Advisors: Professors Kate Nation (FBA) and Victoria A. Murphy (Head of Education)
Advisor: Professor Victor Kuperman
cognitive neuroscience of language; language proficiency; psychometrics of reading; print exposure; bilingualism and second language acquisition; corpus linguistics; formulaic language; forensic linguistics & authorship attribution; language modelling
McCarron, S. P. (2026). Author Recognition Tests. In H. Nesi & P. Milin (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics (3rd ed). Published first online in Reference Module in Social Sciences. Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-95504-1.00497-X
Estrera, S., Swanz, A., Hayward, A., Shero, J., Babcock, B., McCarron, S. P., White, C., Logan, J., & Hart, S. A. (2025). A latent class analysis of education researchers’ perceived barriers to data and material sharing. [Manuscript in preparation].
Johnson, R. M., McCarron, S. P., & Hart, S. A. (2025). How common is reading anxiety? [Manuscript in preparation].
McCarron, S. P., Hart, S. A., Lancaster, H., & McGregor, K. K. (2025). Language and Me Project: Analysis of Florida’s Progress Monitoring and Reporting Network [Manuscript in preparation].
McCarron, S. P., Murphy, V., & Nation, K. (2025). L2 reading exposure and predictive processing of idioms. [Manuscript in preparation].
McCarron, S. P., Park, J., & Nation, K. (2025). The Author Fluency Task as predictor of English connectives knowledge in L1 Korean speakers. [Manuscript in preparation].
McCarron, S. P., Murphy, V., & Nation, K. (2024). An “Author Fluency Task”: Semantic fluency as predictor of L2 vocabulary knowledge. (Preprint). OSF Preprints. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/dsx7w
McCarron, S. P., & Kuperman, V. (2022). Effects of year of post-secondary study on reading skills for L1 and L2 speakers of English. Journal of Research in Reading, 45(1), 43–64. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9817.12380
McCarron, S. P., & Kuperman, V. (2021). Is the author recognition test a useful metric for native and non-native English speakers? An item response theory analysis. Behavior Research Methods, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-021-01556-y
Kuperman, V. & McCarron, S. P. (2019). Technical report on reading-related abilities of Mohawk College students enrolled in Communication classes. 10.13140/RG.2.2.15844.42882.
McCarron, S. P. (2025). Effects of print exposure on formulaic language and predictive processing of English. [PhD thesis, University of Oxford.]
McCarron, S. P. (2020). Post-secondary reading development and print exposure in L1 and L2 speakers of English. [Master's thesis, McMaster University.] http://hdl.handle.net/11375/25800.
McCarron, S. P. & Nation, K. (2025, May 7). Formulaic language in L2: Effects of reading experience. Group Discussion with Michael Tomasello, University of Oxford; Oxford, UK.
McCarron, S. P. (2025, January 22). Formulaic language in L2: Effects of reading experience. Developmental Science Talks, University of Waterloo; Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
McCarron, S. P. & Nation, K. (2024, July 13). Semantic fluency for authors as a proxy measure of print exposure in L2. Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR), Copenhagen, Denmark. https://www.triplesr.org
McCarron, S. P., & Nation, K. (2024, July 3). Predictive processing of L2 idioms: A web-based eye-tracking study. Experimental Psychology Society, York, UK. https://eps.ac.uk
McCarron, S. P. (2024, April 18; 2024, March 6; 2023, November 9). Language Arts: Comics, stories & written language. Presentation for DIS Copenhagen, Cognitive Neuroscience of Creativity course. St Anne’s College, Oxford, UK. https://sites.google.com/view/languagearts-spm
McCarron, S. P. (2023, November 23). An Author Naming Task: Semantic fluency for authors as a proxy measure of print exposure in L2. DPhil Poster Presentation Session, Oxford, UK.
McCarron, S. P. (2023, July 12). A semantic fluency measure of L2 print exposure. EPS Swansea 2023, Swansea, Wales: UK.
McCarron, S. P. (2023, May 5). Language Arts: Books, comics & language learning. Presentation for Centre for the Creative Brain, Oxford. St Edmund's Hall, Oxford, UK.
McCarron, S. P., (2020, October 16-18). Effects of Year of Post-Secondary Study on Reading Skills for L1 and L2 Speakers of English [Paper presentation]. Words in the World International Conference. https://wordsintheworld.ca/wow-conference/
McCarron, S. P., & Kuperman, V. (2019, July 17-20). Is the Author Recognition Test a Useful Metric for Native and Non-Native English Speakers? An Item Response Theory Analysis. [Poster presentation]. 26th Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading, Toronto, Ontario: Canada.
McCarron, S. P., & Kyröläinen, A. (2019, October 16-18). PIAAC Training Presentation: Linguistic Distance and Literacy Scores. [Slide presentation]. PIAAC Database Training (IES-ETS) workshop, Chicago, Illinois: USA.
McCarron, S. P., Su, A., Winkel, K. & Joseph, J. (2019, April 10) Memory Processing and Encoding in English-French Speakers. [Poster presentation]. McMaster University’s Student Research Day, Hamilton, Ontario: Canada.
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Canada Graduate Scholarships, 2019
Awarded $17,500 CAD to complete Master’s research, in recognition of high level of achievement in undergraduate and early graduate studies
Summa Cum Laude Distinction, Honours Bachelor of Arts, 2015
Awarded upon graduating in the top of a student’s class on a cumulative average
McMaster French Essay Prize, 1st Place, 2015
Awarded for the original essay, « Une masculinité oppositionnelle »
The University (Senate) Scholarship, 2012 - 2015
Awarded to students of high academic standing
Dean’s List, 2012 - 2015
Awarded for attaining an average of 9.0+
The Yates Scholarship, 2012
Awarded to first-year students of high academic standing
Muriel E. Skelton Award, 2011
Awarded to the student achieving the highest standing in a first-year history course
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) - Special Initiatives Fund (2025)
National Institutes of Health (NIH), United States - Grant Funding for Postdoctoral Fellowship (2025-2026)
Government of Canada - Canada Student Grant (2020-2024)
University of Oxford, Department of Experimental Psychology - Departmental Research Funding
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) - 2019 Canada Graduate Scholarships Master’s (CGS M) Grant, May 2019-May 2020
McMaster University - Graduate Scholarship, Spring/Summer 2019
McMaster University - Graduate Students Association Bursary, Winter 2019
McMaster University - General Bursary, Winter 2019
McMaster University - Graduate Scholarship, Winter 2019
McMaster University - Graduate Scholarship, Fall 2018
McMaster University, Hamilton, ON — Teaching Assistant, Linguistics
Freelance Contracting
English-French live and video translation services for the Free Methodist Church of Canada (October 2020-October 2021)
English-French translation services for CanChild Centre For Childhood Disability Research (September 2019-July 2020)
Logo designs for the Multilingual Eye-movement COrpus (MECO); and WritLarge project; (March 2020); Hart Lab (2025)
Editor for Professor William Hanley (McMaster University) of his book, "A biographical dictionary of French censors: 1742-1789, vol. II, C", (2016) [WorldCat.org] (January-June 2015)
Ontario Teachers Insurance Plan (OTIP) / Le Régime d'assurance des enseignantes et des enseignants de l'Ontario (RAEO), Waterloo, ON — Premium Accounting and Direct Billing Coordinator
Ontario Teachers Insurance Plan (OTIP) / Le Régime d'assurance des enseignantes et des enseignants de l'Ontario (RAEO), Waterloo, ON — Bilingual Benefits Services Administrator
Bayshore Health Care, Mississauga, ON — Reimbursement Specialist for Ontario
Bayshore Health Care, Mississauga, ON — Bilingual Reimbursement Support Administrator
McLennan Speech and Language Services, Waterloo, ON — Assistant to Speech Language Pathologist
Individual Differences in Cognitive Development Lab (Hart Lab), University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario: Canada. http://www.idcdlab.com/
Florida Center for Reading Research, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida: USA. https://fcrr.org/
Language & Cognition Lab (ReadOxford), University of Oxford, Oxford: UK. https://readoxford.web.ox.ac.uk/
Experimental Psychology Society, United Kingdom. https://eps.ac.uk/
Statistics Canada Research Data Centre, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario: Canada. (Former). https://rdc.mcmaster.ca/
Reading Lab, Department of Linguistics and Languages, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario: Canada (Former). https://readlab.humanities.mcmaster.ca/
Centre for Advanced Research in Experimental and Applied Linguistics (ARiEAL), McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario: Canada (Former). https://arieal.humanities.mcmaster.ca/
Society for the Scientific Study of Reading, 31st Annual Meeting; Copenhagen: Denmark. July 10-13, 2024. https://www.triplesr.org/
EPS York 2024; York, England: United Kingdom. July 3-5, 2024. https://eps.ac.uk/
EPS Swansea 2023; Swansea, Wales: United Kingdom. July 12-14, 2023. https://eps.ac.uk/
Structural equation modelling workshop with Ethan McCormick; Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford; Oxford: United Kingdom. November 8, 2022.
Words in the World International Conference; online. October 16-18, 2020. https://wordsintheworld.ca/wow-conference/
Society for the Scientific Study of Reading, 26th Annual Meeting; Toronto, Ontario: Canada. July 17-20, 2019. https://www.triplesr.org/
PIAAC (Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies) Database Training (IES-ETS) workshop; Chicago, Illinois: USA. October 16-18, 2019. http://www.cvent.com/d/86q660
Centre for Comparative Psycholinguistics, Spring Training in Experimental Psycholinguistics (STEP 2019); University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta: Canada. May 13-18, 2019. http://ccp.artsrn.ualberta.ca/portfolio/step/
Introduction to R for experimental data processing. University of Alberta: Spring Training in Experimental Psycholinguistics (STEP 2019). May 18, 2019. Edmonton, Alberta: Canada.
RStudio for data analysis and statistics; Python programming language, Praat for spectrographic and phonetic analysis; Eyelink eye-tracking devices and software for online measures of reading; Gorilla Experiment Builder; LaTeX; WebGazer.js, linguistic corpora (Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), SketchEngine, etc.)