Dr Arjette Karemaker received her doctorate in Psychology in 2008 from Nottingham University in the United Kingdom (UK) after having completed two master’s degrees and a bachelor’s degree in the UK and the Netherlands. From 2008 until 2017, Dr Karemaker worked as a research fellow at the University of Oxford, UK. She was a member of the Families, Effective Learning and Literacy (FELL) group, which was an interdisciplinary research group of psychologists, linguists, and educationalists. She has conducted large-scale studies on the effects of early education and care on children’s development and has been involved in various parental engagement projects, often involving evaluations through randomised controlled trials. She was also the principal investigator of a team working with Oxford University Press on new and innovative ways that technology can support young children’s reading.

In 2019, she and her family moved to Dubai, and she became an Assistant Professor at the American University in Dubai (AUD). Two years later, the provost appointed her the Chair of the Psychology Department. At AUD, Dr Karemaker taught a diverse variety of courses, from foundations to advanced courses in various subfields and advised and supervised students in their final projects and internships. She has attended and presented her research at many international conferences and published in peer-reviewed psychology journals.

Murphy, V., Karemaker, A. M., Sylva, K., Kanji, G., Jelley, F. (2019). Effective intervention to support oral language skills in English as an Additional Language in the early years. Special Issue of the Irish Association for Applied Linguistics (TEANGA) 10, 1-18. DOI: http://doi.org/10.35903/teanga.v10i0.67

Karemaker, A. M., Jelley, C., Clancy & F., Sylva, K. (2017). The effects on children’s literacy skills of reading e-books with different features: Are ‘bells and whistles’ over-rated? Special Issue E-reading with children. International Journal of Child Computer Interaction, 12, 30–36. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcci.2017.01.004

Jelley, F, Sylva, K, Karemaker, A.M. (2016) Easy Peasy parenting app: findings from an efficacy trial on parent engagement and school readiness skills. London: The Sutton Trust. https://www.suttontrust.com/our-research/easy-peasy-parenting-app/

Sylva, K, Jelley, F, Karemaker, A,M. Ebbens, A, Archer, A (2016). Improving children’s reading through parental support: evidence on parents’ behavioural outcomes. Final report to the Educational Endowment Foundation (EEF) on the SPOKES intervention. University of Oxford.

Karemaker, A. M., Sylva, K., Jelley, F., & Clancy, C. (2015). The effects of selected e-book features on children’s literacy learning in Year 1. Oxford: United Kingdom. Report for OUP, Reading World.

Jelley, F., Clancy, C., Sylva, K., & Karemaker, A.M. (2015). Development and field-testing of a parental engagement app. Report for OUP. Oxford: United Kingdom. Report for OUP, Reading World.

Karemaker, A. M., Sylva, K. (2014). The effects of e-books and e-resources on literacy development in young learners: A literature review. Oxford: United Kingdom. Literature Review for OUP.

Mathers, S., Singler, R., & Karemaker, A. M. (2012). Improving quality in the Early Years: A comparison of perspective and measures. Final Report. London and Oxford: United Kingdom.

Mathers, S., Ranns, A., Karemaker, A. M., Sylva, K., Graham, J. & Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2011). Evaluation of the Graduate Leader Fund. Research Report 28, Department for Education (DfE), UK Government.

Mathers, S., Ranns, H., Karemaker, A.M., Moody, A., Sylva, K., Graham, J. and Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2011). National Evaluation of the Graduate Leader Fund: Technical Report. London: United Kingdom. Department for Education, UK Government.

Karemaker, A. M., Mathers, S., Hall, J., & Sylva, K. (2011). Evaluation of the Graduate Leader Fund: Factors relating to quality: findings from the baseline study (pp. 1–28). London: United Kingdom. Department for Education (DfE), UK Government.

Karemaker, A. M., Pitchford, N. J., & O’Malley, C. (2010). Does whole-word multimedia software support literacy acquisition? Reading and Writing, 23(1), 31–51. doi:10.1007/s11145-008-9148-4.

Karemaker, A. M., Pitchford, N. J., & O’Malley, C. (2010). Enhanced recognition of written words and enjoyment of reading in struggling beginner readers through whole-word multimedia software. Computers & Education, 54(1), 199–208. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2009.07.018.

Karemaker, A. M., Pitchford, N. J., & Malley, C. O. (2008). Using whole-word multimedia software to support literacy acquisition: A comparison with traditional books. Educational & Child Psychology, 25(3), 97–118.

Van der Aalsvoort, G. M., Karemaker, A. M., & Ketelaars, M. (2008). Emergence of social play and numeracy: A related development with young at-risk students? In N. Srinivasan, A. K. Gupta, & J. Pandey (Eds.) Advances in Cognitive Science (pp. 355–368). Sage Publications.

Aalsvoort, G. van der, Ketelaars, M., & Karemaker, A. M. (2005). Social play by young at-risk children: A microgenetic approach to the study of emergent collaboration and numeracy. Journal of Education, (35), 159–180.

• Psychology of Addictive Behaviour
• History and Systems in Psychology
• Developmental Psychology