Dr. Michael Fender

Dr. Michael J. Fender

Photograph Information
Michael Fender

Title: Associate Professor
Office: PSY 405 

Office Hours: Tues/Thurs: 1:00-3:00pm (and by appointment)

Phone: (562) 985-7596
E-mail: Michael.Fender@csulb.edu

Education:

Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature, Kent State University, 1988
Master’s Degree in Applied Linguistics, Ohio University, 1993
PhD in Cognitive Studies in Education, University of Pittsburgh, 2001

Teaching/Research Interests:

I am primarily interested in examining the development of both first and second language literacy skills, and in particular, how word-level knowledge and processing skills (i.e., word recognition and word integration/sentence parsing) emerge and become fluent, and how these word-level processing skills guide and constrain higher-level text interpretation skills. Another area that I am very interested in is in the area of reading-writing connections and how reading skills and writing skills inform each other. I am also interested in vocabulary acquisition and how various representations or dimensions of a word (phonological/orthographic, syntactic, semantic/conceptual, and pragmatic) are learned.

Courses Taught:

LING 329: Language Acquisition
LING/EDSE 339: Linguistics for Cross cultural Academic Development in Secondary School Settings
LING 460: TESOL Composition
LING 486: Second Language Teaching Methods
LING 561: Second Language Curriculum Development
LING 575: Literacy and Linguistics

Publications and Professional Presentations:

Fender, M. (2008). L1 effects on the emergence of ESL sentence processing skills of Chinese and Korean ESL learners: A preliminary study. Linguistics in Contrast, Vol 8 (1) , pp. 47-73. Fender, M. (2008). Spelling Knowledge and Reading Development: Insights from Arab ESL Learners. Reading in a Foreign Language, Vol 20 (1) , pp. 19-42. Fender, M. (2007). Arabic literacy development and cross-linguistic effects in subsequent L2 literacy development. In K. Koda and A. Zehler (eds.), Learning to Read Across Languages (pp. 101-124). New York: Routledge. Fender, M. (2003). English word recognition and word integration of skills of native Arabic- and Japanese-speaking learners of English as a second language. Applied Psycholinguistics, 24, 2, 289-315. Fender, M. (2001). A review of L1 and L2/ESL word integration skills and the nature of L2/ESL word integration development involved in lower-level text processing. Language Learning, 51, 2, 319-396.

Professional Activities, Awards, & Affiliations:

  • 2002-3 Post Doctoral Research Associate in Psychology at the Learning Research and Development Center, University of Pittsburgh
  • 2001-2 Visiting Lecturer & Faculty/Administrator, English Language Institute, University of Pittsburgh
  • 1999-2001 Teaching Fellow and University Supervisor, Department of Instruction and Learning, University of Pittsburgh Member of American Education Research Association, American Association of Applied Linguistics, and Three Rivers TESOL