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Dr. Erika Caterina Piazzoli

Dr. Erika Caterina Piazzoli

Associate Professor, Education

3531896 1975www.erikapiazzoli.com

Biography

Erika is an Associate Professor in Arts Education, School of Education, Trinity College Dublin, and the Director of the Arts in Education Research Centre (AERG). She has practiced dance (Butoh), actor voice training (Linklater) and music (cello) for 15+ years, combining her arts practice with her language teaching experience and academic background in Drama in Education. Erika has practiced as a language teacher (Italian as a Second Language) from 2001 to 2014 in Brisbane, Australia, and from 2015 to date in Dublin, Ireland. She has taught all levels, from beginners to advanced, and all age groups, from toddlers to mature age students, focussing on creative and embodied practices in language education. She was awarded an Honours degree in Applied Theatre and a PhD in Drama in Education, with a thesis on Process Drama for second language learning from Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia, where she lectured from 2008 to 2014. She joined TCD in 2015, and currently coordinates the Master in Education (M.Ed.), the largest postgraduate programme in the School of Education. Erika teaches a number of postgraduate modules, including: Drama in Education, Arts Education, Embodying Language, Language & Society (Italian) and supervises several postgraduate students at Master's and PhD levels. Her research interests lie within the areas of arts education, embodiment, aesthetic learning, performative language practice, forced displacement and arts-based research. Erika was the principal investigator of two research projects, 'Sorgente: Performative Language Practice with Refugees and Migrants' funded by the Irish Research Council, and 'Lacunae: Embodying the Untranslatable', funded by the Trinity Long Room Hub. The Sorgente project was selected as one out of the 12 most innovative projects in Ireland, and featured as part of the 'Change Makers' documentary series, run by the Irish Universities Association, on Irish National Broadcaster RTE 1. She was the recipient of the Trinity Research Excellence (2023) for her work in L2 education through the arts. Erika serves on the editorial board of Scenario: Journal of Performative Language Teaching, Learning and Research, which publishes two issues per year, and hosted the 3rd International Scenario Conference, 'Presence in Performative Language Teaching, Learning and Research' in May 2024. She has written four books, including a monograph (Palgrave, 2018), a co-authored book (Armando, 2023) and two edited books (Palgrave, 2024; Routledge, 2024), as well as 40+ reports, book chapters and research articles.

Publications and Further Research Outputs

  • Erika Piazzoli, Translation in Cross-language Qualitative Research: Pitfalls and Opportunities., Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts, 1, (1), 2015, p80 - 102Journal Article, 2015
  • Erika Piazzoli, Reflection in Action in Cross-Language Qualitative Research, Qualitative Research Journal, 15, (1), 2015, p74 - 85Journal Article, 2015
  • Sociocultural Theory, Process Drama and Second Language Learning in, editor(s)Davis, Susan; Ferholt, Beth; Grainger Clemson, Hannah; Satu-Mari Jansson; Ana Marianovic-Shane , Dramatic Interactions in Education: Vygotskian and Socio-cultural Approaches to Drama, Education and Research, New York, Bloomsbury, 2015, pp153 - 160, [Penny Bundy, Erika Piazzoli, Julie Dunn]Book Chapter, 2015
  • Erika Piazzoli, Engagement as Perception-In-Action in Process Drama for Teaching and Learning Italian as A Second Language., International Journal for Language Studies, 8, (2), 2014, p91 - 116Journal Article, 2014
  • Erika Piazzoli, The 'Authentic Teacher': Heathcote's Notion of 'Authenticity' in Second Language Teaching and Learning, Drama Research Journal: International Journal of Drama in Education, 5, (1), 2014Journal Article, 2014
  • Erika Piazzoli and Claire Kennedy, Drama: Threat or Opportunity? Managing the 'Dual Affect' in Process Drama for Additional Language Learning, Scenario, 1, 2014Journal Article, 2014
  • Erika Piazzoli, The Silent Gaps in the Data: What Do Participants Say about Engagement When Experiencing Process Drama to Learn an Additional Language, Drama Research Journal: International Journal of Drama in Education, 4, (1), 2013Journal Article, 2013
  • Drama for Additional Language Learning: Dramatic Contexts and Pedagogical Possibilities in, editor(s)Michael Anderson and Julie Dunn , How drama Activates Learning: Contemporary Research and Practice, London, Continuum, 2013, pp208 - 225, [Madonna Stinson and Erika Piazzoli]Book Chapter, 2013
  • Erika Piazzoli, Engage or Entertain? The Nature of Teacher/participant Collaboration in Process Drama for Additional Language Teaching, Scenario, 6, (2), 2012Journal Article, 2012
  • Film and Drama Aesthetics for Additional Language Teaching in, editor(s)Joe Winston , Second Language Learning Through Drama, London, David Fulton, 2012, pp134 - 148, [Erika Piazzoli]Book Chapter, 2012
  • Erika Piazzoli, Process Drama: The Use of Affective Space to Reduce Language Anxiety in the Additional Language Learning Classroom, Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 16, (4), 2011, p557 - 554Journal Article, 2011
  • Erika Piazzoli, Didattica Process Drama: Principi di Base, Estetica e Coinvolgimento, Italiano LinguaDue, 2011Journal Article, 2011
  • Erika Piazzoli, Process drama and Intercultural Language Learning: An Experience of Contemporary Italy, Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 15, (3), 2010, p385 - 402Journal Article, 2010
  • Erika Piazzoli, Process Drama and Additional Language Teaching: Reflections on the Dante Alighieri Immersion Weekends, Applied Theatre Researcher IDEA Journal, 11, 2010, p1 - 12Journal Article, 2010
  • Erika Piazzoli, Metodologia Process Drama e Competenza Interculturale, Culturiana, Settembre, 2009, p69 - 73Journal Article, 2009
  • Intercultural Dramatic Tension and Intercultural Engagement in, editor(s)John Crutchfield, Manfred Schewe , Performative Approaches to Foreign and Second Language Education: Intercultural Contexts and Perspectives, London, Multilingual Matters, 2017, pp172 - 196, [Erika Piazzoli]Book Chapter, 2017
  • Erika Piazzoli, Mapping an ethnography of change in teachers of Italian (L2) learning process drama, Teaching Italian Language and Culture Annual, N/A, (N/A), 2016, p96 - 114Journal Article, 2016, URL , TARA - Full Text
  • Luca Marrucci, Erika Piazzoli, Evaluating Learner Engagement in Arts Education: Perspectives from Music and Drama in Education, 3rd International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'17), Valencia, Spain, June 21-23 2017, http://dx.doi.org/10, 2017, pp1068 - 1075Conference Paper, 2017, URL , TARA - Full Text
  • Scenario: JOURNAL FOR PERFORMATIVE TEACHING, LEARNING, RESEARCH, 2, XI, (2017), Erika Piazzoli, Eucharia Donnery, [Guest Editor]Journal, 2017, URL
  • Voice as aesthetic element of language learning: Enhancing learners' performance through actors' voice training in, editor(s)Oliver Mentz, Micha Fleiner , The Arts in Language Teaching. International Perspectives: Performative - Aesthetic - Transversal, Münster, Lit Verlag, 2018, pp75 - 90, [Erika Piazzoli, Claire Kennedy]Book Chapter, 2018
  • Process drama: The use of affective space to reduce language anxiety in the additional language learning classroom in, editor(s)Joe Winston, Madonna Stinson , Drama education and second language learning, Abingdon, Oxon, Routledge, 2014, pp77 - 94, [Erika Piazzoli]Book Chapter, 2014
  • Erika Piazzoli, Embodying Language in Action: The Artistry of Process Drama for Second Language Education, Cham, Switzerland, Palgrave Macmillan / Springer Nature, 2018Book, 2018, URL
  • Fiona Dalziel; Erika Piazzoli, 'It comes from you': Agency in adult migrants' language learning through process drama, Language Learning in Higher Education, Special issue: Language learning for and with refugees in higher education, 9, (1), 2019, p7 - 32Journal Article, 2019, URL , TARA - Full Text
  • Erika Piazzoli; John Kubiak, 'The only learning I'm going to get': Students with intellectual disabilities learning a second language through performative pedagogy, Scenario: Journal for Performative Teaching, Learning, Research, 13, (1), 2019, p21 - 41Journal Article, 2019, URL , TARA - Full Text
  • Taking the cloth off the telescope in, editor(s)S. Even, D. Miladinovic, & & B. Schmenk , Lernbewegungen inszenieren: Performative Zugange in der Sprach, Literatur und Kulturdidaktik, [Putting Learning Movements on Stage: Performative Approaches in Language, Literature and Culture Education.], Tubigen, Germany, Francke Attempto Verlag, 2019, pp23 - 32, [Erika Piazzoli]Book Chapter, 2019, URL , TARA - Full Text
  • Erika Piazzoli; Elif Kir Cullen, The meaning (s) of practice: Puzzling through performative language practice with refugee learners., Applied Theatre Research, 8, (2), 2020, p227 - 244Journal Article, 2020, URL , TARA - Full Text
  • Erika Piazzoli; Elif Kir Cullen, The double-edged sword of storytelling Performative language pedagogy with refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, Scenario: A Journal of Performative Teaching, Learning and Research, 15, (2), 2021, p1 - 26Journal Article, 2021, DOI , URL , TARA - Full Text
  • Scenario: A Journal of Performative Teaching, Learning and Research, 15, 2, (2021), 1 - 147p, Erika Piazzoli, Fiona Dalziel, Garret Scally, [eds.], 1 yearJournal, 2021, URL , TARA - Full Text
  • Scenario: A Journal of Performative Teaching, Learning and Research, 15, 1, (2021), 1 - 145p, Susanne Even, Dragan Miladinović, Erika Piazzoli, Manfred Schewe, Fionn Woodhouse, [eds.], 1 yearJournal, 2021, URL , TARA - Full Text
  • The Elements of Drama in Second Language Education: An Intercultural Perspective in, editor(s)Mary McAvoy, Peter O'Connor , The Routledge Companion to Drama in Education, Abingdon, Oxon, Routledge, 2022, pp391 - 407, [Erika Piazzoli]Book Chapter, 2022, URL , TARA - Full Text
  • Erika Piazzoli, Giulia Tiozzo, Il teatro nella glottodidattica: Il process drama dalla teoria alla pratica, Rome, Armando Editore, 2023, 1 - 420ppBook, 2023, URL
  • Piazzoli, Erika & Schewe, Manfred, Arts education in Ireland: Visions of a performative teaching, learning and research culture, JOURNAL DE RECHERCHE EN ÉDUCATIONS ARTISTIQUES, 1, 2023, p72 - 83Journal Article, 2023, DOI , URL , TARA - Full Text
  • Erika Piazzoli, Autumn Brown, Fiona Dalziel, Rachael Jacobs, Garret Scally, Miriam Stewart, Sorgente Research Report: The Irish Case Studies, Trinity College Dublin, September 2023, 2023, p1 - 204Report, 2023, DOI , URL , TARA - Full Text
  • O'Sullivan, C., Clotworthy, E., Nugent, M., Colleary, S., Keane, E., Piazzoli, E., Gubbins, E., Krakaur, L., Kerin, M., McCormick, S., & Heeran Flynn, L., Arts Alive: A literature review to support curriculum specification development for the area of Arts Education, National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, October, 2023, p1 - 245Report, 2023, URL , TARA - Full Text
  • Erika Piazzoli, Rachael Jacobs, Garret Scally, Digital Displacement: Re-inventing Embodied Practice Online During the COVID-19 Pandemic, First, Cham, Switzerland, Palgrave MacMillan, 2023, 1 - 197ppBook, 2023, DOI , URL
  • Introduction in, editor(s)Erika Piazzoli, Rachael Jacobs, Garret Scally , Digital Displacement Re-inventing Embodied Practice Online During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Cham, Switzerland, Palgrave MacMillan, 2023, pp1-8 , [Erika Piazzoli]Book Chapter, 2023, DOI , URL
  • Inside Outside and Beyond: Storytelling in the Digital Space with Young Refugees and Migrants in, editor(s)Erika Piazzoli, Rachael Jacobs, Garret Scally , Digital Displacement Re-inventing Embodied Practice Online During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Cham Switzerland, Palgrave MacMillan, 2023, pp21-45 , [Erika Piazzoli]Book Chapter, 2023, DOI , URL
  • Erika Piazzoli, Modesto Corderi Novoa, Zoe Hogan, Performing Yuánfèn: An Exploration of Untranslatable Words in the Lacunae Project, Arts, 13, (1), 2024, p1 - 19Journal Article, 2024, DOI , URL , TARA - Full Text
  • Erika Piazzoli, Fiona Dalziel, Performative Language Learning with Refugees and Migrants Embodied Research and Practice in the Sorgente Project, First, Abingdon, Oxon, UK and New York, USA, Routledge, 2024, 1 - 226ppBook, 2024, DOI , URL
  • Performative language practice and ethical principles in the Sorgente project in, editor(s)Erika Piazzoli, Fiona Dalziel , Performative Language Learning with Refugees and Migrants Embodied Research and Practice in the Sorgente Project, Abingdon, Oxon, and New York, US, Routledge, 2024, pp1 - 15, [Erika Piazzoli, Fiona Dalziel]Book Chapter, 2024, DOI , URL
  • At the threshold of the ethical imagination: The 'not-a-fish' in, editor(s)Erika Piazzoli, Fiona Dalziel , Performative Language Learning with Refugees and Migrants, Abingdon, Oxfon, UK and New York, US, Routledge, 2024, pp57 - 73, [Erika Piazzoli]Book Chapter, 2024, DOI , URL
  • Conclusion: A poem and a painting in, editor(s)Erika Piazzoli, Fiona Dalziel , Performative Language Learning with Refugees and Migrants: Embodied Research and Practice in the Sorgente Project, Abingdon, Oxfon, UK, New York, US, Routledge, 2024, pp188-198 , [Erika Piazzoli, Fiona Dalziel, Rachael Jacobs]Book Chapter, 2024, DOI , URL
  • Arts Based Methodologies and Embodied Methods in, editor(s)Erika Piazzoli & Fiona Dalziel , Performative Language Learning with Refugees: Embodied Research and Practice in the Sorgente Project and Migrants:, Routledge, 2024, pp1 - 226, [Erika Piazzoli]Book Chapter, 2024, URL
  • Erika Piazzoli, 'Can we find stillness in movement, and movement in stillness?', On the Softening of Our World: 81 Sayings, https://www.schibri.de/978-3-8, Germany, Schibri-Verlag, 2021, -Poetry, 2021, URL
  • Erika Piazzoli, Tania Canas, How might a dramaturgy of absence-presence be understood in community engaged processes?, Scenario 3rd International Conference, Performative Language Teaching, Learning and Research, Trinity College Dublin, 9-11/05/2024, 2024, Scenario: Journal of Performative Teaching, Learning and ResearchInvited Talk, 2024
  • Erika Piazzoli, Presence as the Untranslatable, Scenario 3rd International Conference, Performative Language Teaching, Learning and Research, Trinity College Dublin, 9-11 May 2024, 2024Conference Paper, 2024
  • Erika Piazzoli, Process Drama: Aneddoto Contro la Sonnolenza, Officina: La rivista per insegnanti di ALMA Edizioni, Aprile, 2012Journal Article
  • Erika Piazzoli, The Power of 'Teacher in Role', Journal of Modern Language Teachers' Association of Queensland, 49, 2010Journal Article
  • Erika Piazzoli, Tania Canas, Youthreach students, 'abSENce-presenCE (SENCE)', Trinity College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin, 2024, -Exhibition
  • Erika Piazzoli, Ní Shíocháin, Tríona (2018). Singing Ideas:Performance, Politics and Oral Poetry., Review of Ní Shíocháin, Tríona (2018). Singing Ideas:Performance, Politics and Oral Poetry., by Ní Shíocháin, Tríona , Scenario: Journal of Performative Teaching, Learning and Research, 18, (1), 2018, p96-98Review, TARA - Full Text

Research Expertise

My research focuses on the interplay between performative arts, embodiment and language education, an area known as performative language pedagogy. My PhD considered process drama and its influence on communicative, intercultural, affective, and aesthetic engagement in language education. I noted the impact of dramatic tension in reducing foreign language anxiety, and increasing intercultural engagement. This led me to advance the construct of 'intercultural dramatic tension'. My first book, "Embodying Language in Action" (Piazzoli, 2018), a seminal reference in the field, explored embodiment and intercultural dramatic tension. My chapter in "The Routledge Companion for Drama in Education" (Piazzoli, 2022) expanded this notion and became the basis for a study, which I led as PI, on 'Untranslatable Words' and dramatic tension. My PhD also highlighted the construct of 'aesthetic distance' for affective engagement in language learning. In my second book, "Il Teatro nella Glottodidattica" [Theatre in Language Teaching], I explored aesthetic distance, emotions and play. During the pandemic, I contemplated embodied practice in digital spaces, resulting in a third book, "Digital Displacement" (Piazzoli et al. 2023). Since 2017 I have worked with refugees, researching the impact of creative language practices on belonging and engagement. The Sorgente project, which I led as PI, was selected for the Change Makers series (RTE) and culminated in my fourth book, "Sorgente: Performative Language Teaching with Refugees and Migrants" (Piazzoli & Dalziel, 2024). Here I discussed belonging, creativity and ethical practice, advancing a framework on trauma-informed performative language pedagogy. Lately, I have been interested in the construct of 'presence' in performative language pedagogy, hence I convened an international conference on the topic. I am the PI of a practice-based project, AbSENce-PresenCE" (SENCE) exploring migrant youth perceptions of absence/presence in the community. Currently, I am editing two special issues (Scenario Journal) and writing a book proposal on 'presence'.

  • Title
    Embodiment in Arts-based Language Learning for Students with Intellectual Disabilities: Integrating Visual arts and Italian
    Summary
    This project focuses on exploring embodied learning working with first-year students enrolled in the Trinity Centre for People with Intellectual Disabilities (TCPID). We aim to consider the effects that embodiment can have on language learning processes, by specifically combining the syllabi of two modules of the ASIAP program in Term 2, 2018: Exploring Art, taught by John Kubiak, and Italian for Beginners, taught by Erika Piazzoli.
    Date From
    January 2017
    Date To
    ongoing
  • Title
    Sorgente: Engaging asylum seekers, refugees and their teachers in performative language pedagogy
    Summary
    Sorgente's objective is to collaborate with City of Dublin Education and Training Board (CDETB) through two of its services, the Youth and Education Service (YES) for Refugees and Migrants, and the Adult Education Service, to develop a second language learning programme based on Performative Language Pedagogy.
    Funding Agency
    Irish Research Council
    Date From
    2019
  • Title
    Lacunae: Embodying the Untranslatable
    Summary
    Lacunae's vision is channelling the disorientation brought about by the pandemic into an aesthetic dimension, through a performative exploration of Untranslatable Words.
    Funding Agency
    Trinity Long Room Hub
    Date From
    08-2021

Languages and literature, Education, Performing arts,

Recognition

  • Winner: Trinity Research Excellence Awards (Category: Broaden our local and global impact) 2023
  • Griffith University Academic Excellence - Chancellor's Medal Nominee for excellence in Ph.D. Thesis (Awareded with no revisions) 2013
  • Nominated for Excellence in Teaching (Griffith University) 2012
  • Nominated for Trinity Excellence in Teaching Award 2023/24
  • Nominated for Excellence in Teaching (Griffith University) 2011
  • Nominated for Excellence in Teaching (Griffith University) 2013
  • Nominated for Excellence in Research Student Supervision 2023/24
  • Nominated for Excellence in Teaching (Griffith University) 2013
  • Cassamarca Scholarship Award (Australasian Centre for Italian Studies (ACIS) 2010
  • Nominated for Excellence in Teaching (Griffith University) 2010
  • Scenario: Performative Teaching, Learning and Research 2024
  • International Drama in Education Research Institute (IDIERI) 2024
  • Educational Studies Association of Ireland (ESAI) 2024
  • The Arts in Society 2024
  • International Drama in Education Association (IDEA) 2024
  • Invited advisor for "Literacy Act: Basic literacy for adult migrants through Community Theatre" Erasmus Programme https://www.literacyact.eu/the-project/ 21/06/2021
  • Applied Theatre Research (ATR) Advisory Board 2017-24
  • PhD External Examiner, The University of Sydney 2019; 2023
  • Invited advisor for project "LinguaPax: Towards an inclusive and multilingual theatre", as part of the study "Obstacles and opportunities in the artistic development of migrants and refugees" (https://www.languageofbirds.eu/scientific-research/) 20/06/2023
  • External Examiner, Programme Level, MA English and Drama, MA Drama and Theatre in Education, The University of Warwick 2024-25
  • External Examiner, Programme Level, MA Youth and Community Studies, University of Malta 2024-25
  • PhD External Examiner, The University of Auckland 2021