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Research

My research focuses on second language reading and second language writing, as well as English-medium instructional contexts and teacher education for teaching linguistically and culturally diverse learners. Within L2 reading, I investigate how reading and reading sub-skills (e.g., morphological awareness, phonological awareness, lexical inferencing ability) developed in a first language can support reading in a second language. Within L2 writing, my research focuses on academic writing and development of disciplinary genre knowledge, and uses the framework of Systemic Functional Linguistics.

More information can be found on my ResearchGate, Google Scholar, and Academia.edu pages, or my KSU faculty page.

Publications

Forthcoming/In press

  • Miller, R. T., & McGeorge, N. (in press). Language in argumentative academic writing. In H. Nesi and P. Milin (Eds.), International Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics (3rd ed.). Elsevier. [preprint]
  • Sato, T., Kataoka, C., Miller, R.T., Furuta, Y., Ikeshita, M., Abe, Y., Saito, K., & Nakayama, S. (in press). Japanese health and physical education teachers’ positioning in teaching Japanese language learners in high school physical education. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy. doi: 10.1080/17408989.2024.2374272 [open access]

2024

  • Honaker, J.D., & Miller, R.T. (2024). Wordless but not silent: Unlocking the power of wordless picture books. TESOL Journal, 15(1), Article e721. doi:10.1002/tesj.721 [open access]
  • Tomura, T., Sato, T., Miller, R.T., & Furuta, Y. (2024). Japanese elementary teachers’ experiences during online professional development regarding involvement of immigrant parents in physical education. European Physical Education Review, 30(2), 228-249. doi:10.1177/1356336X231199677 [pdf]
  • Sato, T., Miller, R.T., Rakwal, R., Tomura, T., & Fukusawa, K. (2024). International graduate students’ campus and social adjustment experiences at a Japanese university. Multicultural Learning and Teaching, 19(1), 91-110. doi:10.1515/mlt-2022-0011 [pdf]
  • Tomura, T., Sato, T., Miller, R.T., & Furuta, Y. (2024). Japanese elementary classroom teachers’ experiences with parental involvement of immigrants regarding physical education. Education 3-13, 52(2), 185-200. doi:10.1080/03004279.2022.2081351 [pdf]
  • Oishi, J., Sato, T., Miller, R.T., Nagata, S., Fuchikami, N., Shimizu, S., Matsumoto, T., Yamaguchi, T., Kim, S.E. (2024). Japanese graduate students’ experiences in online international development and peace through sport courses using English-medium instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Educational Reform, 33(2), 221-245. doi:10.1177/10567879221094302 [pdf]
  • Sato, T., Kataoka, C., Miller, R.T., Tomura, T., Furuta, Y., & Kizuka, H. (2024). Japanese elementary teachers’ problem-based learning through online professional development on teaching Japanese language learners in physical education. Journal of Digital Life, 4. doi:10.51015/jdl.2024.4.S1 [open access]

2023

  • Nikbakht, E., & Miller, R.T. (2023). The development of ESL students’ synthesis writing through reading instruction. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 65, Article 101274. doi:10.1016/j.jeap.2023.101274 [pdf]
  • Li, X., Miller, R.T., Zhang, J., & Ke, S. (2023). Profiling adult L2 readers in English bridge programs: A not-so-simple view of L1 effect. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 52, 1471-1496. doi:10.1007/s10936-023-09955-2. [pdf]
  • Sato, T., Miller, R.T., Nagata, S., Fuchikami, M., Yamada, R., Kitamura, T., Shimizu, S. (2023). Japanese professors’ experiences in teaching sport for development in online English-medium courses. SAGE Open, 13(2). doi:10.1177/21582440231176465 [pdf]
  • Zhang, D., & Miller, R.T. (Eds.) (2023). Crossing Boundaries in Researching, Understanding, and Improving Language Education: Essays in Honor of G. Richard Tucker. New York: Springer. [web site]
  • Zhang, D., & Miller, R.T. (2023). Boundary crossing in researching, understanding, and improving language education: An introduction and the Tuckerian impact. In D. Zhang and R.T. Miller (Eds.), Crossing boundaries in researching, understanding, and improving language education: Essays in honor of G. Richard Tucker (pp.1-29). New York: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-24078-2_1 [pdf]
  • Hamada, M., & Miller, R.T. (2023). Crossing the disciplines: State of TESOL teacher education programs in US universities. In D. Zhang and R.T. Miller (Eds.), Crossing boundaries in researching, understanding, and improving language education: Essays in honor of G. Richard Tucker (pp.127-147). New York: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-24078-2_6 [pdf]
  • Miller, R.T., Pessoa, S., & Kaufer, D. (2023). Writing as a design art: Crossing boundaries between disciplinarity and rhetoricity in a university business program. In D. Zhang and R.T. Miller (Eds.), Crossing boundaries in researching, understanding, and improving language education: Essays in honor of G. Richard Tucker (pp.271-291). New York: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-24078-2_13 [pdf]

2022

  • Furuta, Y., Sato, T., Miller, R.T., Kataoka, C., & Tomura, T. (2022). Public elementary school teachers’ positioning in teaching physical education to Japanese language learners. European Physical Education Review, 28(4), 1006-1024. doi:10.1177/1356336X221104912 [pdf]
  • Sato, T., Miller, R.T., & Delk, D. (2022). Secondary physical educators’ positioning of teaching English language learners at urban schools. Urban Education, 57, 814-841. doi:10.1177/0042085918789747 [pdf]

2021

  • Murphy, J., Miller, R.T., & Hamrick, P. (2021). Contributions of declarative memory and prior knowledge to incidental L2 vocabulary learning. The Mental Lexicon, 16, 48-67. doi:10.1075/ml.20012.mur [pdf]
  • Ke, S., Miller, R.T., Zhang, D., & Koda, K. (2021). Crosslinguistic sharing of morphological awareness in biliteracy development: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of correlation coefficients. Language Learning, 71, 8-54. doi:10.1111/lang.12429
  • Sato, T., & Miller, R.T. (2021). American undergraduate students’ experiences in conversational partnership with international students. Journal of International Students, 11, 80-101. doi:10.32674/jis.v11i1.1618 [pdf]

2020

  • Textbooks written as part of a grant project from the United States Department of State, in conjunction with Al Quds Open University.
    • Rilling, S., & Miller, R.T. (2020). ELT Methodology 1. Amman: Al-Quds Open University Publications.
    • Rilling, S., & Miller, R.T. (2020). ELT Methodology 2. Amman: Al-Quds Open University Publications.
    • Miller, R.T., & Gandolfi, E. (2020). English for Technology. Amman: Al-Quds Open University Publications.

2019

  • Gomez-Laich, M.P., Miller, R.T., & Pessoa, S. (2019). Scaffolding argumentative analytical writing in a design class: A corpus analysis of student writing. Linguistics and Education, 51, 20-30. doi:10.1016/j.linged.2019.03.003. [pdf]
  • Miller, R.T. (2019). English Orthography and Reading. In J. Liontas (Ed.), The TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. doi:10.1002/9781118784235.eelt0461 [pdf]

2018

  • Koda, K., & Miller, R.T. (2018). Cross-linguistic interaction in L2 word meaning inference in English as a foreign language. In H.K. Pae (Ed.), Writing systems, reading processes, and cross-linguistic influences: Reflections from the Chinese, Japanese and Korean languages (pp. 293–312). Philadelphia: John Benjamins. doi:10.1075/bpa.7.14kod [web site] [pdf]
  • Pessoa, S., Mitchell, T.D., & Miller, R.T. (2018). Scaffolding literacy at a branch campus of an American university in the Middle East: Interdisciplinary collaborations. In M. Rajakumar (Ed.), Western higher education in global contexts (pp.133-147). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books / Rowman & Littlefield. [web site] [pdf]
  • Miller, R.T., Mitchell, T.D., & Pessoa, S. (2018). Impact of source texts and prompts on students’ genre uptake. In K. Vieira, V. Portillo, J. Luther, D. Blakesley, and S. Parks (Eds.), Best of the journals in rhetoric and composition 2017 (pp. 177-208). Anderson, SC: Parlor Press (Reprinted from Journal of Second Language Writing, 31, 11-24, 2016) [web site]
  • Pessoa, S., Mitchell, T.D., & Miller, R.T. (2018). Scaffolding the argument genre in a multilingual university history classroom: Tracking the writing development of novice and experienced writers. English for Specific Purposes, 50, 81-96. doi: 10.1016/j.esp.2017.12.002 [pdf]

2017

  • Pessoa, S., Mitchell, T.D., & Miller, R.T. (2017). Emergent arguments: A functional approach to analyzing student challenges with the argument genre. Journal of Second Language Writing, 38, 42-55. doi:10.1016/j.jslw.2017.10.013 [pdf]
  • Miller, R.T., & Pessoa, S. (2017). Corpus-driven study of information systems project reports.  In L. Flowerdew & V. Brezina (Eds.), Learner corpus research: New perspectives and applications (pp.112-133). New York: Bloomsbury. doi:10.5040/9781474272919.0013 [web site] [pdf]
  • Ryan, K., Hamrick, P., Miller, R.T., & Was, C.A. (2017). Salience, cognitive effort, and word learning: Insights from pupillometry. In S. Gass, P. Spinner, & J. Behney (Eds.), Salience in second language acquisition (pp.187-200). New York: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315399027-10 [web site] [pdf]
  • Miller, R.T., & Pessoa, S. (2017).  Integrating writing at an American branch campus in Qatar: Challenges, adaptations, & recommendations.  In L. Arnold, A. Nebel, and L. Ronesi (Eds.),  Emerging Writing Research from the Middle East-North Africa Region (pp. 175-200). Fort Collins, CO: WAC Clearinghouse/Univ. Press of Colorado. doi:10.37514/INT-B.2017.0896.2.08 [web site] [pdf]

2016

  • Miller, R.T., & Pessoa, S. (2016).  Where’s your thesis statement and what happened to your topic sentences? Identifying organizational challenges in undergraduate student argumentative writing. TESOL Journal, 7, 847-873. doi:10.1002/tesj.248 [pdf]
  • Miller, R.T. & Pessoa, S. (2016).  Role and genre expectations in undergraduate case analysis in information systems. English for Specific Purposes, 44, 43-56. doi:10.1016/j.esp.2016.06.003 [pdf]
  • Mitchell, T.D., Miller, R.T., & Pessoa, S. (2016). Longitudinal changes in use of Engagement in university history writing: A case study. In L. Lai, A. Mahboob, and P. Wang (Eds.), Multiperspective Studies of Language: Theory and Application (pp.153-163). Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press. [pdf]
  • Miller, R.T., Mitchell, T.D., & Pessoa, S. (2016). Impact of source texts and prompts on students’ genre uptake. Journal of Second Language Writing, 31, 11-24. doi:10.1016/j.jslw.2016.01.001 [pdf]

2014

2011

2010

  • Blue Mosque (Sultanahmet Camii), Istanbul, Turkey