Nicole Gardner-Neblett

Additional research interest: Literacy

Nicole Gardner-Neblett, Ph.D., is a developmental psychologist whose work focuses on the individual and contextual factors that promote children’s language and literacy development. This work includes examining African American children’s development of complex oral language skills, like storytelling and exposition, and their experiences of linguistic racism and discrimination within classroom settings. Dr. Gardner-Neblett’s work has implications for identifying pedagogical practices that leverage African American children’s linguistic competencies in ways that affirm their identities and promote academic success. She is the Director of the Vocalizing Opportunities for Children's Achievement in Language and Literacy (VOCALL) lab. 

Select Publications

Gardner-Neblett, N., De Marco, A. & Ebright, B. D. (2023). Do Katie and Connor tell better stories than Aaliyah and Jamaal? Teachers’ perceptions of children’s oral narratives as a function of race and narrative quality. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 62, 115-128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2022.07.014

Iruka, I. U., Gardner-Neblett, N., Telfer, N. A., Ibekwe-Okafor, N., Curenton, S. M., Sims, J., Sansbury, A. B., & Neblett, E. W. (2022). Effects of racism on child development: Advancing antiracist developmental science. Annual Review of Developmental Psychology, 4, 109-132. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-devpsych-121020-031339

Gardner-Neblett, N. (2022). What predicts oral narrative competence among African American children? Exploring the role of linguistic and cognitive skills. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 65 (8), 2931-2947. https://doi.org/10.1044/2022_JSLHR-22-00002

Gardner-Neblett, N., Iruka, I. U., & Humphries, M. (2021). Dismantling the Black-White achievement gap paradigm: Why and how we need to focus instead on systemic change. Journal of Education. https://doi.org/10.1177/00220574211031958