Arthur N. Applebee

Arthur N. Applebee (1946–2015) was a leading scholar of literacy, language learning, and writing instruction, known internationally for his research on how students become literate thinkers. He was a Distinguished Professor in the School of Education at the University at Albany, State University of New York, where he chaired the Department of Educational Theory and Practice and directed the Center on English Learning and Achievement, a major research institute on language and literacy education. Born in Sherbrooke, Canada, he earned degrees from Yale, Harvard, and the University of London, completing his PhD at the University of London in 1973.

Applebee authored and coauthored numerous influential books, including Writing Instruction That Works: Proven Methods for Middle and High School Classrooms (with Judith A. Langer, 2013), as well as earlier landmark works such as Tradition and Reform in the Teaching of English (1974), The Child’s Concept of Story (1978), Writing in the Secondary School (1981), How Writing Shapes Thinking (with Judith Langer, 1987), Literature in the Secondary School (1993), and Curriculum as Conversation (1996). His contributions earned him election to the **International Reading Hall of