Dr Dora Alexopoulou

Dr Alexopoulou is interested in natural language syntax, as a manifestation of the human cognitive capacity for language, and in  the way syntax shapes language learning. Her research looks at variation and diversity across languages and crosslinguistic influence in second language learning. One central question is   how the similarity  between a learner’s mother tongue and their second language  influences the way they process and interpret it, how it impacts on their learning, even predicting proficiency scores in exams. Her practical goal is to develop learning methods and tools that can address learning challenges and improve outcomes.  In this context she leads an research partnership with EF Education First as the PI of the EF Lab For Applied Language Learning. She approaches questions on language typology and cognition through Chomsky’s generative syntax and a combination of experimental and corpus data, in particular big data from online foreign language learning platforms.

Current research topics: language typology and cognition, L2 learnability, natural language processing for learner data, input processing instruction, child L2 acquisition, linguistic complexity in L2 development, crosslinguistic influence on  semantic processing.

EF Lab for Applied Language Learning

Linguistic Typology and Learnability (with Prof.I.M.Tsimpli, Co-I), Co-I 

Crosslinguistic influence in L2 semantic word processing; the role of L1-L2 phonological distance, (with Francesca  Branzi PI and Yang Cheng Co-I), Cambridge Language Sciences Incubator Fund.

Published works: 

• Oksuz, D. C., Derkach, K., Alexopoulou, T., & Tsimpli, I. M. (2025, February 26). The influence of L1 typology on the acquisition of the L2 English article: A large-scale corpus study. OSF Preprints. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/qzgps_v1
• Ntalli, A., Alexopoulou, T., Hendriks, H., & Tsimpli, I. M. (2025). The acquisition of verbal morphology by child classroom EFL learners in Russia and China: The effect of age and L1. Journal of Child Language, 1–28. https://doi.org/10.1017/S030500092500008X
• Sato, M., Thorne, S. L., Michel, M., Alexopoulou, T., & Hellermann, J. (2025). Language, people, classrooms, world: Blending disparate theories for united language education practices. The Modern Language Journal, 109, 15–38. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12976
• Michel, M., Atkinson, D., Ribeiro, A. C., Alexopoulou, T., Cappellini, M., Eskildsen, S. W., Gao, X., Hellermann, J., Kayi-Aydar, H., Lowie, W., Mejía-Laguna, J. A., Ortega, L., Pekarek Doehler, S., Sasaki, M., Sato, M., Thorne, S. L., & Zheng, Y. (2025). Forging common ground in second language acquisition and teaching: A combined synergy statement. The Modern Language Journal, 109, 90–103. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12983
• Shatz, I., Murakami, A., & Alexopoulou, T. (2024). The potential influence of crosslinguistic lexical similarity on lexical diversity in L2 English writing. Corpora, 19(2), 131–156. https://doi.org/10.3366/cor.2024.0305
• Shatz, I., Alexopoulou, T., & Murakami, A. (2023). Examining the potential influence of crosslinguistic lexical similarity on word-choice transfer in L2 English. PLOS ONE, 18(2), e0281137. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0281137
• Alexopoulou, T., Chen, X., & Tsimpli, I. M. (under review). Syntactic distance and learnability in L2 English relative clauses.
• Branzi, F., Chang, Y., Gaele, C., & Alexopoulou, T. (2021). The impact of L2 proficiency on cross-language influence during L2 word processing. Cambridge Open Engage. https://doi.org/10.33774/coe-2021-fv5gt-v2
• Alexopoulou, T. (2021). How our linguistic mind guides language learning. TEDxCambridgeUniversity, March 2021.
• Alexopoulou, T., Murakami, A., & Meurers, D. (in press). Big data and second language acquisition: Advances in methodology and analysis. In M. Gonzalez-Lloret & N. Ziegler (Eds.), Handbook of SLA and Technology. Routledge.
• Alexopoulou, T. (2020). Grammatical errors: What can we do about them? Languages, Society and Policy. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.60255
• Huang, Y., Murakami, A., Alexopoulou, T., & Korhonen, A. (2020). Subcategorization frame identification for learner English. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics. https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.18097.hua
• Chen, X., Alexopoulou, T., & Tsimpli, M. I. (2020). Automatic extraction of subordinate clauses and its application in second language acquisition research. Behavior Research Methods. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-020-01456-7
• Ballier, N., Canu, S., Petitjean, C., Gasso, G., Balhana, C., Alexopoulou, T., & Gaillat, T. (2020). Machine learning for learners’ English: A plea for creating learner data challenges. pp. 72–103.
• Michel, M., Murakami, A., Alexopoulou, T., & Meurers, D. (2019). Effects of task type on morphosyntactic complexity across proficiency: Evidence from a large learner corpus of A1 to C2 writings. Instructed Second Language Acquisition, 3, 26–33.
• Alexopoulou, T., & Folli, R. (2019). Topic strategies and the syntax of nominal arguments in Italian and Greek. Linguistic Inquiry, 50(3), 439–486.
• Huang, Y., Murakami, A., Alexopoulou, T., & Korhonen, A. (2018). Dependency parsing of learner English. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 1, 28–54.
• Alexopoulou, T., Michel, M., Murakami, A., & Meurers, D. (2017). Task effects on linguistic complexity and accuracy: A large-scale learner corpus analysis employing natural language processing techniques. Language Learning, Special Issue. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12232
• Murakami, A., & Alexopoulou, T. (2016). Longitudinal L2 development of the English article in individual learners. In Proceedings of the 38th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 1050–1055.
• Murakami, A., & Alexopoulou, T. (2015). L1 influence on the acquisition order of English grammatical morphemes: A learner corpus study. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, Recipient of the Albert Valdman Award for Outstanding Publication in SSLA 2016.
• Alexopoulou, T., Geertzen, J., Korhonen, A., & Meurers, D. (2015). Exploring big educational learner corpora for SLA research: Perspectives from relative clauses. International Journal of Learner Corpus Research, 1(1), 96–129. https://doi.org/10.1075/ijlcr.1.1.04ale
• Alexopoulou, T., & Keller, F. (2013). What vs. who and which: Kind-denoting fillers and the complexity of whether-islands. In N. Hornstein et al. (Eds.), Experimental Syntax and Island Effects (pp. 310–340). CUP.
• Alexopoulou, T., Yannakoudakis, H., & Salamoura, A. (2013). Classifying intermediate learner English: A data-driven approach to learner corpora. In Corpora and Language in Use (pp. 11–23).
• Geertzen, J., Alexopoulou, T., & Korhonen, A. (2013). Automatic linguistic annotation of large-scale L2 databases: The EF-Cambridge Open Language Database (EFCAMDAT). In Proceedings of the 31st Second Language Research Forum (SLRF) (pp. 1–15).
• Alexopoulou, T., & Keller, F. (2007). Locality, cyclicity, and resumption: At the interface between grammar and the human parser. Language, 83(1), 110–160.
• Alexopoulou, T. (2006). Resumption in relative clauses. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 24(1), 57–111.
• Alexopoulou, T., & Kolliakou, D. (2002). On linkhood, topicalisation and clitic left dislocation. Journal of Linguistics, 38(2), 193–245.
• Keller, F., & Alexopoulou, T. (2001). Phonology competes with syntax: Experimental evidence for the interaction of word order and accent placement in the realisation of information structure. Cognition, 79, 301–372.