Maria Vazeux

Maria Vazeux is an Associate Professor in Psycholinguistics at Aix Marseille University, affiliated with the Centre de Recherche en Psychologie et Neurosciences (CRPN) within the Faculty of Sciences. Her research focuses on the cognitive processes involved in reading acquisition, with particular emphasis on phonemic awareness development in pre-readers and children with developmental language disorders.

Dr. Vazeux completed her doctoral thesis titled 'Learning and teaching reading: the role of the syllable for built orthophonological relationships' at Université de Strasbourg in 2021. Her educational background reflects a strong foundation in cognitive science and linguistics, preparing her for her current research in reading acquisition and language processing.

Dr. Vazeux's research primarily investigates how syllable-based approaches can enhance phonemic awareness and reading skills. Her 'syllabic bridge' hypothesis challenges traditional letter-first teaching methods by proposing that associating letters with syllables rather than phonemes may be more effective for early reading development, particularly for at-risk children. This theoretical framework has significant implications for educational practices and interventions.

Her publication record demonstrates a consistent focus on evidence-based teaching methods for phonemic awareness development, with increasing emphasis on practical applications for educators and speech therapists working with children who have reading difficulties.

• Short report on a syllable-based intervention to improve phonemic awareness and reading in children with DLD (2023)
• Before Learning the Code: A Commentary on Sargiani, Ehri, and Maluf (RRQ, 2022) (2023)
• How to develop phonemic awareness in preschool, to prepare for teaching reading? (2023)
• Learning and teaching reading: the role of the syllable in constructing ortho-phonological relationships (2021)
• Syllable-first rather than letter-first to improve phonemic awareness (2020)

Dr. Vazeux actively collaborates with researchers across French institutions, including Nadège Doignon-Camus, Daniel Zagar, Marie-Line Bosse, and Gwendoline Mahé. Her work bridges theoretical cognitive science with practical educational applications, making significant contributions to evidence-based teaching practices for early literacy development.

As a member of the CRPN research center, Dr. Vazeux contributes to interdisciplinary research on the neural and cognitive bases of language processing. Her findings have particular relevance for developing effective interventions for children with reading difficulties and developmental language disorders.