Rate My Professor Poonam Arya

Poonam Arya, Ph.D., serves as Professor of Reading, Language and Literature in the Teacher Education Division of the College of Education at Wayne State University. She holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with a major in Reading Education from the State University of New York at Buffalo (1998), a Masters of Education in Reading Education from the Central Institute of Education, Delhi University (1992), an M.A. in English Literature from Delhi University (1990), and a B.A. in English from Delhi University (1988). As a tenured faculty member, Dr. Arya teaches master's, education specialist, and doctoral courses in reading theory, research, and practice, including Literacy Foundations (ELE6205), Qualitative Research I: Introduction (EER7870), Doctoral Seminar: Thought, Language, Power, Social Interaction and Learning (TED8100), and Pro-Seminar I: Introduction to Research in Educational Studies (TED8150).

Dr. Arya's research specializations include miscue analysis, literacy assessments, comprehension-retellings, eye movements and reading, teacher reflection and pedagogy, text features, peer discussions of literature, video-based teacher reflection, and eye movement miscue analysis research. Her key publications feature chapters such as "Eye movement miscue analysis research methods" (Arya & Liwanag, 2022) and "Using eye tracking to expand notions of literacy achievement" (Arya & Feathers, 2022) in Understanding Literacy Using Eye Movement Miscue Analysis in a Global World; "Video-based discussions about literacy pedagogy: Face-to-face vs. online formats" (Arya, Christ, & Chiu, 2021) in Reading Horizons; "Patterns of Preservice Teachers’ Digital Text and Tool Integration in Literacy Instruction" (Christ, Baxa, & Arya, 2020) in Journal of Literacy and Technology; and "Collaborative Peer Video Analysis: Insights about Literacy Assessment & Instruction" (Christ, Arya, & Chiu, 2012) in Journal of Literacy Research. She received the 2014 Kathleen Reilly Koory Endowed Faculty Development Award and has secured grants including Raising Readers ($100,000, 2017-2018), A Unified Approach to Literacy Learning (K-5) ($220,000, 2016-2017), and A Unified Approach to Literacy Learning (K-3) ($228,808, 2015-2016). Dr. Arya also directs the High Five Literacy Program, providing free reading and writing instruction to youth in grades 1 through 8 in the Detroit metropolitan area using a balanced literacy curriculum.