Sophia’s main research interest is the learning, teaching, and use of vocabulary in a second language. She is also interested in first- and second-language literacy skills in countries where English is a foreign or second language. She has recently conducted collaborative research on reading comprehension in an indigenous language (Igbo) and in English in Nigeria. While working as a postdoctoral researcher, she examined the role of vocabulary in English as a foreign language oral fluency and writing quality in Taiwan. Sophia’s current research examines a) foreign/second language English academic vocabulary learning and teaching, b) the comprehension of figurative language during first-language reading, and c) how people come to perceive a text as coherent or not.