BA (Rome), MSc (Edinburgh), PGCert (Edinburgh), PhD (Edinburgh), FHEA
I am Lecturer in Applied Linguistics and TESOL, and Programme Lead for BA Degrees in Linguistics and TESOL, at York St John University. My teaching and research focus on second language acquisition/teaching and bi/multilingualism. I am a steering committee member of the Centre for Language and Social Justice Research and Research and Knowledge Exchange Lead at the Community Language School.
Prior to joining York St John in 2023, I completed a PhD in Linguistics and English Language at the University of Edinburgh, where I also earned an MSc in English Language and a PGCert in Academic Practice. My doctoral research examined linguistic, cognitive and emotional aspects of bilingualism, supported by funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Una Europa and Erasmus+. While at Edinburgh, I taught linguistics and language acquisition modules, receiving teaching award nominations and Fellowship of Advance HE (FHEA). I was also active in Bilingualism Matters Edinburgh, contributing to public engagement projects aiming to bridge the gap between research and society. Before relocating to the UK, I completed my BA in English and German at Sapienza University of Rome, following an Erasmus+ exchange at Trinity College Dublin.
If you have questions about our BA provision in Linguistics and TESOL, or wish to pursue research in second language acquisition and teaching, please feel free to reach out!
I deliver lectures and seminars, as well as assessing coursework, on a range of undergraduate and postgraduate modules. In 2025-2026, I am teaching on:
- LAL4017M Introduction to Linguistics and Multilingualism
- LAL5007M Language at Work
- LAL5025M TESOL: Foundations of Second Language Acquisition and Teaching
- LAL6018M TESOL: Second Language Teaching Resources and Practices
- LAL7021M Research Methods
I also supervise dissertation projects on our BA, MA, MRes and PhD programmes.
My research develops along two complementary strands. For further detail, please have a look at my publications and presentations, where you can find links to papers, talks and media outputs.
Psycholinguistics of bi/multilingualism
Since my PhD work at the University of Edinburgh, I have carried out research on the linguistic, cognitive and emotional impact of speaking more than one language. In my doctoral work funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (2018-2022), I examined first language (L1) attrition in different language domains of adult second language (L2) speakers (supervised by Prof Antonella Sorace, Prof Vicky Chondrogianni and Prof D. Robert Ladd). I also explored the linguistic and cognitive effects of intensive language learning (with A. Sorace and Roberta Spelorzi, University of Edinburgh) after securing internal funding from the School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences at Edinburgh (2020-2021). Additionally, I was part of the Edinburgh research unit for the Una Europa funded project “A Linguistic Investigation of Hate Speech - ALIHAS” (2021-2022), where I investigated emotional responses to hate speech in bilingual speakers (with A. Sorace and Dr Maria Garraffa, University of East Anglia).
Bi/multilingualism and education
Since joining York St John, I have collaborated with my colleague Dr Indu Vibha Meddegama on heritage language maintenance and language learning in community language school settings (2023-). Together, we are examining translanguaging pedagogies and arts-based approaches to language education. We are also co-supervising Mitchell Culhane on a PhD project, partly funded by the Institute for Social Justice, investigating the impact of community language schooling on language learning and teaching (2025-2028). At Edinburgh, I contributed to the Erasmus+ funded Teacher Education about Multilingualism (TEAM) project (with A. Sorace, R. Spelorzi, and Prof Aleksandra Wach, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań), developing multilingual education resources for teachers (2021-2023). I also worked on the project “Connecting Linguistics Research with English and Modern Foreign Language Teaching” (with Dr Christian Ilbury, Professor Jennifer Culbertson, and V. Chondrogianni), which aimed to bridge linguistic research with classroom practice (2023).
Recent publications
I am Fellow of Advance HE, and a member of Bilingualism Matters, the British Association for Applied Linguistics, the European Second Language Association, the Education, Languages, and Internationalisation network, the UK Advising and Tutoring association and the Association of Italian Scientists in the UK.
My peer-review contributions include grant reviewing for the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)–UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the National Science Centre of Poland (Narodowe Centrum Nauki), as well as journal reviewing for Behavioral Sciences, Bilingual Research Journal, Education Sciences, Italiano LinguaDue, Languages, Second Language Research, Teaching and Teacher Education, The Language Learning Journal and The Modern Language Journal.
