Dr Valeria Rigobon
Lecturer
The Australian Centre for the Advancement of Literacy
Areas of expertise: reading and spelling development; dyslexia; acquiring English as an additional language; risk of developing reading and spelling difficulties; multilingualism; literacy instruction
Email: Valeria.Rigobon@acu.edu.au
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-7089-1764
Dr Rigobon received her PhD in Developmental Psychology at Florida State University in 2023, with an interdisciplinary research focus in reading and spelling development of skilled readers, bilingual speakers, and students who have or may be at risk for dyslexia.
As a mentee in the field of developmental science research, her training at the Florida Center for Reading Research was supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and the Florida Education Fund's McKnight Pre-Doctoral Fellowship for students of underrepresented backgrounds (e.g., Latina, first generation) pursuing higher education in Florida.
Dr Rigobon’s research seeks to explore how multilingualism can be promoted as a strength in the classroom, particularly in literacy instruction and apply empirical findings to classroom instruction with students who are acquiring English as an additional language and/or are at risk of developing reading and spelling difficulties.
Publications
- Compton, D.L., Steacy, L. M., Petscher, Y., Rigobon, V.M., Edwards, A.A, & Gutiérrez, N. (2023). Individual differences in learning to read words: An update and extension. In M. Snowling, C. Hulme, & K. Nation (Eds.), The science of reading: A handbook (2nd Edition). John Wiley & Sons Publishers. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2023-08297-009
- Compton, D. L., Steacy, L. M., Gutiérrez, N., Rigobon, V. M., Edwards, A. A., & Marencin, N. C. (2023). The development of early orthographic representations in children: The lexical asymmetry hypothesis and its implications for children with dyslexia. In S. Q. Cabell, S. B. Neuman, & N. P. Terry (Eds.), Handbook on the Science of Early Literacy (pp. 312-324). The Guilford Press.
- Edwards, A. A., Rigobon, V. M., Steacy, L. M., & Compton, D. L. (2023). Spelling-to-pronunciation transparency ratings for the 20,000 most frequently written English words. Behavior Research Methods, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-023-02205-2
- Edwards, A. A., Steacy, L. M., Rigobon, V. M., Petscher, Y., & Compton, D. L. (2023). Examining the Relationship Between Word Reading and Nonword Reading Development Within an Orthographic Learning Framework: Are There Variations as a Function of SES and Reading Ability?The Elementary School Journal, 123(3), 396-413. https://doi.org/10.1086/723396
- Gutiérrez, N., Rigobon, V. M., Marencin, N., Edwards, A. A., Steacy L. M., & Compton, D. L. (2023). Early Prediction of Reading Risk in Fourth-Grade: A Classification Tree Approach. Scientific Studies of Reading. 27(1), 21-38. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2022.2121655
- Rigobon, V. M., Gutiérrez, N., Edwards, A. A., Marencin, N., Cooper Borkenhagen, M., Steacy, L. M., & Compton, D. L. (2024). Modeling Item-Level Spelling Variance in Adults: Providing Further Insights into Lexical Quality. Scientific Studies of Reading, 28(2), 120-141. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2023.2234519
- Rigobon, V. M., Gutiérrez, N., Edwards, A. A., Abes, D., Steacy, L. M., & Compton, D. L. (2023). Does Spanish knowledge contribute to accurate English word spelling in adult bilinguals? Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1-18. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1366728923000093
- Steacy, L. M., Edwards, A., Rigobon, V. M., Gutierrez, N., Marencin, N. C., Siegelman, N., Himelhock, A., Himelhoch, C., Rueckl, J., & Compton, D. L. (2023). Set for variability as a critical predictor of word reading: Potential implications for early identification and treatment of dyslexia, Reading Research Quarterly, 58, 254-267. https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.475
Accolades or awards
- University of Jyvaskyla. (2024). Examining the maintenance factors for poor reading and anxiety in secondary school. Salins, A. ($9918)
- Macquarie University Centre for Reading – Research Support Awards. (2023). Relationship between reading and emotional health in children with ear and hearing difficulties. Salins, A. ($10000).
- Centre for Numeracy Development and Learning seed funding, Macquarie University, Australia. (2022-23).
- Examining math and emotional health in children with and without hearing difficulties. Salins, A. ($5000).
- Macquarie University (ECR Enabling Scheme). (2021). Orthographic facilitation of adjective learning. Salins, A. ($2959.6).
Accolades or awards
- 2023 Florida State University Magna Cum Laude Graduate
- 2022 Florida State University College of Arts & Sciences Ermine M. Owenby Jr. Travel Award
- 2021 Florida State University Student Seminole Award
- 2019 Florida State University Nancy H. Marcus Endowment for Graduate Student Excellence
- 2019 Florida State University Center for Leadership & Social Change Moellership Grant
- 2018-23 Florida State University Fellows Society
- 2018-23 Florida Education Fund Pre-Doctoral McKnight Fellow
- 2018 Florida State University Summa Cum Laude Graduate with Honors
- 2018 Florida State University Garnet & Gold Scholar Society
- 2016 Florida State University Global Scholar
- 2015-18 Florida State University President’s List
International journal review
Ad hoc reviewer for:
Applied Psycholinguistics (2024)
American Educational Research Association Open (2023)
Frontiers in Psychology (2023)
Journal of European Psychology Students (2022)
Journal of School Psychology (2024)
Nature: Scientific Reports (2024)
Scientific Studies of Reading (2023)
Public engagement activities
Presentations:
- Rigobon, V. M. 16 May 2023. Investigating cognate effects in English word spelling among bilingual adults. Invited presentation - The Bilingual and Multilingual Development Lab at the University of Toronto, Remote
- Rigobon, V. M. June 2023. Supporting Developing & Skilled Readers with Attention to Spelling. Invited presentation -The LETRS Annual Literacy Symposium, Remote.
- Rigobon, V. M. July 2023. Investigating cognate effects in English word spelling among bilingual adults. [Paper presentation]. Thirtieth Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading, Port Douglas, Queensland.
- Rigobon, V. M. 2 Sept 2023. Teaching English as an Additional Language/Dialect (EAL/D) Students. Presentation given at the Australian Centre for the Advancement of Literacy One Day Evidence to Practice Conference, Ballarat.
- Rigobon, V. M. 30 Nov 2023. Jumping the Distance! (From Decoded to Correct Word Pronunciations). [Invited talk]. New South Wales Centre for Effective Reading, Sydney, NSW.
