Dr Athanasia Papastergiou is a Lecturer in Bilingualism in the Department of Linguistics, English Language and Bilingualism, at the School of Arts, Culture and Language. She was awarded an ESRC-DTC Wales PhD studentship at Bangor University in Bilingualism in 2014 under the supervision of Dr Eirini Sanoudaki focusing on language and cognitive skills of Greek-English bilingual children in the U.K. She has worked on various projects as a Research Fellow and as a Research Assistant at Lancaster University, the University of Bath, Bangor University and the University of Greenwich. 

Athanasia's research examines language and cognitive development in bilingual and monolingual children, focusing on heritage speakers and young second language learners. Her work also investigates reading comprehension in typical and atypical development. She works closely with schools and is interested in how bilingual language and cognitive skills, such as executive functions, are shaped by the educational experience. 

She teaches a range of modules in Linguistics, such as Psycholinguistics, Linguistic Research Methods, and English Teaching in the Classroom. 

Athanasia is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and Senior Tutor for the School of Arts, Culture and Language.

Academic Qualifications

PhD Bilingualism (Linguistics), Bangor University, U.K.

MSc Developmental Disorders, Lancaster University, U.K.

BEd Primary Education (Qualified Teacher Status; QTS), National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece

Position: Lecturer in Bilingualism

Email: a.papastergiou@bangor.ac.uk

Phone: ++44 (0)1248 382267

Location: 37-41 College Road

Teaching

I teach courses on introductory linguistics, psycholinguistics, bilingualism, research methods and statistics. For details, please consult the current timetable or send me a message.

  • QXL1110 Introduction to Language
  • QXL1112 Language, Literature & Culture
  • QXL1020 Introduction to Grammar
  • QXL2235 Introduction to Bilingualism 
  • QXL2253 English Teaching in the Classroom
  • QXL3341 Dissertation
  • QXL3349/4449 Psycholinguistics
  • QXL4432 Linguistics Research Methods

PhD Supervision

  • Bethan Collins. Language and cognitive development in Welsh-English bilingual children. ESRC studentship in Bilingualism. Start date September 2021.

▪ Bilingualism, with emphasis on language and cognitive development of children.

▪ Reading and listening comprehension of typically and atypically developing children.

▪ Executive functioning skills of monolingual and bilingual populations.

▪ Typical and atypical child development.

▪ Classroom teaching of language.

I am willing to supervise a PhD.

2022

2019

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2017 ESRC Impact Acceleration Account/PhD Outreach Programme (Fellow)

Project: ‘Childhood Bilingualism in Complementary Schools’ 

P.I. & Project Lead: Dr Eirini Sanoudaki

2014-2017 ESRC Wales DTC PhD Scholarship in Bilingualism

Topic: 'Language and cognitive abilities in bilingual children and the role of educational context.'

Supervisors: Dr Eirini Sanoudaki, Professor Enlli Thomas, Dr Vicky Chondrogianni.

Conference Presentations/Talks

▪Papastergiou A., & Sanoudaki, E. (2022). Language skills in Greek-English bilingual children attending Greek supplementary schools in England. Oral presentation at the 15th International Conference on Greek Linguistics, University of Belgrade, 17 September 2022.

▪Vasileiou, M. S., & Papastergiou, A. (2022). Exploring L2 receptive vocabulary learning and working memory in Greek kindergarten’s EFL learners/ Oral presentation at the 25th International Symposium on Theoretical and Applied Linguistics (ISTAL 25), Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 13 May 2022.

▪Papastergiou A., & Sanoudaki, E. (2021). Language skills in Greek-English bilingual children attending Greek supplementary schools in England. Poster presentation at the International Symposium on Bilingualism ISB13, University of Warsaw, Poland, July 10 - 14 2021.

▪ Papastergiou A., Pappas, V., & Sanoudaki, E. (2020). The executive functioning skills of bilingual and monolingual children - a novel methodology. Invited talk at the Psycholinguistics of Language Representation (PoLaR) lab, UiT - The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø.

▪ Monks C. P., Tsermentseli S., Papastergiou A. (2019). An investigation of child-to-parent aggression in the U.K. - a qualitative study. Oral presentation at the 19th European Conference on Developmental Psychology, Athens, Greece, 29 August - 1 September 2019.

▪ Papastergiou, A., Sanoudaki, E., and Collins, B. (2019). Does minimal exposure to Welsh influence executive functions? Evidence from Welsh-English children. Oral presentation at the 2nd International Conference on Bilingualism, University of Malta, Malta, 25 – 27 March 2019.

▪ Papastergiou, A., Sanoudaki, E., & Chondrogianni, V. (2017). A study on the executive functioning of Greek-English bilingual children. Oral presentation at the International Conference on Greek Linguistics (ICGL13), University of Westminster, London, U.K., September 2017.

▪ Papastergiou, A., Sanoudaki, E., & Chondrogianni, V. (2017). A study on the executive functioning of Greek-English bilingual children. Oral presentation at the International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB), University of Limerick, Ireland, 11 - 15 June 2017.

▪ Papastergiou, A., & Pappas, V. (2016). A comparison of sighted and visually impaired children’s text comprehension. Oral presentation at the UKLA 52nd International Conference, Bristol, U.K., 8 - 10 July 2016.

▪ Papastergiou, A. (2016). Does the educational programme matter? A study on the executive functioning of Greek-English bilingual children. Oral presentation at Bangor International Conference on Bilingualism in Education, Bangor, U.K., 10 - 12 June 2016.