Profile

Biography

I joined the Department as a Lecturer in September 2010, after spending five years at the University of London (Birkbeck, Institute of Education) in various roles (Lecturer, Research Associate, Research Fellow) and in different departments (Applied Linguistics, Psychology). I am currently the Deputy PhD Programme Leader, and the White Rose Doctoral Training Centre Academic Lead.

I have published in peer-reviewed journals and volumes, co-founded a journal, co-edited two volumes, organised workshops, and presented papers in the UK and abroad. I was also awarded British Academy grants for two China-based research projects.

I hold a first degree in Chinese (Rome), an MA in Applied Linguistics (London) and a PhD in Applied Linguistics (Essex).

Research

Overview

I am an applied linguist, and I am generally interested in bilingualism and second language learning. In particular, I am researching two questions:

1- Does knowledge of more than one language affect how people think?

2- What are the consequences of knowing more than one written language?

Does knowledge of more than one language affect how people think?

Does learning another language change the way people think, does it open up minds? This is a fundamental question for language teachers and learners alike.

We have evidence that speakers of different languages ‘think’ slightly differently, meaning that they perform differently in tasks involving description, classification and memory of entities and events. What happens then to those who know two or more languages? Research in this area is still in its infancy, but we know that bilinguals perform differently from monolinguals in tasks involving thinking about time, space, motion, colors, objects, causality, mathematical concepts, language, emotions, and so on. The most comprehensive review of this area at present is my co-authored introduction to the volume Language and Bilingual Cognition (Cook and Bassetti, 2011).

Within this area of research, I investigated the relationship between grammatical gender and concepts of objects and animals in Italian-German bilinguals, and the consequences of learning English on Chinese speakers’ comprehension of counterfactual stories.

What are the consequences of knowing more than one writing system, orthography or script?

We know that people around the world read and write differently, depending on the writing system they are using, for instance English, Chinese or Italian. What happens then to those who know more than one writing system, for instance an Italian-English-Chinese triliterate? Knowledge of more than one writing system affects among others: L2 reading and writing, L1 reading and writing, metalinguistic awareness, L2 pronunciation, literacy acquisition and reading difficulties, and even non-language cognition. For more information please read the paper 'An Introduction to Researching Second Language Writing Systems'.

Within this area of research, sometimes called ‘second language writing systems’, I investigated the concept of ‘word’ in Chinese learners of English and English learners of Chinese, the effects of romanised Chinese orthography on the pronunciation of L2 Chinese, and the effects of adding interword spacing on L1 and L2 readers of Chinese.

Research group(s)

Supervision

I am very interested in proposals by well-qualified students who want to investigate the cognitive consequences of bilingualism and second language learning, or the learning or use of more than one written language.

I am also interested in proposals related to other aspects of the learning or use of a second language, whether written or spoken. Research proposals involving the Chinese language are particularly welcome, as are proposals involving experimental research.

Publications

Selected publications

Bassetti, B. (to appear 2012) Bilingualism and writing systems. In T. K. Bhatia and W. C. Ritchie (eds.) Handbook of bilingualism and multilingualism , second edition (pp. 649-670). Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.

Bassetti, B. and Masterson, J. (forthcoming) Effects of removing morphemic information and adding interword spacing on Chinese experienced and inexperienced readers. To appear in Reading and Writing. DOI: 10.1007/s11145-012-9358-7

Cook, V. J. and Bassetti, B. (eds.) (2011) Language and bilingual cognition. Oxford, UK: Psychology Press.

Bassetti, B. (2009) Effects of adding interword spacing on Chinese reading: A comparison of Chinese native readers and English readers of Chinese as a Second Language. Applied Psycholinguistics 30, 4, 757-775.

Bassetti, B. (2008) Orthographic input and second language phonology. In T. Piske and M. Young-Scholten (eds.), Input matters in SLA (pp. 191-206). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.

Bassetti, B. (2007) Bilingualism and thought: Grammatical gender and concepts of objects in Italian-German bilingual children. International Journal of Bilingualism, 11, 3, 251-273.

Cook , V. J. and Bassetti, B. (eds.) (2005) Second language writing systems. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.

Full publications list

Bassetti, B. (to appear in 2012) Bilingualism and writing systems. In T. K. Bhatia and W. C. Ritchie (eds.) Handbook of bilingualism and multilingualism, second edition. Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.

Bassetti, B. (to appear in 2012) Sound and spelling. In C. A. Chapelle (ed.) The encyclopedia of applied linguistics. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

Bassetti, B. (to appear in 2012) Cook, Vivian. In C. A. Chapelle (ed.) The encyclopedia of applied linguistics. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

Bassetti, B. (forthcoming) Review of: Language and cognition in bilinguals and monolinguals: AniIntroduction. By A. M. B. de Groot. Psychology Press, 2011. To appear in American Journal of Psychology.

Bassetti, B. and Masterson, J. (2012, online first) Effects of removing morphemic information and adding interword spacing on Chinese experienced and inexperienced readers. To appear in Reading and Writing. DOI: 10.1007/s11145-012-9358-7

Bassetti, B., Vaid, J., Cook, V. J.,  (2012) Interdisciplinary approaches to second language writing systems. Writing Systems Research, 4(1), 1-7.

Bassetti, B. (2011) The grammatical and conceptual gender of animals in second language users. In V. J. Cook and B. Bassetti (eds.) Language and bilingual cognition (pp. 357-384). Oxford: Psychology Press.

Bassetti, B. and Cook, V. J. (2011) Language and cognition: The second language user. In V. J. Cook and B. Bassetti (eds.) Language and bilingual cognition (pp. 143-190). Oxford: Psychology Press.

Cook, V. J. and Bassetti, B. (eds.) (2011) Language and bilingual cognition. Oxford, UK: Psychology Press.

Bassetti, B. (2009) Effects of adding interword spacing on Chinese reading: A comparison of Chinese native readers and English readers of Chinese as a Second Language. Applied Psycholinguistics, 30, 4, 757-775.

Cook, V. J., Vaid, J. and Bassetti, B. (2009) Writing Systems Research: A new journal for a developing field. Writing Systems Research 1, 1-3.

Bassetti, B. (2008) Orthographic input and second language phonology. In T. Piske and M. Young-Scholten (eds.), Input matters in SLA (pp. 191-206). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.

Bassetti, B. (2007) Bilingualism and thought: Grammatical gender and concepts of objects in Italian-German bilingual children. International Journal of Bilingualism, 11, 3, 251-273.

Bassetti, B. (2007) Bilingualism, biliteracy and metalinguistic awareness: Word awareness in English and Japanese users of Chinese as a Second Language. Birkbeck Studies in Applied Linguistics 2, 1-21.

Bassetti, B. (2007). Effects of hanyu pinyin on pronunciation in learners of Chinese as a Foreign Language. In A. Guder, X. Jiang and Y. Wan (eds.), The cognition, learning and teaching of Chinese characters (pp. 156-179). Beijing, China: Beijing Language and Culture University Press.

Bassetti, B. (2006). Orthographic input and phonological representations in learners of Chinese as a Foreign Language. Written Language and Literacy 9, 1, 95-114.

Bassetti, B. (2006). Learning second language writing systems. In the Guide to Good Practice, LLAS Subject Centre, http://www.llas.ac.uk/resources/goodpractice.aspx?resourceid=2662.

Cook, V. J., Bassetti, B., Kasai, C., Sasaki, M. and Takahashi, J.A. (2006). Do bilinguals have different concepts? The case of shape and material in Japanese L2 users of English. International Journal of Bilingualism 10, 2, 137-152.

Bassetti, B. (2005). Effects of writing systems on second language awareness: Word awareness in English learners of Chinese as a Foreign Language. In V. J. Cook and B. Bassetti (eds.), Second language writing systems (pp. 335-356). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.

Cook, V. J. and Bassetti, B. (2005). Researching Second Language Writing Systems. In V. J. Cook and B. Bassetti (eds.), Second language writing systems (pp. 1 – 67). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.

Cook , V. J. and Bassetti, B. (eds.) (2005) Second language writing systems. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.

A complete list of publications and links to downloadable papers.

External activities

Editorial duties

Founding Co-Editor of Writing Systems Research (OUP).

Ad hoc invited reviewer for journals (e.g. Applied Psycholinguistics; International Journal of Bilingualism; Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition; Language Learning; TESOL Quarterly); volumes (Wiley-Blackwell); and book chapters (Multilingual Matters, Routledge, Springer).

Invited talks and conferences

I regularly contribute to international conferences and research workshops in the UK and Europe (e.g., International Symposium on Bilingualism; European Second Language Association conference; International Conference on Language, Communication and Cognition).

Events Organisation

I recently organised two workshops on writing systems (‘Writing Systems: Analysis, Acquisition and Use’, 2008; ‘Writing 2day: The London Symposium on Writing Systems’, 2009).

International Links

Nanjing University, China

Texas A&M University, Texas, USA