Faculty Profile for Dr. Sonya Armstrong

profile photo for Dr. Sonya Armstrong
Dr. Sonya Armstrong
Professor — Curriculum And Instruction
ASBN 401A
phone: (512) 245-7789
Scholarly/Creative Work
Awards
Service

Biography Section

Biography and Education

 Dr. Sonya L. Armstrong is a Professor in the Graduate Program in Postsecondary Student Success in Learning, Literacy, and Mathematics. She earned her doctorate in literacy education with a focus on postsecondary literacy from the University of Cincinnati. Prior to that, she trained in English and earned two M.A. degrees (in literature and editing and publishing). Dr. Armstrong is a practitioner-researcher, and her scholarly endeavors are guided by over twenty years of designing and teaching developmental reading, composition, and learning strategies courses in community colleges and universities. Her research focuses on improving postsecondary literacy and learning pedagogy and practice to more effectively facilitate students’ college literacy transitions, thereby increasing access and potential for success for all within higher education. With colleagues she is currently undertaking an investigation of the literacy practices and expectations in community college career technical education courses.

Teaching Interests

 Literacy theory, integrated reading and writing, disciplinary literacies, curriculum design, college reading assessment

Research Interests

 Postsecondary literacy practices, literacy alignment, curriculum and instruction for college reading and learning, integrated reading and writing, student-ready literacy designs (vs. college-ready for literacy), career technical and disciplinary literacy practices

Selected Scholarly/Creative Work

  • Summers, E. J., Armstrong, S. L., Mahdavivand Fard, S., & Garza, M. (2024). Beyond reactionary: SAGE practices for intentional reflexivity in online qualitative data collection. New Trends in Qualitative Research, 20. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.36367/ntqr.20.1.2024.e976
  • Suh, E. K. J., Wu, N., Garcia, A. J., Oelschlegel, C. P., & Armstrong, S. L. (2022). (Un)voicing a field’s expertise: A two-pronged citation and language analysis. Journal of Praxis in Higher Education, 4(2), 90–121.
  • Carson, M., Williams, J., Brewer, C., & Armstrong, S. L. (2021). Problematize, theorize, politicize, and contextualize:  A social justice framework for postsecondary integrated reading and writing instruction. In Teaching and Learning for Social Justice and Equity in Education (pp. 221–241). Palgrave MacMillan. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69947-5_11
  • Armstrong, S. L., Stahl, N. A., & King, J. (2021). What Does it Mean to Be College-Ready for Career Technical Education? Community College Review, 49(2), 131–155. https://doi.org/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0091552120982031
  • Stahl, N. A., Armstrong, S. L., & Hewett, E. (2020). Contextualization models for community college reading and study strategies: An integrative literature review. Community College Journal of Research and Practice. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/10668926.2020.1785355

Selected Awards

  • Award / Honor Recipient: College Achievement Award for Excellence in Service, College of Education, Texas State University. February 2021
  • Award / Honor Recipient: College Achievement Award for Excellence in Service, College of Education, Texas State University. February 2020
  • Award / Honor Recipient: Cynthia Peterson JCRL Outstanding Article Award for the Journal of College Reading and Learning, College Reading and Learning Association. November 2017
  • Award / Honor Recipient: Journal of Developmental Education Outstanding Article Award. 2016
  • Award / Honor Recipient: Alyce Kramer Marcus Outstanding Educator Award. 2014

Selected Service Activities

Member
Literacy Research Association's J. Michael Parker Award Committee
December 2019-December 2022
Past-President and Conference Co-Chair
College Reading and Learning Association
November 20, 2021-November 14, 2022
Editorial Review Board Member
Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy
July 2017-2021
President
College Reading and Learning Association
November 14, 2020-November 2021
President Elect
College Reading and Learning Association
November 2019-November 14, 2020