Dr Silke Fricke, PhD MSc SLT

Department of Human Communication Sciences
The University of Sheffield
31 Claremont Crescent
Sheffield
S10 2TA
UK



Tel: +44 (0) 114 222 2419
Fax: +44 (0) 114 273 0547

email : s.fricke@sheffield.ac.uk

Biography

I joined the Department of Human Communication Sciences in January 2011 as a Lecturer and my principal research interests lie in the field of speech, language, and literacy development and difficulties in monolingual and multilingual children, as well as the evaluation of intervention approaches.

Having qualified and practised as a speech and language therapist (SLT) with a specialisation in children with speech, language, and literacy difficulties in Germany, I came to the UK for postgraduate studies at Masters level followed by a PhD by joint location in Human Communication Sciences (University of Sheffield/UK & University of Applied Sciences Fresenius Idstein/GER). In my longitudinal PhD project, I investigated the influence of speech and language processing skills on early literacy development in monolingual and bilingual German-speaking children. From 2009 to 2011, I worked as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow on the Nuffield Language4Reading project at the Department of Psychology, University of York. This large-scale project aimed to establish whether identifying oral language weaknesses in preschool children, and providing oral language intervention in nursery and Reception, will help monolingual children at risk of literacy difficulties respond to reading instruction.

Research Interests

• Speech, language, and literacy development and difficulties in monolingual and multilingual children (including cross-linguistic comparisons)
• Cognitive predictors of literacy acquisition
• Relationships between oral and written language in monolingual as well as multilingual children
• Evaluation of early intervention approaches for children at risk of literacy difficulties

Professional Activities

• Manuscript Reviewer for the following journals: Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (JCPP), International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology (IJSLP), Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Journal of Research in Reading (JRIR), ACQuiring Knowledge in Speech, Language and Hearing (ACQ), Forum Logopädie
• Book Reviewer for NASEN journals (British Journal of Special Education, Support for Learning and Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs)
• Associate member of ELDEL (Enhancing Literacy Development in European Languages; A Marie-Curie Initial Training Network on the scientific study of literacy development)
• Member: Deutscher Bundesverband für Logopädie (dbl; German Federal Association of Logopedics); Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR)
• Representative from Department of Human Communication Sciences on Faculty Early Career Group Committee, University of Sheffield

Current Projects

• Promoting Oral Language in Nursery-aged Children with English as an Additional Language 2011 – 2012 (Funded by an Early Career Researcher Grant; University of Sheffield)
• Nuffield Language4Reading (L4R) Project 2009 – 2012 (Funded by the Nuffield Foundation; PIs: Margaret Snowling and Charles Hulme (University of York) and Claudine Bowyer-Crane (Sheffield Hallam University))
• Nursery Language4Reading project 2010 – 2011 (extension of the nursery part of the Nuffield L4R programme run by Ally Haley, a Marie Curie Early Stage Researcher working on the ELDEL project; University of York; Department of Psychology; Centre for Reading and Language)

Collaborators

• Professor Margaret Snowling, Professor Charles Hulme, Dr Fiona Duff, Dr Kristina Moll and Ally Haley (University of York; Department of Psychology; Centre for Reading and Language)
• Claudine Bowyer-Crane (Sheffield Hallam University; Department of Psychology)
• Dr Marcin Szczerbinski (University College Cork; School of Applied Psychology)
• Professor Annette Fox-Boyer and Dr Blanca Schäfer (Hochschule Fresenius/University of Applied Sciences Fresenius Hamburg; Department of Speech and Language Therapy)
• Sue Withey (Every Sheffield Child Articulate and Literate (ESCAL); Sheffield City Council)

Selected Publications

1. Schaefer, B., Fricke, S., Szczerbinski, M., Fox-Boyer, A.V., Stackhouse, J., & Wells, B. (2009). Development of a test battery for assessing phonological awareness in German-speaking children. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 23(6), 404-430.
2. Fricke, S., Szczerbinski, M., Stackhouse, J., & Fox-Boyer, A.V. (2008). Predicting individual differences in early literacy acquisition in German: The role of speech and language skills, and letter knowledge. Written Language & Literacy, 11(2), 103-146.
3. Fricke, S., & Schäfer, B. (2008) Test für Phonologische Bewusstheitsfähigkeiten (TPB) [First comprehensive test of phonological awareness skills in German]. Idstein: Schulz-Kirchner.
4. Fricke, S. (2007) Phonological awareness skills in German-speaking preschool children. Idstein: Schulz-Kirchner.
5. Fricke, S., Stackhouse, J. & Wells, B. (2007) Phonologische Bewusstheitsfähigkeiten deutschsprachiger Vorschulkinder - eine Pilotstudie [Phonological awareness skills in German-speaking preschool children – a pilot study]. Forum Logopädie, 21(3), 14-19.

Last updated: 25 January 2012