Aria Cabot

Aria Zan Cabot is the director of the World Languages and Literatures Teaching and Technology Center, an adjunct instructor of Italian, and the co-director of the SMU-in-Tuscany study abroad program. She holds a Ph.D. in Italian from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has experience developing and teaching foreign language, literature, and culture courses in both traditional face-to-face and online formats. Prior to joining SMU, she was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Italian at Truman State University. She spent five years studying and working in Italy as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant and as the Resident Director of a study abroad program in Florence, Italy.

View curriculum vitae

Research Interests

• Early Modern autobiography
• Women writers from the Medieval through the Romantic period
• Travel writing in Europe from the Grand Tour to today
• Transvestism and gender identity in Early Modern literature
• Second-language acquisition and pedagogy
• Proficiency-based instruction
• Online curriculum development and assessment

Publications and Presentations

• "‘Sono qui per aiutarti!’ Practical applications of Generative AI in Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced Italian language courses." Special Issue of Annali d’italianistica: Digital Humanities and Artificial Intelligence: From Theory to Practice. Forthcoming Fall 2025.
• “‘Time to come out, girl!’: Queering Italian American sexuality on TV Land’s Younger” in Spaghetti Sissies Queering Italian American Media, eds. Sole Anatrone and Julia Heim (Palgrave Macmillan Cham, 2023).
• Aaron, G., Cabot, A., Forlino, D., and Solera Adoboe, S. “It Took a Village: A Demonstrated Need of Institutional Support for Successful Online Teaching,” in SCOLT Dimension 56 (2022), ed. Paula Garrett-Rucks.
•  “Comparing Proficiency of Novice Learners Online, Abroad, and On Campus.” ACTFL 2024 Convention, November 22-24, 2024, Philadelphia, PA.
• “Connecting Beyond the Classroom: How Internships can Boost Enrollments.” ACTFL 2024 Convention, November 22-24, 2024, Philadelphia, PA.
• “(Un)specific Languages for Specific Purposes? Boosting enrollment through a world language internship and course focused on professional development.” Seventh International Symposium of Languages for Specific Purposes (ISLSP)/ Centers for International Business Education Research (CIBER) Business Language Conference, George Washington University, May 2-3, 2024.

• “Forever Flipped: Practical Applications for Post-Pandemic Online Teaching.” ACTFL 2022 Convention, Boston, MA, November 18-20, 2022.

• “Strategies for Building a Languages for Specific Purposes Curriculum.” ACTFL 2021 Convention, November 19-21, 2021.

• “Integrated Performance Assessments in Hybrid and Virtual Courses.” ACTFL 2021Convention, November 19-21, 2021.

• “Beyond the Language Requirement: A three-pronged approach to improving retention.” 51^st NeMLA (Northeast Modern Language Association) Convention, Boston, MA, March 5-8, 2020.
• “Sensibility, Self-Control, and Friendship in the Writings of the Princess of Carignano, Caluso and Alfieri.” Arts et Savoirs 11. Entre le corps et l’esprit: langages et savoirs concurrents. (2019).
• “Assessing Intermediate Communication & Cultural Competence with TalkAbroad.” ACTFL 2019 Convention, Washington, DC, November 22-24, 2019.
• “Online, Face-to-Face, or Intensive Immersion Abroad? A Comparative Analysis.” ACTFL 2019 Convention, Washington, DC, November 22-24, 2019.
• “Autopsy-turvy: Representations of Women Readers in Eighteenth-Century Italy.” The 44th Annual Meeting of the South Central Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies: The Eighteenth Century in Perspective. Dallas, TX, 21-23 February 2019.
• “Applying Best Practices in Online Course Design to Your On-Campus Courses.” Teaching & Technology Brown Bag Series, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Southern Methodist University, October 9, 2018.
• “Building a Post-Secondary World Languages Online Curriculum: A Case Study.” ACTFL 2018 Convention, November 16-18, 2018. New Orleans, Louisiana.
• “Incipit vita nova: The new life of De Sica’s Bicycle Thief in American Cinema and Television, from Amexicano (2007) to A Better Life (2011) and Master of None (2015-).” American Association for Italian Studies (AAIS) Annual Convention, June 2018. Sorrento, Italy.

Courses Taught

• ITAL 1401
• ITAL 1402
• ITAL 1601 (SMU-in-Tuscany)
• ITAL 2401
• ITAL 2302
• WL 4385: World Language Internship