Dr Benati, Alessandro Giovanni
Dr Benati, Alessandro Giovanni
Alessandro Benati is the Director of CAES at the University of Hong Kong. He has previously worked in the United Kingdom at the University of Greenwich, University of London, Middlesex University, University of Portsmouth and AUS. He is internationally known for his research in second language acquisition and second language teaching. He has published ground-breaking research on the pedagogical framework called Processing Instruction. Alessandro's research reflects his long-term commitment to making theory and research accessible to non-specialists. He has delivered both nationally and internationally several teacher training programs to help improve teaching practices and policies. Alessandro has coordinated high-impact research projects funded by the EU, Leverhulme Trust, British Academy and other research bodies. He is co-editor of a new series for Cambridge University Press called Elements in Second Language Acquisition, a member of the AHRC Peer Review College and the REF Panel 2021. Alessandro is a leader of an interdisciplinary cluster in language sciences called 'emerging technologies in language sciences'. His research cut across the following areas: how language is represented in the mind/brain; how language is produced and comprehended and how languages can be replicated, modeled, and evaluated through technology [Computational Linguistics, (Applied) Natural Language Processing]. Within these three areas his collaborative and interdisciplinary research with neurolinguistic, applied linguist and educationalist make use of new technology (e.g., EEG, eye tracking, computational modeling and assessment) to track what happens within language learners' brains in real teaching/acquisition contexts. He has supervised over thirty PhDs to completion.
| Year | Awarding Institution | Qualification |
|---|---|---|
| University of Florence | Dottore in Lettere & Filosofia | |
| University of Greenwich | MA in Educational Management | |
| University of Greenwich | PhD |
Alessandro earned his MA and PhD at the University of Greenwich, UK. He has previously worked at the University of Greenwich, University of London, Middlesex University, University of Portsmouth, and, most recently, the American University of Sharjah. He conducts research in second language acquisition and his most recent research incorporates eye-tracking to measure second language processing. He has published ground-breaking research on the pedagogical framework called Processing Instruction and he is author and co-author of several research monographs on various aspects of language learning and language teaching with noted publishers: Cambridge, Mouton de Gruyter, Bloomsbury, Multilingual Matters, Palgrave, Springer. His articles have appeared in high-impact and best ranked journals (Second Language Research, Language Teaching, IRAL, Language Awareness and Language Teaching Research).
Alessandro has co-ordinated national and international high-impact research projects on language learning and teaching funded by the EU, Leverhulme Trust, and British Academy. He is co-editor of a new series for Cambridge University Press called Elements in Second Language Acquisition, and Teaching and Learning English Literacy and Academic Language Skills with Bloomsbury. He is also co-editor for the journal Instructed Second Language Acquisition and general editor of the book series Bloomsbury Applied Linguistics: Research issues and Methods.
| Term Period | Position | Professional Societies |
|---|---|---|
| 09/2016-09/2022 | Committee Member | AHRC |
| 09/2020-04/2022 | Committee Member | REF |
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