Levorato Maria Chiara

Full professor

Academic Titles
2010-2001 Full professor of Developmental Psychology, Department of Developmental and Socialization Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Padova, Italy.
1983-2001 Associate professor Universities of Padova, Verona and Ferrara.
1974-1984 Professor assistant University of Padova.
1972-1974 Research officer of Developmental Psychology.

- Teacher in a course on Typical and atypical language development, for the 5-year undergraduate degree in Developmental and Educational Psychology and in a course on Developmental psychology for the 3-year undergraduate degree in Speech and language therapists.
- Teacher in a course on Developmental Psychology for the 3-year undergraduate Degree in Developmental and Educational Psychology.

Main Research Interests
- Links between oral and written text comprehension
- Cognitive and linguistic components of oral and written text comprehension
- Comprehension of ambiguous and polysemical expressions, such as idiomatic expressions
- Cognitive and emotional aspects of reading of narrative literature
- Development of instruments for the assessment of oral text comprehension, and connected linguistic abilities, in 3- to 8-year-olds.
- Sexual harassment in secondary schools and universities
- Second language acquisition in children form immigrant families.

Academic Positions
Prof. Levorato is member of the Collegio del Dottorato (Ph.D. board) for Developmental Psychology and Processes of Socialization Psychology
She was head of the scientific committee of the Department of Developmental and Social Psychology (2008-2009)
Director of the Interdepartmental Center for Services of the Department of Psychology, University of Padova (2004-2006).
Elected board member of the Italian Association of Psychology (1999-2004).
National coordinator (1999-2000) and local coordinator (2003-2004 and 2005-2006) for Research Projects of National Interest (PRIN)
Coordinator of a local research group, financed for two years by the University (Progetti di Ricerca) (1999).

Publications in the last 5 years

Articles in international journals

Tessari T., Rubaltelli E., Tomeller S. Zorzi C., Pietroni D., Levorato C., Rumiati R. (2011). Coins Versus Banknotes and People's Spending Behavior. European Psychologist, Vol. 16(3):238–246 DOI: 10.1027/1016-9040/a000078

Florit, E., Roch, M., & Levorato, M.C. (under review). The Relationship Between Listening Comprehension of Text and Sentences in Preschoolers: Specific or Mediated by Lower- and Higher-Level Components? Applied Psycholinguistics.

Florit, E., Roch, M., & Levorato, M.C. (in press). Listening Text Comprehension of Explicit and Implicit Information in Preschoolers: The Role of Verbal and Inferential Skills. Discourse Processes.

Andrea Anahí Junyent, Maria Chiara Levorato, & Gianfranco Denes (in press). Verbal inflection, articles and object clitics in Italian Specific Language Impairment: A case study. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, Special Issue.

Roch, Florit & Levorato (in press). A follow-up study on reading comprehension in Down syndrome: /The role of reading skills and listening comprehension. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders.

Levorato, Roch & Florit (in press). The role of verbal memory in reading text comprehension of individuals with Down syndrome. American Journal of Intellectual Disabilities.

Roch & Levorato (2010). Idiom understanding in children and adolescents with down syndrome: The role of text comprehension skills. Applied Psycholonguistics, 31, 531-550.

Levorato, M.C., Roch, M. & Beltrame, R. (2009). Text Comprehension in Down Syndrome: The role of lower and higher level abilities. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 23 (4), 285-300

Florit, E., Roch, M., Altoè G., & Levorato, M.C. (2009). Listening comprehension in Preschoolers: The role of memory. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 27 (4), 935-951.

Roch, M. & Levorato, M.C. (2009). Simple View of Reading in Down Syndrome: The role of listening comprehension and reading skills. International Journal of Communication Disorders, 2, 206-223. DOI: 10.1080/13682820802012061.

Levorato, M.C., Roch, M. Nesi, B. (2007). Idiom understanding in first graders: a follow-up study on less skilled comprehenders. Journal of Child Language, 34 (3), 473-494.

Levorato, C., & Arfé, B. (2006). Entering a community of readers: children's beliefs about authorship. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 30 (6), 1-9.

Levorato M.C., Ronconi L. (2006). Cognitive and affective responses to structural variations of an E.A. Poe short story. Empirical Studies of the Arts, 24 (2), 193-217.

Nesi, B., Levorato, M.C., Roch, M. & Cacciari, C. (2006). To break the...embarrassment: Text Comprehension Skills and Figurative Competence in skilled and less-skilled text comprehenders. European Psychologist, 11 (2), 128-136.

Levorato MC., Nemesio, A. (2005). Readers' responses while reading a narrative text. Empirical Studies of the Arts, 23 (1), 19-31.

Levorato M.C., Nesi B. Cacciari C. (2004). Reading comprehension and understanding idioms: a developmental study. Brain and language, 202, 4-16.

Articles in national journals

Furia, A., Roch, M., Uras, G. & Levorato, M.C. (2009). Comprensione del testo scritto e orale in seconda elementare: il contributo del vocabolario e della memoria di lavoro verbale. Rivista di Psicologia Applicata, IX (1-2), 25-28.

Florit, E., Levorato, M.C. & Roch, M. (2008). Cambiamenti evolutivi nella comprensione del testo scritto e orale. Giornale Italiano di Psicologia, 3, 641-662

Jacob, V., Levorato, M.C. & Roch, M. (2008). La comprensione del testo nei bambini con Disturbo Specifico del Linguaggio. Giornale Italiano di Psicologia, vol. 35 (1), pp. 39-69.

Roch, M. & Levorato, M.C. (2007). Le relazioni tra la comprensione del linguaggio orale e scritto nella Sindrome di Down. Psicologia clinica dello Sviluppo, XI (1), 75-90.

Levorato, C., Arfè, B. (2006). Il contributo socio-costruzionista alla spiegazione del pensiero meta-rappresentativo. Età Evolutiva, 85, 11-14.

Nemesio, A., M. C. Levorato e L. Ronconi (2005). Risposta emotiva e qualità del testo nella lettura del racconto del mistero, Età evolutiva, 79, 60-67.

Levorato M.C., Franco, F., Tasso, A. Russell, E.J. (2005). Gli schemi causali nei verbi di percezione visiva: il ruolo dell'intenzionalità. Giornale Italiano di Psicologia, 32, 131-154.

Levorato, C., Arfé, B. (2004) "Chi inventa le storie? La costruzione dell'authorship in età scolare". Età evolutiva, 77, 44-56.

Levorato, M.C., Nesi, B. & Roch, M. (2004). Comprensione linguistica e Memoria di Lavoro in persone con Sindrome di Down. Giornale Italiano di Disabilità, 4(1) 14-25.

Levorato M.C., M.C., Nemesio, A. Ronconi, L. (2004). Risposta emotiva e qualità del testo nella lettura del racconto del mistero. Età Evolutiva, 79, 60-67.

Levorato M.C. (2004). La molestia sessuale nella scuola superiore. Bollettino di Psicologia Applicata, 243, 3-14

Levorato M.C. (2004). Molestie a scuola. Psicologia Contemporanea, 181, 28-35.

Levorato M.C., Marchetto E. (2003). Il giudizio degli psicologi italiani sulle riviste nazionali e internazionali. Giornale Italiano di Psicologia, 1, 15-33

Levorato M.C. (2003). I racconti del sè. Psicologia Contemporanea, 169, 4-11

National monographs

Badaloni, S., Drace, C. A., Gia, O., Levorato, M.C., Vidotto, F. (2008). Under-representation of women in Science and Technology. Cleup, Padova

Levorato, M.C. & Roch, M. (2007). TOR 3-8. Valutazione della comprensione del testo orale. Firenze Organizzazioni Speciali.

Chapters in national monographs

Levorato M.C. (2008). From an Assumption to empirical data: The case of idiom comprehension in children. In Arcuri, L., Boscolo, P., Peressotti, F., Cognition and Language a long story: Festschrift in honour of Ino Flores D’Arcais, p.87-104. PAdova-Cleup.

Levorato, M.C. & Lugato, E. (2005). Se la conosci la eviti: il fenomeno della molestia sessuale nella scuola superiore. In Che motti, S. (a cura di). Corpi di identità. Codici e immagini del corpo femminile nelle cultura e nella società. Padova: Il Poligrafo

Levorato, M.C. & Maas, A. (2005). Processi di autoesclusione e profezie auto-avverantesi. In Badaloni, S. & Perini S. Donne e scienza. Il genere in scienza e ingegneria: Testimonianze, ricerche, idee e proposte. Padova: Cleup.

Cacciari, C., Levorato, M. C. (2003). "Res accendent lumina rebus". La descrizione dell'esperienza sensoriale, ovvero dei rapporti fra percezione e linguaggio. In U. Savardi & A. Mazzocco (a cura di). Figura e sfondo. Temi e variazioni per Paolo Bozzi (pp.179-200). Padova: CLEUP.

Chapters in international monographs

Nemesio, A., Levorato, M.C., & Ronconi, L. (2008). Reading Different Types of Narrative Texts: A Study of Cognitive and Emotional Responses in W. van Peer and J. Auracher (Eds.), New Beginnings for the Study of Literature, Cambridge, Cambridge Scholars Press.

Report

Levorato M.C., Roch M., Junyent A., Fassina O., Semenzato G. e Servizio di Foniatria e Logopedia, U.O. Materno Infantile dell'Azienda ULSS 16 di Padova. Disturbo Specifico del Linguaggio: La comprensione del testo in relazione ad altre componenti linguistiche. Report n. 156, Novembre 2008.

Proceedings

Junyent, A., Levorato, M.C., Denes, G. (2009). Morphosyntatic impairment in SLI: A single case of an italian boy. In linguistics: The challenge of clinical application. Madrid, 11-13 Novembre 2009, Euphonia Ediciones, 383-387, ISBN/ISSN 9788493666873.

Florit, E., Levorato, M.C. & Roch, M. (2009). Individual differences in preschoolers’ text comprehension: contributions of verbal abilities, short-term and working memory. In Jane Chandlee, Michelle Franchini, Sandy Lord, and Marion Rheiner (Eds.), on-line supplement to the Proceedings of the 33rd Boston University Conference on Language Development