About Ioanna K. Tsiriotakis, PhD

Dr. Ioanna K. Tsiriotakis investigates the cognitive, linguistic, and self-regulatory processes that shape literacy and writing development in both native (L1) and second language (L2) learners. Her research focuses on self-regulation, metacognition, writing anxiety, and strategic writing instruction, integrating empirical findings from cognitive psychology, applied linguistics, and inclusive education. She is particularly committed to understanding how learners with dyslexia, ADHD, and diverse linguistic backgrounds, as well as typically achieving learners seeking to refine and extend their academic skills, develop explicitly taught, transferable strategies that strengthen reading and writing performance while supporting confidence, autonomy, and long-term academic resilience.

She holds a BA (Honours) in English Literature from the University of Toronto, an MEd in Special Educational Needs/Dyslexia from the University of Birmingham, and a PhD in Cognitive Psychology (with distinction) from the University of Crete. She completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia, where she taught and conducted research on writing development and self-regulated learning. Dr. Tsiriotakis has also taught at the University of Crete and continues to present at international conferences and contribute to peer-reviewed scholarship on literacy, second language writing, and strategy-based instruction.

Through Phonology Private Tutoring, Dr. Tsiriotakis works with learners across a broad achievement range, including:

• children and adolescents with diagnosed or emerging learning difficulties, and
• typically achieving and high-performing students seeking to strengthen writing, argumentation, and self-regulatory skills.

Her instructional approach is grounded in the principle that self-regulation and metacognitive awareness are powerful, transferable cognitive and behavioural processes. When students learn to plan, monitor, and evaluate their thinking, they do more than enhance their writing proficiency, they develop capacities that support emotional regulation, problem-solving, decision-making, and adaptive persistence across academic and everyday contexts.

Her work is guided by a clear mission: to help every learner build the strategies, confidence, and self-regulatory tools necessary to read, write, and learn effectively across languages, contexts, and stages of development. Her teaching philosophy is strengths-based, research-driven, and designed to empower multilingual learners and students with diverse learning profiles to become independent, reflective, and resourceful thinkers.

Scholarly interests include:

• self-regulation, metacognition, and motivation across the lifespan
• strategic writing instruction (including SRSD) and L1/L2 writing development
• learning difficulties, dyslexia, and executive function
• social-cognitive and sociocultural perspectives on learning
• teacher development and the integration of strategy instruction into everyday classroom practice