Dott. Rita Balestrini

I have taught in the department, since 2004, on a range of Italian Language modules at all levels. I currently teach and convene IT3L6 Advanced Italian Language III and coordinate a cross-departmental Language Teaching Community of Practice.

I am interested in all aspects of second language learning and teaching, in ecological and sociocultural research approaches to second language acquisition, the psychology of language learning and teaching, the pedagogy of ‘language and culture’. I have organized and conducted workshops in language teaching methods (Laziodisu, Rome) and I have designed and taught courses of Italian language and Culture in a variety of contexts (Italian and American universities in Rome, Italian and UK Language Centres, Adult and Continuing Education - GCSE and A level). I have an interest in language assessment, evaluation, and independent learning. I have been a script marker for the Certificazione Italiano Roma Tre, External Examiner in the UK, and I am currently carrying out a project on evaluation and feedback in language learning. I have a background in cultural anthropology and applied linguistics and an ongoing interest in ethnographic representation and in the interface between language and culture.

Research interests

• Language assessment, evaluation, and independent learning. I am currently working at a project aiming to foster the active participation of students in the assessment process and increase their uptake of feedback
• Students’ narratives of language learning
• The discourses which inform the policies and practices of Modern Languages as a discipline; the conceptualizations of ‘language’ and ‘culture’ and the implications that their imagined relationship has for the structure of foreign languages curricula and for language teaching and learning