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 Profile

Alessandro Benati is Professor and Director of the Centre for Applied English Studies (CAES) at the University of Hong Kong. He is internationally known for his research in second language acquisition and ground-breaking work on Processing Instruction. He conducts research on language processing of linguistic structures using online measurements such as eye-tracking and self-paced reading. He has co-ordinated national and international high-impact research projects in this field. He has supervised more than 30 PhD and over 100 Masters students. 

He is author of over twenty research monographs and seventy articles in high-impact journals. 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. 

He is a member of AHRC Peer Review College and REF 2021. He is honorary professor at the University of York St John and University of Portsmouth, and visiting professor at the University of Anaheim, USA. 

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 Working Experience 

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2020-current                 The University of Hong Kong

                                        Director of CAES

                                        Associate Professor

2018-2020                     American University of Sharjah (AUS)

                                        Head of Department

                                        Professor of English and Applied Linguistics

2015-2018                     University of Portsmouth, UK

                                        Head of School of Languages and Area Studies (SLAS)

                                        Chair Professor in Second Language Acquisition

                                        Director of the Centre for Applied Research and Innovation in Language

                                        Sciences and Education 

2015-1993                    University of Greenwich, UK

                                       Chair in Applied Linguistics and Second Language Studies  

                                       Director of Centre for Applied Research and Outreach in Language Education

                                       (CAROLE)

                                       Associate Dean of Research and Enterprise,

                                       Head of Department: Languages and International Studies,

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1991 - 1993                  Queen Mary and Westfield College, UK, Lecturer in Italian 

1990 - 1991                  University of Middlesex, UK, Lecturer in Italian

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 Education 

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2005                              University of Greenwich, MA in Education Management

1999                              University of Greenwich, PhD in Second Language Acquisition

1989                              University of Florence, Degree in Letter & Filosofia                                                                            

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