Marta Maffia

Marta Maffia is a Researcher at the University of Naples 'L'Orientale' in the Department of Literary, Linguistic and Comparative Studies, specializing in Modern Language Teaching. She teaches courses including 'Apprendimento Linguistico' for the Mediazione Linguistica e Culturale program and 'Didattica delle Lingue Moderne' for multiple graduate programs including Lingue e Comunicazione Interculturale in Area Euromediterranea, Letterature e Culture Comparate, and Lingue e letterature europee e americane.

Her research focuses on Italian as a Second Language acquisition, particularly among low-literate immigrant populations, with a strong emphasis on oral skills development and prosodic features. She has pioneered work at the intersection of clinical linguistics and Parkinson's disease, examining speech rhythm variations in early-stage patients. Her work also explores multilingual repertoires of immigrant communities in Naples, including religious language practices in Valdese and Methodist churches.

Maffia's scholarly output demonstrates a clear trajectory examining language acquisition from multiple angles - educational, clinical, and sociolinguistic. Her recent publications increasingly focus on the application of linguistic research to medical diagnostics, particularly through speech analysis for early Parkinson's detection, while maintaining her foundational work on second language acquisition for vulnerable learner populations.

• Premio AItLA 2022 for her monograph 'Analfabetismo, abilità orali e lingue seconde. Uno studio su senegalesi apprendenti di italiano L2'
• Menzione speciale 'Talenti Italiani. I viaggi nell'Italia migliore' 2012 (categoria under 30) for her project 'Nuovi itinerari italiani' on intercultural tourism

Maffia serves as principal investigator for multiple research projects including 'GULP – Glottodidattica e Uso dei repertori Linguistici Plurali' and 'STRADD - Speech Technology for [L2] Rhythm, Affect and Disease Detection,' collaborating with institutions including the University of Naples Federico II, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, University of Bologna, and University of Aix-en-Provence. She has coordinated language instruction for immigrant populations through the Associazione Scuola di Pace since 2008 and served as didactic coordinator for immigrant language programs with Virtus Italia ONLUS from 2015-2019.