Sen Wang
Research Assistant Professor
Dr. Sen Wang is a research assistant professor in the Teaching & Learning Department at BU Wheelock. She is also a faculty affiliate of the Wheelock Institute for the Science of Education (WISE). Dr. Wang’s research examines how children’s interactions with their learning environments shape language and literacy development, with a particular focus on vocabulary growth, knowledge building, and reading comprehension. Grounded in ecological and instructional perspectives, she conceptualizes children’s learning environments as both social environments, such as adult–child interactions, teacher scaffolding, content-rich instruction, and AI-mediated interactions, and symbolic environments, such as books, curricula, videos, digital media, and AI-supported systems. Through this child–environment lens, her research identifies the social, instructional, and symbolic features that support children’s word learning, conceptual growth, and reading comprehension. Ultimately, she aims to translate these insights into interventions that strengthen the quality of children’s learning environments and expand opportunities for language and literacy development.
At WISE, Dr. Wang works for the National Center on Improving Literacy (NCIL), focusing on the dissemination of evidence-based practices for screening, identifying, and teaching students with literacy-related disabilities, including dyslexia. Her contributions include translating research into practical tools; developing toolkits with accessible resources for families, educators, and state education agencies; and overseeing internal review and quality assurance processes to ensure high-quality feedback and adherence to review protocols for product development. In addition, Dr. Wang designs instructional components for text reading and comprehension as part of an IES-funded project developing a Tier 3 reading intervention for early elementary students. She also actively engages in collaborative research projects exploring innovative applications of AI to enhance literacy learning.
Recent News
Education
PhD, Reading Education and Language Arts, Florida State University
MS, Reading Education and Language Arts, Florida State University
MS, Philosophy, Chengdu University of Technology and Science, China
BA, Child, Youth, and Family Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
AA, English Translation, Sichuan International Studies University, China
Selected Publications
Wang, S., Cabell, S. Q., Schatschneider, C., Phillips, B. M., & DeCoster, J. (2026). Exploring preschoolers’ vocabulary and knowledge acquisition from informational video and shared reading. Early Education and Development, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2026.2635575
Hadley, E.B., Wang, S. & Cabell, S.Q. (2025). Exploring explicit vocabulary instruction during kindergarten informational text read-alouds. Early Childhood Education Journal. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-025-02098-0
Wang, S., Cabell, S. Q, Hadley, E. B., Pentimonti, J., & Leushuis, A. (2025). The frequency of informational text read-alouds in kindergarten and its association with students’ vocabulary and knowledge development. Early Childhood Education Journal. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-025-01885-z
Fundelius, E., Wade, T., Robbins, A., Wang, S., McConomy, M. A., & Fumero, K. (2022). Universal design principles for multimodal representation in literacy activities for preschoolers. Inclusive Practices, 0(0).
Hwang, H., Lupo, S. M., Cabell, S. Q., & Wang, S. (2020). What research says about leveraging the literacy block for learning. Reading in Virginia, 35.
Selected Presentations
Wang, S. (2026, May 6). Advancing research on AI and child development: Interactive discussion of priority questions, methods, safety, and policy [Webinar]. Society for Research in Child Development.
Wang, S., & Hadley, E. B. (2026, April). Growing words: An integrated framework for building vocabulary knowledge in the early grades [Roundtable presentation]. American Educational Research Association annual meeting, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
Wang, S., Cabell, S. Q., Wong, K. M., DeCoster, J., & Vasile, R. (2025, May). What children are watching at home and its relation to their language skills [Poster presentation]. Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Conference 2025. Minneapolis, MN.
Wang, S., Cabell, S. Q., Schatschneider, C., Phillips, B. M., & DeCoster, J. (2025, May). Exploring the impact of shared book reading and video viewing on preschoolers’ vocabulary and knowledge in informational text [Poster presentation]. Biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Conference 2025. Minneapolis, MN.