Dr. Elisa De Cristofaro

elisa.decristofaro@ugent.be

Department

Department of Translation, Interpreting and Communication

Research group(s)

DiaLing - Diachronic and Diatopic Linguistics

G4 - Ghent Generative Grammar Group

MULTIPLES - Research Centre for Multilingual Practices and Language Learning in Society

Research Focus

Tabgroup

About

Dr. Elisa De Cristofaro is is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Department of Translation, Interpreting and Communication of Ghent University. She is a member of the MULTIPLES and DiaLing research groups, the Ghent Generative Grammar Group (G4) and the Language and Speech Journal Club. Her doctoral project investigated the acquisition of discourse markers among learners of Italian as a Second Language and Italian Heritage Speakers. Her research interests include various aspects of theoretical and applied linguistics, encompassing the interface between syntax and discourse-pragmatics, second and heritage language acquisition and teaching, and multilingual acquisition and processing. She is currently investigating anaphora resolution among Italian L2 and Heritage speakers, combining spontaneous production and experimental data. She also teaches courses at Bachelor and Master level (Italian language and linguistics; Italian sociolinguistics and Communication).

Projects

Projects as postdoc

The acquisition of reference in bilingualism. Investigating the production, interpretation, and processing of anaphoric devices in Italian L2 and heritage speakers (2024 - 2027)

Projects as PhD researcher

Discourse markers in Italian L2 and heritage language (2018 - 2022)

Teaching

Italian: linguistic structures II (Italiaans: Taalstructuren B, 2022-2023, 2023-2024)
Italian: linguistic structures III (Italiaans: Taalstructuren C, 2023-2024)
Italian: language practice II (Italiaans: Taalpraktijk B , 2023-2024)
Italian: language practice IV (Italiaans: Taalpraktijk D, 2023-2024)
Italian sociolinguistics (Italiaans: Maatschappelijke ontwikkelingen in het taalgebied, 2023 -2024)
Italian Business Communication (Italiaans: Bedrijfs en publiekscommunicatie I, 2023 - 2024)
Italian Business Communication (Italiaans: Bedrijfs en publiekscommunicatie II, 2022-2023, 2023-2024)

Italian: Language and Society

Activities

Gent Dag van de Wetenschap (Science Day)
November 2025
language workshop designed for a broad audience: “Hoe goed ken je echt Italië, het Italiaans en de Italianen?” (“How well do you really know Italy, Italian, and Italians?”), organized together with the Italian group of the Department of Translation, Interpreting and Communication (UGent)

November 2023
language workshop designed for a broad audience: “Ben jij slimmer dan ChatGPT?” (“Are you smarter than ChatGPT?”), orgnized together with the G4 - Ghent Generative Grammar Group (UGent)

Invited lectures

Invited lecture for the degree course “Linguistic Analyses and Multilingualism (prof. Adriana Belletti), “Unraveling Multilingual Minds: exploring anaphora resolution across speaker profiles, March 2024, University of Siena.
Invited lecture for the degree course “Acquisition and Multilingualism” (prof. Adriana Belletti), “Discourse markers in Italian L1, L2 and heritage language”. May 2022, University of Siena, (with Linda Badan).

Services

2025 – present

elected AAP Representative of the Department Council (Vakgroepraad), Department of Translation, Interpreting and Communication, Ghent University

2024 – present

member of the Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE)

member of the European Second Language Association (EuroSLA)

member of the research center Language in Education (LinE) – Cluster V: Multimodality in Education

member of the Language and Speech Journal Club (UGent)

2021 - present

member of the G4: Ghent Generative Grammar Group (UGent)

2018 - present

member of the Società Dante Alighieri of Ghent

Conference organization

co-organizer of two editions of the LinGhentian Doctorials conference at Ghent University (2019, 2020)
https://www.linghentiandoctorials.ugent.be/