ANNA SFAKIANAKI
Anna Sfakianaki is Assistant Professor in the Division of Language and Linguistics of the Department of English Language and Literature of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Her PhD dissertation entitled “Coarticulation in the Speech of Greek Adults with Normal Hearing and Hearing Impairment” (Department of English Language and Literature, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), was funded by the Ministry of Education and awarded with Distinction. She also holds, with distinction: (1) an MA in Applied Linguistics (Language Teaching) from the University of Reading (UK), with a dissertation on the “Acoustic characteristics of Greek vowels in adults and children”, (2) a Bachelor’s degree in Education (Department of Primary Education, University of Crete), and (3) a Postgraduate Diploma in Special Education (Τwo-year programme, Department of Primary Education, University of Crete).
Her work focuses on Linguistics, and more specifically on the study of Phonetics–Phonology and its applications in English and Greek. Her research interests include theoretical linguistics, production and perception of typical and atypical speech, phonological development and disorders, hearing impairment, language and pronunciation teaching, and digital applications for assessment and intervention in language and speech disorders.
She has taught as Assistant Professor of Phonetics-Phonology in the Department of Philology of the University of Ioannina (2022-2026), as Associate Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science of the University of Crete (2017-2022), as temporary Lecturer in the Department of Philology of the University of Crete and in the Speech and Language Therapy programme of Leeds Beckett University (UK), and as adjunct teaching staff at the Hellenic Open University for the module “Learning Difficulties in Teaching English as a Foreign/International Language.” In addition, she served for 13 years as a primary school teacher in mainstream schools and at the School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Heraklion, Crete.
She has worked as Researcher on national and European academic projects, including: (1) SPECΟ “SPEech COrrector: A multimedia multilingual speech training system for children with speech disorders” (University of Reading, UK), (2) VOCALECT: “Vowels of Greek Dialects: Phonetic and phonological analysis, dialect index construction, and diffusion of results through educational material” (THALES, University of Ioannina), (3) MOHI: "Museum of Oral History: An 'experiential' research tool for preservational and educational purposes” (I. Latsis Scholarship, University of Crete), (4) SpeakGreek: “Development of a tool for practising segmental and suprasegmental aspects of Greek through biofeedback: applications to second-language learning/teaching and clinical intervention” (Excellence II, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), and (5) ENRICH: “Enriched lifelong communication” (Horizon 2020, University of Crete).
She has authored, individually and collaboratively, over 40 articles in international journals (such as Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, Lingua, Journal of Greek Linguistics) and in peer-reviewed proceedings of international conferences, including ICPhS (International Congress of Phonetic Sciences), INTERSPEECH, ICGL (International Conference on Greek Linguistics), ISTAL (International Symposium on Theoretical and Applied Linguistics), among others. She has also co-organized three Thematic Sessions within international conferences in the field of Phonetics/Phonology, three Summer Schools in Speech Processing and a conference in the field of Education.
Website: http://users.uoa.gr/~asfakianaki/