Jill de Villiers
Jill G. de Villiers (born 1948) is a developmental psychologist known for her work in the field of language acquisition.[1] She holds the position of Professor of Philosophy and Sophia and Austin Smith Professor of Psychology at Smith College. de Villiers is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association. In 2018, she was elected as a Member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[1]
Jill de Villiers | |
---|---|
Occupation | Professor of Philosophy and Psychology |
Spouse(s) | Peter de Villiers |
Awards | Elected Member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2018) |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | University of Reading; Harvard University |
Academic work | |
Institutions | Smith College |
de Villiers and her colleagues have developed critical tools for language assessment including the Quick Interactive Language Screener (QUILS),[2] which is a computerized preschool language assessment, and the Diagnostic Evaluation of Language Variation (DELV), which aims to provide fair assessment for speakers of English dialects such as African-American English.[3][4] Much of her research has been conducted in collaboration with her husband, Peter A. de Villiers.
Biography
de Villiers completed her B.S. degree in psychology from the University of Reading in 1969.[5] She attended graduate school at Harvard University where she obtained her Ph.D in experimental psychology at 1974 under the supervision of Roger Brown.[6] After graduating, she taught at Harvard University for 5 years before moving to Smith College in 1979. At Smith, she received the Honored Professor award in 2003 and the Faculty Teaching award in 2007.[5]
de Villiers work focuses on language acquisition, with a specific focus on young children's ability to use words and sentences to communicate with others. Her many contributions include studies of language acquisition in oral deaf children[7] and relationships between language development and theory of mind.[8][9] de Villiers' research has been funded by the March of Dimes,[10] National Science Foundation,[11] the Institute of Education Sciences,[12] and the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.[13]
Books
- de Villiers, J. G., & de Villiers, P. A. (1978). Language acquisition . Harvard University Press.
- de Villiers, J., & Roeper, T. (Eds.). (2011). Handbook of generative approaches to language acquisition. Springer Science & Business Media.
Representative publications
- de Villiers, J. G. (2007). The interface of language and theory of mind. Lingua , 117 (11), 1858–1878.
- de Villiers, J. G., & de Villiers, P. A. (1973). A cross-sectional study of the acquisition of grammatical morphemes in child speech. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 2(3), 267–278.
- de Villiers, J. G., & de Villiers, P. A. (1973). Development of the use of word order in comprehension. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 2(4), 331–341.
- de Villiers, J. G., Flusberg, H. B. T., Hakuta, K., & Cohen, M. (1979). Children's comprehension of relative clauses. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 8(5), 499–518.
- de Villiers, J. G., & Pyers, J. E. (2002). Complements to cognition: A longitudinal study of the relationship between complex syntax and false-belief-understanding. Cognitive Development , 17 (1), 1037–1060.
References
- "Jill G. de Villiers". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 2020-10-21.
- Reighard, Jessica. "Learn more about the team of experts behind QUILS". QUILS. Retrieved 2020-11-23.
- Learning, Ventris. "DELV™". Retrieved 2020-11-23.
- de Villiers, Jill (2003). Diagnostic Evaluation of Language Variation-Criterion Referenced: Record Forms, 25. ISBN 978-0158092034.
- "Faculty – Jill de Villiers". Smith College. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
- The Development of language and language researchers : essays in honor of Roger Brown. Brown, Roger, 1925–1997., Kessel, Frank S. Hillsdale, N.J.: L. Erlbaum Associates. 1988. ISBN 0-89859-906-7. OCLC 16682085.CS1 maint: others (link)
- Schick, Brenda; Villiers, Peter De; Villiers, Jill De; Hoffmeister, Robert (2007). "Language and Theory of Mind: A Study of Deaf Children". Child Development. 78 (2): 376–396. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.01004.x. ISSN 1467-8624.
- de Villiers, Jill G.; de Villiers, Peter A. (2014). "The Role of Language in Theory of Mind Development:". Topics in Language Disorders. 34 (4): 313–328. doi:10.1097/TLD.0000000000000037. ISSN 0271-8294.
- "Can Language Acquisition Give Children a Point of View? - Oxford Scholarship". oxford.universitypressscholarship.com. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195159912.003.0010. Retrieved 2020-11-23.
- de Villiers, Jill; Bibeau, Lynne; Ramos, Eliane; Gatty, Janice (1993). "Gestural communication in oral deaf mother-child pairs: Language with a helping hand?". Applied Psycholinguistics. 14 (3): 319–347. doi:10.1017/S0142716400010821. ISSN 1469-1817.
- "NSF Award Search: Award#0527509 - Epistemology and Indexicality in English, Tibetan and Navajo". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
- "Inside IES Research | Computerized Preschool Language Assessment Extends to Toddlers". ies.ed.gov. Retrieved 2020-11-23.
- Schick, Brenda; de Villiers, Peter; de Villiers, Jill; Hoffmeister, Robert (2007). "Language and Theory of Mind: A Study of Deaf Children". Child Development. 78 (2): 376–396. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.01004.x. ISSN 0009-3920.
External links
- Faculty Homepage
- Jill de Villiers publications indexed by Google Scholar