Dr. Lynne Duncan

Lecturer

Personal Web Page

Contact Details:
Telephone: (+44)(1382) 384629
Email: Lynne Duncan

Postal Address:
School of Psychology
The University of Dundee
Dundee
DD1 4HN
Scotland, UK

Biography

After completing my undergraduate degree in the School of Psychology, University of St. Andrews, I was awarded an MRC studentship to study developmental dyslexia. For my post-doctoral research I examined the foundations of early literacy skill on a project based in the School of Psychology, University of Dundee and took up a post here in 1999.

Research Grouping

Neuroscience and Development

Research Interests

My current research takes a cross-linguistic perspective on how aspects of language development affect reading acquisition and developmental dyslexia. Recent studies have investigated the influence of speech rhythm on phonological development and the relationship between orthographic depth and rates of reading acquisition in a wide range of European languages including Danish, Finnish, Greek, Icelandic, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian Spanish and Swedish.

A description of this work, including details of the other European research teams that I work with, can be found on the project website:
Literacy Acquisition in European Orthographies

I have also been developing an interest in the acquisition of knowledge about derivational morphology through collaboration with the following researchers:

Prof. Pascale Colé (Université de Savoie, France)
Dr Séverine Casalis (Université de Lille 3, France)

Funding

1996 'How does an Awareness of Speech Sounds Relate to Early Literacy in Britain and France?' The Nuffield Foundation (£4,286) (With Prof. P.H.K. Seymour, Psychology Dept., University of Dundee).

1996 'Phonological Development in Different Linguistic Environments'. The British Academy (£3,400) (With Prof. P.H.K. Seymour, Psychology Dept., University of Dundee).

1998-2000 'The influence of syllables on early literacy acquisition in Britain and France'. E.S.R.C. (£38,494) (With Prof. P.H.K. Seymour, Psychology Dept., University of Dundee).

2001-2003 ‘Foundation literacy acquisition in European orthographies'. E.S.R.C. (£100,350) (With Prof. P.H.K. Seymour, Psychology Dept., University of Dundee).

2001-2003 'Manifestations of dyslexia in European orthographies of varying depth and complexity'. The Leverhulme Trust (£99,514) (With Prof. P.H.K. Seymour, Psychology Dept., University of Dundee).

2002-2004 ‘Reading acquisition and disability in European orthographies.’ E.S.R.C. / European Science Foundation EUROCORES Scheme (£42,569) (With Prof. P.H.K. Seymour, Psychology Dept., University of Dundee).

2003 ‘Morphological processing and written word recognition during early reading acquisition: A cross-linguistic investigation of English and French.’ The British Council: Alliance Franco-British Partnership Programme for Life Science Projects (£1875) (With Prof. P. Colé, Laboratoire de Psychologie et de Neurocognition (UMR 5105, CNRS), Université de Savoie, France).

2003 ‘Ambiguity, meaning and poetic form.’ Arts & Social Science Faculty Interdisciplinary Research Fund. (£2000) (With Drs M. Fischer, A. Roberts, M.N. Carminati, C. Scheepers, J. Stabler, & M. Wheeler, University of Dundee).

2004 ‘Morphological processing and written word recognition during early reading acquisition: A cross-linguistic investigation of English and French.” The British Council: Alliance Franco-British Partnership Programme for Life Science Projects (£1743) (With Prof. P. Colé, Laboratoire de Psychologie et de Neurocognition (UMR 5105, CNRS), Université de Savoie, France).

I am an international partner on the following project coordinated by Dr Séverine Casalis in France:

2006 "Les traitements morphologiques dans l'apprentissage de la lecture et ses troubles. Agence Nationale de la Recherche : Programme thématique en sciences humaines et sociales - Apprentissages, connaissances et société.

Publications


Links	Publications
	Duncan, L.G., Seymour, P.H.K., & Bolik, F. (in press). Rimes and superrimes: An exploration of children's disyllabic rhyming skills. British Journal of Psychology.
	Duncan, L.G., Colé, P., Seymour, P.H.K., & Magnan, A. (2006). Differing sequences of metaphonological development in French and English. Journal of Child Language, 33 (2), 369-399.
	Duncan, L.G. (2004). Influence de l’apprentissage de la lecture et de la langue maternelle sur le développement phonologique: Une perspective inter-langues. In: S. Valdois, P.Colé, & D. David (Eds.) Apprentissage de la lecture et dyslexies développementales: De la théorie á la practique orthophonique et pédagogique. Marseille: SOLAL.
	Duncan, L.G. & Seymour, P.H.K. (2003). How do children read multisyllabic words? Some preliminary observations. Journal of Research in Reading, 26 (2), 101-120.
	Seymour, P.H.K. & Duncan, L.G. (2001). Learning to read in English. (Psychology), 8, 281-299.
	Duncan, L.G., Seymour, P.H.K., & Hill, S. (2000). A small to large unit progression in metaphonological awareness and reading? The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology A, 53, 1081-1104.
	Duncan, L.G. & Seymour, P.H.K. (2000). Socio-economic differences in foundation-level literacy. British Journal of Psychology, 91, 145-166.
	Duncan, L.G. & Seymour, P.H.K. (2000). Phonemes and rhyme in the development of reading and metaphonology: The Dundee longitudinal study. In: N.A. Badian (Ed.) Prediction and Prevention of Reading Failure (pp. 275-297). Parkton, Maryland: The York Press.
	Duncan, L.G. & Johnston, R.S. (1999). How does phonological awareness relate to nonword reading skill amongst poor readers? Reading and Writing, 11, 405-439.
	Seymour, P.H.K., Duncan, L.G. & Bolik, F.M. (1999). Rhymes and phonemes in the common unit task: Replications and implications for beginning reading. Journal of Research in Reading, 22, 113-130.
	Duncan, L.G., Seymour, P.H.K., & Hill, S. (1997). How important are rhyme and analogy in beginning reading? Cognition, 63, 171-208.
	Seymour, P.H.K. & Duncan, L.G. (1997). Small versus large unit theories of reading acquisition. Dyslexia, 3, 125-134.
	Johnston, R.S., Anderson, M., & Duncan, L.G. (1994). The association between reading strategies in poor readers and their visual and phonological segmentation skills. In: M. J. Riddoch & G.W. Humphreys (eds.), Cognitive Neuropsychology and Cognitive Rehabilitation (pp. 401-423). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
	Johnston, R.S., Anderson, M. & Duncan, L.G. (1991). Phonological and Visual Segmentation Problems in Poor Readers. In: M. Snowling & M. Thomson (Eds.) Dyslexia: Integrating theory and practice (pp. 154-164). London: Whurr.

Teaching

Linguistic Awareness and Literacy (Level 3)
Research Skills (Level 3)
Reading Development and Disability (Level 4)

Administration

Coordinator of the Level 3 Research Skills course
Member of the School Forum

Additional Information

I am a member of the British Psychological Society, the European Society for Cognitive Psychology, the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading and the British Neuropsychological Society

In 2004, I spent a sabbatical semester as a visiting research fellow at the Laboratoire de Psychologie et de Neurocognition (UMR 5105, CNRS), Université de Savoie, Chambéry and Université Pierre Mendes France, Grenoble, France.

I also coordinate a partnership with Dyslexia Action in Dundee which provides a local interface between academic research and practical help for adults and children with developmental dyslexia.