home address:                                                                              office address:
4828 S. 74th E. Ave. #64-6                                                         University of Tulsa
Tulsa, OK 74145                                                                         School of Education
(918) 663-1686                                                                           600 S. College Ave.
                                                                                                    Tulsa, OK 74104-3189
e-mail address:                                                                              (918) 631-2045
diane-beals@utulsa.edu

EDUCATION:

Harvard Graduate School of Education
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Ed.D., Human Development and Psychology, June, 1991.  Coursework in child language, discourse analysis, cognitive development, research methods, statistics.

Dissertation: “’I Know Who Makes Ice Cream’:  Explanations in Mealtime Conversations of Low-Income Families of Preschoolers”.

Student Qualifying Paper: “Computer Mediated Communication Among Beginning Teachers”.  Pass with Distinction.  1989.

University of Washington
Seattle, Washington

M.Ed., Developmental Reading, August, 1984.  Coursework in reading development, developmental psychology, language development, research methods, statistics.

Washington State Continuing Elementary and Secondary Teacher Certificate.  Special Education Endorsement.  9/84

 Massachusetts Moderate Special Needs Certificate.  5/87

Seattle Pacific University
Seattle, Washington

B.A., General Science and Elementary Education, cum laude, June, 1978.  Coursework in biology, chemistry, elementary teaching methods, special education teaching methods.

HONORS AND AWARDS:
Panhellenic Council, Washington University, Outstanding Faculty Member, 1998.

William T. Kemper Foundation, Commerce Bank Trustee, Faculty Award to Improve Learning, 1998.

Spencer Foundation.  Alternate, Dissertation Year Fellowship, 1990.

Harvard Graduate School of Education.  Pass with Distinction on Student Qualifying Paper, 1989.

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Child language; development of discourse abilities; connections between vocabulary and discourse development; discourse analysis; literacy development; classroom discourse; children’s explanations; cultural and individual differences in language, literacy, discourse development; language and cognition.

GRADUATE RESEARCH EXPERIENCE:

Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA.  Research Assistant (6/89 to 7/91).  Worked with Drs. Catherine Snow and David Dickinson on the Home-School Study of Language and Literacy Development.  Developed coding schemes for transcripts.  Analyzed data using CHILDES (Child Language Data Exchange System) data base and programs and SAS programs.  Assisted in planning direction of the study.  Wrote dissertation on mealtime conversations collected for the study.

Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA.  Technical/Research Assistant for Beginning Teacher Computer Network (9/87 to 6/91).  Trained Network members in use of bulletin board/conferencing system.  Assisted members with technical problems.  Maintained host system.  Planned and performed research and evaluation of the Network.  Consulted with other sites establishing similar networks.  Assisted in writing grant proposals and reports to foundations.  Authored papers on the Network.  Contributed as member of the Network.

Psychology Department, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.  Research Assistant for Dr. Sheldon White (5/89 to 7/89).  Reviewed literature on the history of early childhood education in the U.S.  Coauthored paper presented at the Conference on Follow-up Research sponsored by NICHD, Bethesda, MD (July, 1989).

Psychology Department, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.  Research Assistant for Dr. Sheldon White (4/88 to 8/88).  Reviewed literature on sources of risk in young children.  Coauthored paper presented at the Council of Chief State School Officers’ Summer Institute on research about young children at risk and policies for mediating sources of risk (August, 1988).

Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA.  Research Assistant for Dr. Kurt Fischer (11/87 to 9/88).  Developed protocol and materials for assessing levels of adolescent and adult understanding of mathematics concepts for the Cognitive Development Laboratory.

TEACHING INTERESTS:
 Language Acquisition
 Literacy Development
 Discourse Analysis
 Research Methods in Language Acquisition
 Developmental Psychology
 Mind and Language
 Psychology of Reading
 Education, Childhood, and Society

TEACHING EXPERIENCE:
University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK.  Assistant Professor of Education (7/99 to present).  Teach undergraduate and graduate courses in child development (Child and Adolescent Development and Learning), research methods (Techniques of Research and Evaluation in Education) and reading development and methods (Literacy Assessment and Intervention, Writing and Language Development).

Washington University, St. Louis, MO.  Assistant Professor of Education (9/91 to 6/99).  Taught graduate and undergraduate courses in child development (Education, Childhood, and Society, The Construction of Childhood, Language, Literacy, and Culture), research methods (Discourse Analysis) and reading development and methods (Teaching Reading in the Elementary School, Diagnosis and Correction of Reading Disabilities, Reading in the Content Areas).

Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, WA.  Visiting Professor of Education (6/98-7/98). Taught graduate level course on Language Acquistion.

Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA.  Teaching Fellow (9/90 to 1/91).  Assisted Professors Kurt Fischer and Robert LeVine with teaching Proseminar in Human Development.  Led discussion sections.  Lectured on language development.  Evaluated student presentations and papers.  Assisted individual students.

Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA.  Teaching Fellow (1/90 to 6/90).  Assisted Professor Howard Gardner with teaching Cognitive Development course.  Led discussion sections.  Assisted individual students. Evaluated student papers.

Simmons College, Boston, MA.  Assistant Professor (7/89 to 8/89).  Taught Introduction to Educational Psychology in the School of Education’s teacher education program.

Psychology Department, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.  Teaching Fellow (9/88 to 1/89).  Assisted Professor Sheldon White with assembling course materials and audio-visual aids for Child’s Entrance into Society.  Reviewed current literature on developmental psychology and its application to schooling and curriculum.  Administered exams.

North Andover High School, North Andover, MA.  Special Education Teacher (8/86 to 6/87).  Taught academic subjects and study skills.  Supported special needs students with regular class work.  Consulted with teachers regarding special students’ progress.  Chaired Core Team Evaluations.

Eastside Catholic High School, Bellevue, WA.  Special Education Teacher (6/81 to 6/86).  Established language-based program for mildly/moderately mentally handicapped students.  Taught all subject areas.  Tracked students in  mainstream classes.  Worked with regular students to improve disabilities awareness.

North Kitsap High School, Poulsbo, WA.  Special Education Teacher (8/79 to 6/81).  Taught reading, English, and survival math to learning disabled students.  Designed new objectives and curricula for courses.

North Kitsap Middle School, Poulsbo, WA.  Special Education Teacher (8/79 to 6/80).  Established new classroom for students with severe learning disabilities.  Taught reading, math, English, and social studies.

Poulsbo Elementary School, Poulsbo, WA.  Student Teacher (8/78-6/79).  Student taught in three different classrooms for the full school year.  Regular first grade, special education resource room for children with learning disabilities, and special education class for moderately to severely mentally retarded.
 

ARTICLES IN REFEREED JOURNALS:

 Diane E. Beals. (1998). Reappropriating Schema:  Conceptions of Development from Bartlett and Bakhtin.  Mind, Culture, and Activity, 5(1), 3-24.

 Diane E. Beals. (1997). Sources of Support for Learning Words in Conversation: Evidence from Mealtimes. Journal of Child Language, 24(3), 673-694.

 Diane E. Beals and Patton O. Tabors.  (1995). Arboretum, Bureaucratic, and Carbohydrates: Preschoolers’ Exposure to Rare Vocabulary at Home. First Language, 15, 57-76.

 Diane E. Beals and Catherine E. Snow.  (1994). “Thunder is When the Angels are Upstairs Bowling”: Narratives and Explanations at the Dinner Table. Journal of Narrative and Life History, 4 (4), 331-352.

 Timothy J. Lensmire and Diane E. Beals. (1994). Appropriating Others’ Words: Traces of Literature and Peer Culture in a Third-Grader’s Writing. Language in Society, 23(3), 411-426.

 Diane E. Beals. (1993). Explanations in Low-Income Families’ Mealtime Conversations. Applied Psycholinguistics, 14(4), 489-513.

 Diane E. Beals and Jeanne M. De Temple. (1993). Home Contributions to Early Language and Literacy Development. In D. Leu & C. Kinzer (Eds.) Forty-second Yearbook of the National Reading Conference (pp. 207-215). Chicago: National Reading Conference.

 Diane E. Beals. (1992). Computer Networks as a New Data Base. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 8(3), 337-355.

 Jeanne M. De Temple and Diane E. Beals. (1991).  Family Talk: Sources of Support for the Development of Decontextualized Language Skills.  Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 6(1), 11-19.

 Diane E. Beals. (1991). Stories From the Classroom: Rate of Response to Personal Event Narratives in a Computer Network. Quarterly Newsletter of the Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition, 13 (2), 31-38.

 Diane E. Beals. (1989).  A Practical Guide For Estimating Readability. Teaching Exceptional Children, 21(3), 24-27.
 

INVITED ARTICLES AND BOOK CHAPTERS:

 Diane E. Beals. (in press). Eating and Reading:  Links Between Family Conversations with Preschoolers and Later Language and Literacy.  In D. Dickinson & P. Tabors (Eds.) Redefining Language Enrichment in the Preschool Years. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing.

 Patton Tabors and Diane E. Beals. (in press).  ‘You Know What Oxygen Is?’: Learning New Words At Home.  In D. Dickinson & P. Tabors (Eds.)   Redefining Language Enrichment in the Preschool Years. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing.

 Diane E. Beals, Jeanne M. De Temple, and David Dickinson. (1994). Talking and Listening that Support Early Literacy Development of Children from Low-Income Families. In D. Dickinson (Ed.) Bridges to Literacy: Approaches to Supporting Child and Family Literacy (pp. 30-40). Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell.

 David K. Dickinson and Diane E. Beals. (1994).  Not by Print Alone: Oral Language Supports for Early Literacy Development.  In D.F. Lancy (Ed.) Children’s Emergent Literacy. Westport, CT: Praeger.

 Katherine K. Merseth and Diane E. Beals. (1991). The Beginning Teacher Computer Network: Supporting the Teaching Process. Connections, 8(1), 9-11.

 Diane E. Beals. (1991).  Computer Mediated Communication Among Beginning Teachers.  Technological Horizons in Education Journal, 18(9), 74-77.

 Sheldon H. White and Diane E. Beals. (1990).  What New Research Says About the Developmental Patterns and Needs of Young Children. In Council of Chief State School Officers (Eds.) Early childhood and family education: Analysis and recommendations (pp. 41-61). Orlando, FL: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich.
 

PUBLISHED BOOK REVIEWS:

 Diane E. Beals. (in press). Book review: Vygotsky and Cognitive Science: Language and the Unification of the Social and Computational Mind, (1997), by William Frawley.  Applied Psycholinguistics.

 Diane E. Beals. (1999). Book review: Pretend Play as Improvisation: Conversation in the Preschool Classroom (1997), by R. Keith Sawyer. Child Development Abstracts and Bibliography, 73(1), 88-89.

 Diane E. Beals. (1998). Book review: The Contextual Self in Context: Culture, Experiences, Self-Understanding (1997), edited by Ulric Neisser and David A. Jopling. Philosophical Pscyhology, 11(4), 546-548.

 Diane E. Beals. (1994). Book review: Explanation and Interaction: The Computer Generation of Explanatory Dialogues (1992), by Alison Cawsey.  Applied Psycholinguistics, 15(4), 575-576.
 

MANUSCRIPTS IN PROGRESS OR UNDER REVIEW:
 Diane E. Beals. (in preparation). Extended Discourse: Frames for Young Children’s Acquisition of Words.

 Catherine E. Snow and Diane E. Beals. (in preparation).  Deciding What to Tell: Narrative Topics in Family Interaction and in Children’s Personal Experience Stories.
 

RESEARCH AND TECHNICAL REPORTS:
 Katherine K. Merseth, Diane E. Beals, and Ada Beth Cutler. (1992). The Beginning Teacher Computer Network: Supporting New Teachers Electronically. Final Report to the Hitachi Foundation.
 

REFEREED CONFERENCE PAPERS:
 Jillian Crosson and Diane E. Beals. (November, 1997). Development of Oral Narrative Production in Hearing-Impaired Children. Paper presented at the annual meetings of the American Speech, Language, and Hearing Association. Boston, MA.

 Diane E. Beals. (December, 1996). Learning Words in Extended Discourse: Making Connections in the Frames of Conversation. Paper presented at the National Reading Conference, Charleston, SC.

 Diane E. Beals and Catherine E. Snow. (July, 1996).  Learning What to Tell: Narrative Topics in Family Interaction and in Children’s Personal Experience Stories. Paper presented at the 5th International Pragmatics Conference, Mexico City, Mexico.

 Diane E. Beals. (April, 1996). Word Learning from Discourse: Contextual Support in Everyday Conversation. Paper presented at the annual meetings of the American Educational Research Association, New York, NY.

 Diane E. Beals. (December, 1995). Reappropriating Schema:  Conceptions of Development from Bartlett and Bakhtin.  Paper presented at the annual meetings of the National Reading Conference, New Orleans, LA.

 Diane E. Beals. (April, 1995).  Laboratories, Street Corners, Swaziland, and Schema: Bartlett’s Learning Environments.  Paper presented at the annual meetings of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA.

 Diane E. Beals and Patton O. Tabors. (March, 1995).  Contextual Support for Word Learning in Family Mealtime Conversation.  Paper presented at the biennial meetings of the Society for Research in Child Development, Indianapolis, IN.

 Diane E. Beals and Patton O. Tabors. (April, 1994). Talk at Home: Extended Discourse and Rare Vocabulary Use at Mealtimes. Paper presented at the annual meetings of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA.

 Patton O. Tabors and Diane E. Beals. (December, 1993). Learning New Words from Books:  Context or Conversation?  Paper presented at the annual meetings of the National Reading Conference, Charleston, SC.

 David K. Dickinson, Diane E. Beals, and Patton O. Tabors. (November, 1993). Long-Term Effects of Preschool Discourse Experiences on Language and Literacy Development. Paper presented at the Second National Head Start Conference, Washington, DC.

 Catherine E. Snow and Diane E. Beals. (November, 1993).  Home Influences on the Development of Language-Related Literacy Skills. Paper presented at the Second National Head Start Conference, Washington, DC.

 Diane E. Beals and Patton O. Tabors. (March, 1993). Arboretum, Bureaucratic, and Carbohydrates: Preschoolers’ Exposure to Rare Vocabulary at Home. Paper presented at the biennial meetings of the Society for Research in Child Development, New Orleans, LA.  ERIC Doctument ED 356 057.

 Diane E. Beals and Jeanne M. De Temple. (March, 1993). The When and Where of Whys and Whats: Explanatory Talk Across Settings. Paper presented at the biennial meetings of the Society for Research in Child Development, New Orleans, LA.  ERIC Document ED 356 058.

 Diane E. Beals and Jeanne M. De Temple. (December, 1992). Home Contributions to Early Language and Literacy Development.  Paper presented at the National Reading Conference, San Antonio, TX.

 Timothy J. Lensmire and Diane E. Beals. (October, 1992). Appropriating Others’ Words: Five Little Peppers, “Gingerbread Man”, and Suzanne’s The Missing Piece.  Paper presented at the Boston University Conference on Language Development, Boston, MA.

 Diane E. Beals and Miriam W. Smith. (April, 1992). Eating, Reading, and Pretending: Predictors of Kindergarten Literacy Skills. Paper presented at the annual meetings of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA.   ERIC Document ED 345 223.

 Diane E. Beals. (April, 1992).  Explanation as Co-constructed Discourse.  Paper presented at the annual meetings of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco.

 Diane E. Beals, Jeanne M. De Temple, Patton O. Tabors, and Catherine E. Snow.  (April, 1991). Reading, Reporting, and Repast:  Three R’s for Co-Constructing Language and Literacy Skills.  Paper presented at the biennial meetings of the Society for Research in Child Development, Seattle, WA.  ERIC Document ED 337 280.

 Katherine K. Merseth and Diane E. Beals. (April, 1991). Career Changers Who Become Teachers:  How Long Do They Teach and How Satisfied Are They?  Paper presented at the annual meetings of the American Education Research Association, Chicago, IL.

 Jeanne M. De Temple and Diane E. Beals. (April, 1991).  Family Talk: Sources of Support for the Development of Decontextualized Language Skills.  Paper presented at the annual meetings of the American Education Research Association, Chicago, IL.

 Diane E. Beals. (October, 1990).  A Taxonomy of Jointly-Constructed Explanations in the Families of Preschoolers.  Paper presented at the Boston University Conference on Language Development, Boston, MA.

 Diane E. Beals. (April, 1990).  Computer Networks as a New Data Base.  Paper presented at the annual meetings of the American Education Research Association, Boston, MA.  ERIC Document ED 322 880.

 Diane E. Beals. (June, 1989).  The Beginning Teacher Computer Network. Paper presented at the National Educational Computing Conference, Boston, MA.

 Katherine K. Merseth and Diane E. Beals. (March, 1989). The Beginning Teacher Computer Network: Supporting the Teaching Process. Paper presented at the International Conference on Technology in Education, Orlando, FL.

 Katherine K. Merseth and Diane E. Beals. (March, 1989).  The Beginning Teacher Computer Network: Supporting Beginning Teachers Electronically.  Paper presented at the annual meetings of the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education, Anaheim, CA.
 

INVITED PAPERS AND PRESENTATIONS:

 Diane E. Beals. (April, 1998). Linking Discourse and Vocabulary Development: Situated Word Learning in Everyday Language.  Paper presented for the Language and Cognition Colloquium, Northwestern University.

 Diane E. Beals.  (March, 1995). The Child in the Classroom of the Future.  Paper presented at a Continuing Education Workshop of the American Institute of Architects, Construction Products Council, and Construction Specifications Institute, St. Louis, MO.

 Diane E. Beals.  (February, 1992).  Family Mealtimes with Low-Income Preschoolers:  A Sociolinguistic Study of Explanatory Talk.  Paper presented for Proseminar in Child Language at University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas.

 Catherine E. Snow and Diane E. Beals.  (October, 1991). Narratives and Explanations at the Dinner Table.  Paper presented at conference on Crossing Boundaries:  Formal and Functional Determinants of Language Acquisition, Tubingen, Germany.

 Diane E. Beals. (October, 1990).  The Beginning Teacher Computer Network.  Paper presented at the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory’s Technology Expo and Conference, Chicago, IL.

   Sheldon H. White and Diane E. Beals. (June, 1989). Developmental Psychology as a Basis for Creating and Evaluating Programs for Children: Historical Perspectives.  Paper presented at NIH Workshop on Developmental Follow-up Strategies, Bethesda, MD.
 

GRANT PROPOSALS AND ACTIVITY:

 Diane E. Beals. Kemper Faculty Grant to Improve Learning, $7000. (5/97 to 5/98).  Through the Washington University Teaching Center to develop new Focus Seminar, “The Mind-Language Connection in Child Development and Education”.  Funded.

 Diane E. Beals. Word Learning from Discourse: Contextual Support in Everyday Conversations, $5000. (5/95 to 8/95). Washington University Faculty Research Grant.  Funded.

 Katherine K. Merseth, principal investigator.  Written by Diane E. Beals and Katherine K. Merseth. Harvard Graduate School of Education. The Beginning Teacher Computer Network: Supporting New Teachers Electronically.  Hitachi Foundation, $60,000.  Funded, 6/89 to 6/91.

 Diane E. Beals.  National Academy of Education Post-doctoral Fellowship, $40,000. Not funded.

 Diane E. Beals and Timothy J. Lensmire. To the Spencer Foundation, $300,000.  Not funded, but pilot study carried out.

 Diane E. Beals and Timothy J. Lensmire. To the William T. Grant Foundation, $300,000.  Not funded.
 

SERVICE TO UNIVERSITY:

 Washington University, St. Louis, MO.  College admissions office.  Recruited high school juniors and seniors in Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington (12/96 to 11/98).

 Washington University, St. Louis, MO.  Faculty affiliation with Philosophy, Neuroscience, and Psychology (7/96 to 6/99).

 Washington University, St. Louis, MO.  Chair of Department of Education’s Human Participants Committee (8/95 to 1/98).  Wrote new policy for reviewing research using human subjects.  Review research proposals by department members.

 Washington University, St. Louis, MO.  Department Representative to the Graduate Council (8/95 to 8/96).

 Washington Unversity, St. Louis, MO.  Member of Maya Zuck Lectureship Committee.  Assisted in coordinating biennial lectures, wrote introductions for monographs (8/95 to 6/99).

 Washington University, St. Louis, MO.  Member of Doctoral Studies committee, Department of Education (8/91 to 1/98). Evaluated and updated doctoral program in department, review and recommend candidates for admission.

 Washington University, St. Louis, MO.  Member of Search Committee for Chair of the Department of Education (11/93 to 5/94).  Reviewed candidate’s dosiers.  Interviewed candidates.

 Washington University, St. Louis, MO.  Member of Advisory Committee on the Department of Education (4/93 to 7/93). Discussed potential directions for the Department.  Contributed to report to the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences about committee recommendations.

 Washington University, St. Louis, MO.  Freshman advisor for College of Arts and Sciences (8/92 to 5/93, 8/97 to 5/98).

 Washington University, St. Louis, MO.  Member of Linguistic Studies committee, Arts and Sciences (10/91-present).  Advise university on curriculum for undergraduate linguistics majors, discuss issues of linguistics in a cross-disciplinary group.

 Washington University, St. Louis, MO.  Co-chair of Spring Forum, Department of Education (10/92 to 5/94, 3/97 to 5/97, 3/99 to 5/99).  Planned and coordinated annual departmental forum.

 Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA.  Student coordinator, doctoral admissions committee (2/90-4/91).  Read and evaluated applicants files, coordinated committee’s evaluation of 150 files each year, participated in decisions about admission.

 Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA.  Student coordinator, Developmental Luncheon lecture and discussion series (8/88 to 12/88).  Contacted potential speakers, organized program schedule.
 

SERVICE TO ACADEMIC COMMUNITY:

 Child Language Study Group, St. Louis, MO.  Organizer.  Initiated and implemented informal discussion group for child language researchers in the St. Louis area (10/94 to 6/98).

 National Reading Conference, Chicago, IL.  Member, Field Council.  Advisory council to president and board of directors (12/94 to 12/97).

 National Reading Conference, Chicago, IL.  Member, Editorial Board for the Yearbook of the National Reading Conference.  Review articles for publication in Yearbook (12/93 to 12/97).

 National Reading Conference, Chicago, IL.  Co-Chair, Birds of a Feather sessions for annual meetings in San Diego, CA (12/94 to 12/97).  Organized program for roundtable discussion sessions on a wide variety of literacy issues.
 

SERVICE TO COMMUNITY:

 Hope Unlimited, St. Louis, MO. Tutor (9/97 to 12/98). Tutor inner city children in reading and math.

 Community School, Ladue, MO.  Member of Board of Trustees (10/91 to 6/98).  Set school policy, responsible for fiscal status of school, design and implement strategic plan.
Chaired of Education Committee (7/92 to 6/94). Member of Personnel Committee, Strategic Planning Committee, and Committee on Trustees.  Advised administration on educational policy, plan and implement parent education program.

 YWCA St. Louis County Head Start, St. Louis, MO.  Member of Educational Advisory Committee (5/95 to 6/99).  Advise Head Start educators on meeting needs of low-income preschoolers. Chair of committee (4/97 to 6/99). Review educational programs.

 Central Presbyterian Church, Clayton, MO.  Chair of Teacher Development Committee (6/93 to 8/96).  Planned and implemented program and activities for developing Sunday School teachers’ skills.  Carried out training sessions.
 

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS:
 Society for Research in Child Development
 National Reading Conference
 American Educational Research Association
 International Association for the Study of Child Language
 International Pragmatics Association