Professor Nora Obregon's research interests are in the areas of young children's social interactions, cognitive, language and literacy development. In regards to peer interactions, she is particularly interested in play interactions. Specifically, she is interested in how social and pretend play may promote language and literacy development in children. In regard to language and literacy development, Obregon is interested in how other children teach young ones to acquire language and early literacy skills during social and play interactions. In addition she is interested in how parents help their children to acquire early literacy skills, particularly in family practices such as book reading, storytelling and enactment activities. Obregon 's research work is influenced by a framework of meaning supported by Vygotsky's Sociocultural Perspective (1968) and Barbara Rogoff's Theory of Guided Participation (2000), and focuses on children's social and cultural interactions in informal setting. Both of these perspectives help to understand the different ways that children learn as they participate in and are guided by the values and practices of their cultural communities. Her dissertation examines how older siblings from low-income Latino families scaffold or influence early literacy and language skills acquisition in their play with their young siblings.
