Staff Profile
Dr Leesa Clarke
Associate Head: Language and Linguistics, Senior Lecturer
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I am Associate Head and Senior Lecturer in Language and Linguistics and my teaching and research focus is on clinical and educational aspects of linguistics.
I teach on both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, as well as supervising research at BA, MA and PhD level. I am a member of the School Ethics Panel and the University’s Appeals and Conduct Committee.
My background is in Psychology of Language, Literacy and Cognition, and I am an HCPC registered Educational Psychologist. My PhD was supervised by Professor Margaret Snowling, and I worked under her supervision in the Centre for Reading and Language Assessment Clinic at The University of York for several years, conducting diagnostic assessments of children's reading and language skills.
My main teaching and research areas are in the fields of typical and atypical development of language and cognition. I am interested in typical and atypical speech, language and literacy across the lifespan.
Prior to working in academia, I worked for eight years in Pharmaceutical Sales and Marketing, after obtaining a BSc in Management Sciences from the University of Manchester. I made the decision to change career as I was passionate about psychology and language and wanted to do something in that field - once I started on my degree course I was hooked and have continued in the field ever since!
- School – School of Education, Language and Psychology
- Email – l.clarke@yorksj.ac.uk
- Phone – 01904 876 301
- Research - View my work in RaY
- Postgraduate Research Supervisor
Further information
Teaching
The two modules I currently lead are Speech and Language Pathology, which is a final year module, and the second year module Language and Literacy. I also teach on Language at Work, another second year module, where I bring in some background from my previous career, and also help students to develop their employability, and to articulate the skills that they can offer graduate employers.
The modules I teach on reflect subject matter that I am passionate about, and I'm keen to increase knowledge about communication disorders and children's literacy amongst as many of our students in Language and Linguistics as possible, as they are subjects that directly or indirectly touch everyone's lives.
I teach on a range of modules across our Language and Linguistics programmes:
Undergraduate modules
- LAL5007M Language at Work
- LAL5008M Language and Literacy
- LAL6006M Speech and Language Pathology
- LAL6008M. Reflections and Connections in Linguistics
Postgraduate modules
- LAL7009M & LAL7013M Research Methods
I also supervise BA Dissertations (LAL6010M), and MRes and PhD research.
Professional Activities
I am a Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society. I am also an HCPC Registered Educational Psychologist, and conduct educational assessments of children’s reading, language and cognition. I take private referrals on an occasional basis.
I am an Associate member of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapy.
I'm a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and mentor other staff working towards their Fellowship and Senior Fellowship.
Publications
Papers, book chapters and conference proceedings
Martínez, M., Clarke, L., Hamilton, L. and Hall, C. J. (2024). Fostering crosslinguistic knowledge about language in young learners: effects of explicit L2 Spanish grammar learning on L1 English grammar. Language Awareness, 33(2), 304-327.
Sztencel, M., & Clarke, L. (2018) Deontic commitments analysis of conditional promises and threats. Language and Cognition, 10, 435-466.
Cummings, L & Clarke, L (2016) Reshaping the linguistics curriculum: Different models for the delivery of linguistics education. Bulletin December 2016, pp12-14.
Clarke, L. Inference Generation and Reading Disability: Far From Simple? Dyslexia Review, Summer/Autumn 2013.
Wright, B, Clarke, N, Jordan, J, Young, A, Clarke, P, Miles, J, Nation, K, Clarke, L, & Williams, C. (2008) Emotion recognition in faces and the use of visual context information in young people with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Autism, 12(6), pp607-626.
Conference talks and poster presentations
Kelly, C & Clarke, L.J., (2018). Getting the Picture: An investigation into children with Autism’s ability to comprehend figurative language. Poster Presented at British Association of Applied Linguistics Annual Conference, 6-8 September 2018. York St John University.
Clarke, L.J., Jones, C., Steel, C., Potts, M., & Tuckey, A. (2015) What is Reading For? Do all KS1 children actually know we read for meaning? Preliminary Findings. Poster Presented at Child Language Symposium, 20-21 July 2015, University of Warwick.
Clarke, L.J. & Snowling, M.J. (2006). Individual Differences in automatic inference processing: the effects of reading disability. Presentation given at Centre for Reading and Language Annual Summer Workshop, June 2006.
Clarke, L.J. & Snowling, M.J. (2006). Reading Difficulty and Automatic Processing of Emotion State Inferences. Poster presented at the BPS Developmental Section Annual Conference, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey, 7-9 September 2006.
Clarke, L.J. & Snowling M.J. (2005). Do children make inferences about fictional characters’ emotional states during reading? Paper presented at the 4th European Graduate School on Reading Research, Egmond aan Zee, The Netherlands, 2005.
Clarke, L.J. & Snowling, M.J. (2004). Do children make inferences about fictional characters’ emotional states during reading? Poster presented at BPS North East Branch Postgraduate Student Conference 2004, York St. John University. First prize winner in postgraduate student poster competition.
Research
I’m broadly interested in typical and atypical language and literacy development, and key factors that affect oral and written language learning and cognition throughout the lifespan.
Some key areas I’m currently working on include:
- Children’s relationship with literacy in terms of their attitudes and motivation and understanding of its purpose in EYFS and Key Stage 1. I want to consider the impact this may have on the development of reading comprehension and written language skills later.
- I am currently working on a paper in collaboration with Molly Kirk and Professor Karen Bryan evaluating case studies of children taking part in a preventative programme aimed at reducing risk of offending behaviour in pupils at risk of exclusion from school.
- Gender differences in literacy acquisition, and how teaching and assessment materials can be developed that facilitate literacy development equally for all.
- How learning disabilities and differences are managed in Higher Education, and also factors that contribute to developing graduates’ employability, particularly amongst neurodiverse learners.
