., Castles, A., & Nation, K. (2015, July). The prime-lexicality effect as an indicator of children's orthographic learning: Effects of exposure and context.Paper presented at the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR), Hawaii, USA.
  • Wang, H.-C., Wass, M., & Castles, A. (2015, July). Paired associate learning ability accounts for unique variance in orthographic learning.Paper presented at the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR), Hawaii, USA.
  • Kezilas, Y., Kohnen, S., McKague, M., & Castles, A. (2015, April). The development of letter position processing in primary school readers: Does orthographic knowledge play a role?Poster session presented at the 42nd Annual Australasian Experimental Psychology Conference (EPC), Sydney.
  • Litt, R., Castles, A., Wang, H.-C., Sailah, J., & Badcock, N.A. (2015, April). Task demand matters: Re-interpreting paired associate learning deficits in dyslexia.Poster session presented at the Reading and Spelling: Development, Disorders and Remediation Conference, Macquarie University.
  • Litt, R., Nation, K., Badcock, N.A., & Castles, A. (2015, April). Deconstructing paired associate learning deficits in children with dyslexia.Poster session presented at the 42nd Annual Australasian Experimental Psychology Conference (EPC), Sydney.
  • McArthur, G., Kohnen, S., Jones, K., Eve, P., Banales, E., Larsen, L., & Castles, A. (2015, April). The reliability of sight word training and phonics training in poor readers: A randomised controlled trial.Paper presented at the 42nd Annual Australasian Experimental Psychology Conference (EPC), Sydney.
  • Pritchard, S.C., Coltheart, M., Marinus, E., & Castles, A. (2015, April). Modelling orthographic learning via self-teaching in a dual-route framework.Paper presented at the 42nd Annual Australasian Experimental Psychology Conference (EPC), Sydney.
  • Wang, H.-C., Paulin, T., Savage, G., & Castles, A. (2015, April). Sleep facilitates novel written word learning.Paper presented at the 42nd Annual Australasian Experimental Psychology Conference (EPC), Sydney.
  • Wang, H.-C., Wass, M., & Castles, A. (2015, April). Paired-associate learning ability predicted written word learning.Poster session presented at the Reading and Spelling: Development, Disorders and Remediation Conference, Macquarie University, Sydney.
  • Pritchard, S.C., Coltheart, M., Marinus, E., & Castles, A. (2014, November). A computational model of learning to read via self-teaching.Poster session presented at the 55th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Long Beach, USA.
  • Kezilas, Y., Kohnen, S., McKague, M., & Castles, A. (2014, August). Identifying the source of anagram errors in English-speaking children with letter position dyslexia.Poster session presented at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders Annual Workshop, Macquarie University, Sydney.
  • Schmalz, X., Marinus, E., Robidoux, S., Coltheart, M., & Castles, A. (2014, August). Development of lexical and sublexical processing in German and English.Poster session presented at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders Annual Workshop, Macquarie University, Sydney.
  • Kezilas, Y., Kohnen, S., McKague, M., & Castles, A. (2014, July). Identifying the source of anagram errors in English-speaking children with letter position dyslexia.Poster session presented at the 13th International Workshop on Language Production, Geneva, Switzerland.
  • Kezilas, Y., Kohnen, S., McKague, M., & Castles, A. (2014, July). Letter position dyslexia and the acquisition of letter position coding skills in developing readers.Colloquium at the Departmento de Metodología, Universitat de Valencia, Valencia, Spain.
  • Kezilas, Y., Kohnen, S., McKague, M., & Castles, A. (2014, July). Letter position dyslexia and the acquisition of letter position coding skills in developing readers.Colloquium at the Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France.
  • Schmalz, X., Marinus, E., Coltheart, M., & Castles, A. (2014, July). What is orthographic depth?Colloquium at the Washington University, St Louis, USA.
  • Schmalz, X., Marinus, E., Robidoux, S., Coltheart, M., & Castles, A. (2014, July). Development of lexical and sublexical processing in German and English.Poster session presented at the Society for the Scientific Studies of Reading (SSSR) conference, Santa Fe, USA.
  • Wang, H.-C., Marinus, E., Castles, A., & Nickels, L. (2014, July). Orthographic learning in children with different reading profiles.Paper presented at the 21st Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR), Santa Fe, USA.
  • Castles, A., & McArthur, G. (2014, June). Understanding dyslexia: Assessment.Invited presentation given at the Round Table Meeting with The Hon Christopher Pyne MP (Minister for Education and Training), Adelaide.
  • McArthur, G., & Castles, A. (2014, June). Understanding dyslexia: Treatment.Invited presentation given at the Round Table Meeting with The Hon Christopher Pyne MP (Minister for Education and Training), Adelaide.
  • Schmalz, X., Marinus, E., Robidoux, S., Coltheart, M., & Castles, A. (2014, May). Development of lexical and sublexical processing in German and English.Paper presented at the Psycholinguistics in Flanders, Ostenden, Belgium.
  • Castles, A., Kohnen, S., & McArthur, G. (2014, April). Variations within a 'subtype': Phonological dyslexia.Paper presented at the 41st Annual Australasian Experimental Psychology Conference (EPC), Brisbane.
  • Kezilas, Y., Kohnen, S., McKague, M., & Castles, A. (2014, April). Investigating the cause of anagram errors in developmental letter position dyslexia.Paper presented at the 41st Annual Australasian Experimental Psychology Conference (EPC), Brisbane.
  • Kohnen, S., Castles, A., Geigis, L., Coltheart, M., Nickels, L., & McArthur, G. (2014, April). Variations within a 'subtype': Surface dyslexia.Paper presented at the 41st Annual Australasian Experimental Psychology Conference (EPC), Brisbane.
  • Wang, H.-C., Marinus, E., Castles, A., & Nickels, L. (2014, April). Tracking orthographic learning in children with different types of dyslexia.Paper presented at the 41st Annual Australasian Experimental Psychology Conference (EPC), Brisbane.
  • Castles, A. (2014, February). Models of reading and dyslexia. Colloquium at the IDEALAB Winter School, Macquarie University, Sydney.
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