ACU Researcher

Professor Parrila is the Centre Director of Australian Centre for the Advancement of Literacy. His research focuses on psychological, linguistic, and social correlates of both typical and atypical development of reading and academic achievement. He has a keen interest in reading instruction and interventions, reading development and difficulties in different orthographies, and compensation of learning difficulties in both children and adults. His research is often interdisciplinary, and he has been named as the Australian Research Field Leader in both Early Childhood Education and in Special Education since moving to Australia in 2017.

Dr. Parrila received his Ph.D. in 1996 from University of Alberta. He has since worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, and as an Associate Professor of Educational and Cognitive Psychology at the University of Tromsø, Norway, as a Professor of Special Education at the University of Alberta, Canada, and as a Professor of Education at Macquarie University until his move to ACU. He is a docent in Applied Cognitive Psychology in Department of Psychology at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland.

Website

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Select publications

Articles in Refereed Journals, the last 5 years only

Martinez, D., Colenbrander, D., Inoue, T., Falcón, A., Rubi, R., Parrila, R., & Georgiou, G. (2024). The effects of explicit morphological analysis instruction in early elementary Spanish speakers. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 246, #106004. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2024.106004.

Parrila, R., Inoue, T., Dunn, K., Savage, R., & Georgiou, G. (2024). Connecting teachers' language knowledge, perceived ability and instructional practices to Grade 1 students' literacy outcomes. Reading and Writing, 37, 1153-1181. DOI: 10.1007/s11145-023-10432-4

Vieira, A. A., Peng, P., Antoniuk, A., Devries, J., Rothou. K., Parrila, R. & Georgiou, G. (2024). Internalizing problems in individuals with reading, mathematics and unspecified learning difficulties: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Annals of Dyslexia, 74, 4-26. Doi: 10.1007/s11881-023-00294-4

Calvi, M., Vieira, A. P. A., Georgiou, G., & Parrila, R. (2023). Systematic review of quality indicators of randomised control trial reading intervention studies for students in Years 7-12. Australasian Journal of Special and Inclusive Education, 47, 28-39. https://doi.org/10.1017/jsi.2023.4

Dunn, K., Georgiou, G., Inoue, T., Savage, R., & Parrila, R. (2023). Home and school interventions aided at-risk students' literacy during Covid-19: A longitudinal analysis. Reading and Writing, 36(2), 449-466. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-022-10354-7

Georgiou, G., Inoue, T., & Parrila, R. (2023). Are vocabulary and word reading reciprocally related? Scientific Studies of Reading, 27, 160-168. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2022.2123275

Georgiou, G. K., Parrila, R., & McArthur, G. (2024). Dyslexia and mental health problems: introduction to the special issue. Annals of Dyslexia, 1-3. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11881-024-00300-3

Georgiou, G. & Parrila, R. (2023). Covid-19 and literacy: An introduction to the special issue. Reading and Writing, 36(2), 241-243. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-022-10393-0

Inoue, T., Georgiou, G., K., & Parrila, R. (2023). The growth trajectories of morphological awareness and its predictors. Applied Psycholinguistics. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716423000218

Jang, J., Parrila, R., & Inoue, T. (2023). Relations of vocabulary and cognitive skills with reading performance of North Korean students in South Korean schools. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 52, 241-259. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-022-09855-x

Mealings, K., Miles, K. M., Parrila, R., Holt, R., Cox, F., Sharma, M., Demuth, K., Leigh, G., McMahon, C., McArthur, G., & Buchholz, J., et al. (2023). An interdisciplinary approach to enhance children's listening, learning, and wellbeing in the classroom: The Listen to Learn for Life (L3) assessment framework. Frontiers in Education. 8:1185167. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2023.1185167

Parrila, R., Inoue, T., Dunn, K., Savage, R., & Georgiou, G. (2023). Connecting teachers' language knowledge, perceived ability and instructional practices to Grade 1 students' literacy outcomes. Reading and Writing.https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-023-10432-4

Parrila, R. & Georgiou, G. K. (2023). Literacy and Reading. In W. Troop-Gordon & E. Neblett (eds.), Encyclopedia of Adolescence (2^nd ed., vol. 1). Elsevier. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/jsi.2023.4

Soares, S., Boyes, M., Parrila, R., & Badcock, N. (2023). Does reading anxiety impact on academic achievement in higher education students. Dyslexia. https://doi.org/10.1002/dys.1738

Torppa, M., Aro, T., Eklund, K., Parrila, R., Eloranta, A.-K., Ahonen T. (2023). Adolescent reading and math skills and self-concept beliefs as predictors of age 20 emotional well-being. Reading and Writing. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-023-10461-z

Vieira, A. A., Peng, P., Antoniuk, A., Devries, J., Rothou. K., Parrila, R. & Georgiou, G. (2023). Internalizing problems in individuals with reading, mathematics and unspecified learning difficulties: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Annals of Dyslexia. DOI: 10.1007/s11881-023-00294-4

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

Georgiou, G., Cardoso-Martins, C., Das, J. P., Falcón, A., Hosokawa, M., Inoue, T., Li, Y., Martinez, D., Padakannaya, P., Parrila, R., Pollo, C. T., Salha, S. S., Samantaray, S., Shu, H., Tanji, T., Tibi, S., & Vieira, A. P. A. (2022). Cross-language contributions of rapid automatized naming to reading accuracy and fluency in young adults: Evidence from eight languages representing different writing systems. Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science, 6, 151-168. DOI: 10.1007/s41809-021-00092-7

Inoue, T., Georgiou, G. K., Hosokawa, M., Muroya, N., Kitamura, H., Tanji, T., Imanaka, H., Oshiro, T., & Parrila, R. (2022). Reading in different scripts predicts different cognitive skills: Evidence from Japanese. Reading and Writing, 35, 1425-1448. DOI: 10.1007/s11145-021-10228-4

Inoue, T., Georgiou, G. K., & Parrila, R. (2022). Cross-script effects of cognitive-linguistic skills on Japanese Hiragana and Kanji: Evidence for a longitudinal study. Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science, 6, 119-134. DOI: 10.1007/s41809-022-00099-8

Inoue, T., Georgiou, G. K., Tanji, T., & Parrila, R. (2022). Examining the Simple View of Reading in a hybrid orthography. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 69, #102065. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2022.102065

Jang, J., Parrila, R., & Inoue, T. (2022). Relations of vocabulary and cognitive skills with reading performance of North Korean students in South Korean schools. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research.

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. DOI: 10.1080/10888438.2022.2030744

Ong, Y., Loban, R., & Parrila, R. (2022). The fight is the dance: Modding Chinese martial arts and culture into Beat Saber. Journal of Games Criticism, 5 (Bonus Issue A), 1-20. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/51f9aac5e4b080ed4b441ba7/t/61e5f6060cf0055f7389fe5e/1642460678788/Ong-et-al-5-A.pdf

Ottosen, H. F., Bønnerup, K. H., Weed, E., & Parrila, R. (2022). Identifying dyslexia at the university: Assessing phonological coding is not enough. Annals of Dyslexia, 72, 147-170. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-021-00247-9

Colliver, Y., Arguel. A., & Parrila, R. (2021). Formal literacy practices through play: Exposure to adult literacy practices increases child-led learning and interest. International Journal of Early Years Education, 29, 6-24. DOI: 10.1080/09669760.2020.1779668

Georgiou, G. K., Inoue, T., & Parrila, R. (2021). Do reading and arithmetic fluency share the same cognitive base? Frontiers in Psychology, #709448. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.709448

Georgiou, G. K., Inoue, T., & Parrila, R. (2021). Developmental relations between home literacy environment, reading interest, and reading skills: Evidence from a 3-year longitudinal study. Child Development, 92(5), 2053-2068. DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13589

Georgiou, G. K., Inoue, T., Papadopoulos, T. C., & Parrila, R. (2021). Examining the growth trajectories and cognitive predictors of reading in a consistent orthography: Evidence from a 10-year longitudinal study. Applied Psycholinguistics, 42,1287-1311. DOI: 10.1017/S0142716421000321.

Georgiou, G. K., Savage, R., Dunn, K., Bowers, P., & Parrila, R. (2021). Examining the effects of Structured Word Inquiry on the reading and spelling skills of persistently poor Grade 3 readers. Journal of Research in Reading, 44(1), 131-153. DOI:10.1111/1467-9817.12325.

Inoue, T., Georgiou, G. K., Maekawa, H., & Parrila, R. (2021). Cultural influences on the relationship between self-concept, interest, task-focused behavior, and reading skills. Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science, 5(2), 311&ndash323. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41809-020-00071-4

Jang, J., Parrila, R., & Inoue, T. (2021). How are home literacy environment and youth&rsquos academic performance associated? What South and North Korean parental involvement reveals. KEDI Journal of Educational Policy, 18(2), 45-64.

Landerl, K., Castles, A., & Parrila, R. (2021). Cognitive precursors of reading: A cross-linguistic perspective. Scientific Studies of Reading. DOI:10.1080/10888438.2021.1983820

Martinez, D., Georgiou, G. K., Inoue, T., Falcón, A., & Parrila, R. (2021). How does rapid automatized naming influence orthographic knowledge? Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 204, 1-14. [105064]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2020.105064

Naveenkumar, N., Georgiou, G., Vieira, A. P., Romero, S., & Parrila, R. (2021). A systematic review of quality indicators of randomized control trial reading fluency intervention studies. Reading and Writing Quarterly. DOI: 10.1080/10573569.2021.1961647

van Viersen, S., Protopapas, A., Georgiou, G. K., Parrila, R., Ziaka, L., & de Jong, P. (2021). Lexicality effects on orthographic learning in beginning and advanced readers of Dutch: An eye-tracking study. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. DOI: 10.1177/17470218211047420

Georgiou, G. K., Kushnir, G., & Parrila, R. (2020). Moving the needle on literacy: Lessons learned from a school where literacy rates have improved over time. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 66 (3), 347-359. DOI: 10.11575/ajer.v66i3.56988

Georgiou, G. K., & Parrila, R. (2020). What mechanism underlies the RAN-reading relation? Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 194, #104840. DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2020.104840

Georgiou, G., Torppa, M., Landerl, K., Desrochers, A., Manolitsis, G., de Jong, P. F., & Parrila, R. (2020). Reading and spelling development across languages varying in orthographic consistency: Do their paths cross? Child Development, 91(2), e266-e279. DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13218

Inoue, T., Georgiou, G., Muroya, N., Hosokawa, M., Maekawa, H., & Parrila, R. (2020). Predicting the early growth of word and nonword reading fluency in a consistent syllabic orthography. Journal of Research in Reading, 43, 364-381. DOI:10.1111/1467-9817.12317

Inoue, T., Manolitisis, G., de Jong, P. F., Landerl, K., Parrila, R., & Georgiou, G. (2020). Home literacy environment and early literacy development across languages varying in orthographic consistency. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1923. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01923

Parrila, R., Dudley, D., Song, S. & Georgiou, G. (2020). A meta-analysis of reading-level match dyslexia studies in consistent alphabetic orthographies. Annals of Dyslexia, 70(1), 1-26. DOI: 10.1007/s11881-019-00187-5

Parrila, R., Georgiou, G.K., & Papadopoulos, T. C. (2020). Dyslexia in a consistent orthography: Evidence from reading-level match design. Dyslexia, 26, 343-358. DOI: 10.1002/dys.1650

Savage, R. S., Georgiou, G., Parrila, R., Maiorino, K., Dunn, K., & Burgos, G. (2020). The effects of teaching complex grapheme-phoneme correspondences: Evidence from a dual site cluster trial with at-risk grade 2 students. Scientific Studies of Reading, 24(4), 321-337. DOI: 10.1080/10888438.2019.1669607

Bergey, B. W., Parrila, R. K., Laroche, A., & Deacon, S. H. (2019). Effects of peer-led training on academic self-efficacy, study skills, and academic performance for first-year university students with and without reading difficulties. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 56, 25-39. DOI: 10.1016/j.cedpsych.2018.11.001

Bønnerup, K., Pedersen, A., Weed, E., & Parrila, R. (2019). Differences in the literacy skills of Danish dyslexic students in two types of higher education programs. Dyslexia, 25, 173-189. DOI: 10.1002/dys.1617

Inoue, T., Georgiou, G., Imanaka, H., Oshiro, T, Kitamura, H., Maekawa, H., & Parrila, R. (2019). Cross-script transfer of word reading fluency in a mixed writing system: Evidence from a longitudinal study in Japanese. Applied Psycholinguistics, 40, 235-251. DOI: 10.1017/S0142716418000541

Landerl, K., Heene, M., Freudenthaler, H., Desrochers, A., Parrila, R., de Jong, P., Manolitis, G., & Georgiou, G. (2019). Phonological awareness and rapid automatized naming as longitudinal predictors of reading in five alphabetic orthographies with varying degrees of consistency. Scientific Studies of Reading, 23, 220-234. DOI: 10.1080/10888438.2018.1510936

MacKay, E., Laroche, A., Parrila, R., & Deacon, S. H. (2019). A beginning exploration of text generation abilities in university students with a history of reading difficulties. Dyslexia, 25, 207-218. DOI: 10.1002/dys.1610

Manolitsis, G., Georgiou, G., Inoue, T., & Parrila, R. (2019). Are morphological awareness and literacy skills reciprocally related? Evidence from a cross-linguistic study. Journal of Educational Psychology, 111, 1362-1381. DOI: 10.1037/edu0000354

Metsala, J., Parrila, R., Conrad, N., & Deacon, H. (2019). Morphological awareness and reading achievement in university students. Applied Psycholinguistics, 40, 743-763. DOI: 10.1017/S0142716418000826

Wijaythilake, M. A. D. K., Parrila, R., Inoue, T. & Nag, S. (2019). Cognitive predictors of word reading in Sinhala. Reading and Writing, 32 (7), 1881-1907. DOI: 10.1007/s11145-018-9927-5

Book Chapters (last 5 years)

Parrila, R., Inoue, T., & Zhang, A. J.-J. (in press). Home literacy as a developmental system. In G. Georgiou & T. Inoue (Eds.), Home literacy environment and literacy acquisition: Evidence from different languages and contexts. Springer.

Parrila, R. & Georgiou, G. K. (2023). Literacy and Reading. In W. Troop-Gordon & E. Neblett (eds.), Encyclopedia of Adolescence (2^nd ed., vol. 1). Elsevier.

Georgiou, G. K. & Parrila, R. (2022). Dyslexia and mental health problems. In Reference Module in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Psychology. Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-91497-0.00094-1.

Parrila, R., Bergey, B., & Deacon, H. (2020). Les stratégies d&rsquoapprentissage et la métacognition chez les adultes dyslexiques. [Learning strategies and metacognition in adults with dyslexia]. In P. Cole, E. Cavalli, & L. Duncan (eds.), La Dyslexie à l&rsquoâge adulte (pp. 218-242). Louvain-la-Neuve: De Boeck Superieur.

Savage, R., Georgiou, G., Parrila, R., Côté, M.-F., Maiorino, K., & Dunn, K. (2020). Interventions to improve the literacy skills of children at risk of dyslexia. In J. A. Washington, D. Compton & P. McCardle (eds.) Dyslexia: Revisiting etiology, diagnosis, treatment, and policy (pp. 161-171). Baltimore, MD: Brookes.

Parrila, R., Gadsden, D., & Aro, M. (2019). Näyttöön perustuva tuki oppimisen vaikeuksissa [Evidence-based support in learning difficulties]. In T. Ahonen, M. Aro, T. Aro, M-K. Lerkkanen & T. Siiskonen (Eds). Oppimisen vaikeudet [Difficulties in learning]. Jyväskylä: Niilo Mäki Instituutti.

Wijaythilake, M. A. D. K. & Parrila, R. (2019). Learning to read Sinhala. In R. M. Joshi & C. McBride (eds.), Handbook of literacy in akshara orthography (pp. 195-216). Cham, Switzerland: Springer.

Editorial roles

Rauno is currently an Associate Editor of Reading and Writing and Dyslexia journals. He is the former Editor-in-Chief of Scientific Studies of Reading journal, the highest-ranking academic journal focusing on reading research.