{"id":1942,"date":"2026-03-05T06:46:48","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T06:46:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/es.bilkent.edu.tr\/?page_id=1942"},"modified":"2026-03-05T06:54:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T06:54:05","slug":"duygu-fama-safak","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/es.bilkent.edu.tr\/?page_id=1942","title":{"rendered":"Duygu Fatma Safak"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Assistant Professor
dsafak@bilkent.edu.tr<\/a>
+90 312 290 2910
G<\/em>oogle Scholar Profile<\/em><\/a><\/em>
LinkedIn<\/a>
ResearchGate<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biography:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Duygu F. \u015eafak is Assistant Professor in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) at Bilkent University. Her research lies at the intersection of psycholinguistics and second language acquisition, with a particular focus on language processing, sentence comprehension, and prediction-based learning mechanisms in second language and heritage language speakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She received her BA in Foreign Language Education, with a minor in German, from Middle East Technical University (METU). Following her undergraduate studies, she participated in the Teaching Excellence and Achievement (TEA) programme at the University of Arkansas, supported by the U.S. Department of State, and worked as a Comenius Language Assistant in Germany. She subsequently completed her MA in English Language Teaching at METU before continuing her doctoral training in linguistics. In 2016, she moved to Germany and completed her PhD in Linguistics at the Technical University of Braunschweig (TU Braunschweig).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. \u015eafak began her academic career as a research and teaching assistant at METU, contributing to research projects in psycholinguistics alongside her teaching activities. She later joined TU Braunschweig as a lecturer and subsequently served as a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer (2022\u20132026), where she was part of the German Research Foundation (DFG)-funded research unit Structuring the Input in Language Processing, Acquisition and Change<\/em> (SILPAC). In 2026, she returned to T\u00fcrkiye to join Bilkent University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her research examines how multilingual speakers process, adapt to, and learn grammatical structures in real time. Her work has appeared in leading journals including Bilingualism: Language and Cognition<\/em>, Studies in Second Language Acquisition<\/em>, and Second Language Research<\/em>. Her research has received recognition through competitive international awards and travel grants. She also contributes to the field through peer review for international journals in psycholinguistics and second language acquisition, as well as through conference and editorial service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Education:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PhD in Linguistics, Technische Universit\u00e4t Braunschweig (TU Braunschweig), Germany, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MA in English Language Teaching, Middle East Technical University, T\u00fcrkiye, 2015<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BA in Foreign Language Education (Minor in German), Middle East Technical University, T\u00fcrkiye, 2011<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research Interests:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psycholinguistics; first and second language processing; predictive sentence comprehension; second language acquisition and multilingualism<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Selected Publications and Presentations:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Selected Publications<\/u><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u015eafak, D. F.<\/strong>, & Hopp, H. (2025). Learning L2 grammar from prediction errors? <\/em>Verb biases in structural priming in comprehension and production.<\/em> Bilingualism: Language and Cognition<\/em>, 28<\/em>(5), 1249\u20131265. DOI: 10.1017\/S1366728925000033<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u015eafak, D. F.<\/strong>, & Hopp, H. (2023). Cross-linguistic differences in predicting L2 sentence structure: The use of categorical and gradient verb constraints<\/em>. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, <\/em>45<\/em>(5), 1234\u20131260. DOI: 10.1017\/S0272263123000256<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u015eafak, D. F. <\/strong>(2022). How do L2 learners use verbs in sentence processing? <\/em>Integration and prediction in L2 sentence comprehension [Doctoral dissertation, Technische Universit\u00e4t<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Braunschweig]. Universit\u00e4tsbibliothek Braunschweig. <\/em>DOI: 10.24355\/dbbs.084-202209051029-0<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u015eafak, D. F.<\/strong>, & Hopp, H. (2022). Verb bias and semantic persistence effects in L2 ambiguity resolution. Second Language Research, 38<\/em>(4), 705\u2013736. DOI: 10.1177\/0267658321997904<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jacob, G., \u015eafak, D. F.<\/strong>, Demir, O., & K\u0131rk\u0131c\u0131, B. (2019). Preserved morphological processing in heritage speakers: A masked priming study on Turkish. Second Language Research, 35<\/em>(2), 173\u2013194. DOI: 10.1177\/0267658318764535<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lago, S., Gra\u010danin Y\u00fcksek, M., \u015eafak, D. F.<\/strong>, Demir, O., K\u0131rk\u0131c\u0131, B., & Felser, C. (2019). Straight from the horse\u2019s mouth: agreement attraction effects with Turkish possessors. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 9<\/em>(3), 398\u2013426. DOI: 10.1075\/lab.17019.lag<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gra\u010danin Y\u00fcksek, M., Lago, S., \u015eafak, D. F.<\/strong>, Demir, O., & K\u0131rk\u0131c\u0131, B. (2017). The interaction of contextual and syntactic information in the processing of Turkish anaphors. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research<\/em>, 46<\/em>(6), 1397\u20131425. DOI: 10.1007\/s10936-017-9502-2<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Selected Conference Presentations<\/u><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u015eafak, D. F.<\/strong>, & Baroncini, I. (2025). Bidirectional priming across languages in adult heritage language speakers. Poster presented at the 15th<\/sup> International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB)<\/em>, Donostia\u2013San Sebasti\u00e1n, Spain, June 09\u201313.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u015eafak, D. F.<\/strong>, & Hopp, H. (2024). Prediction-error-based learning in L2 sentence processing. Poster presented at the 30th<\/sup> Architectures and Mechanisms for Language Processing (AMLaP)<\/em>, Edinburgh, Scotland, September 05\u201307.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u015eafak, D. F.<\/strong>, & Hopp, H. (2023). Processing to Learn? Effects of prediction error in L2 structural priming. Talk presented at the 48th<\/sup> Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD)<\/em>, Boston, MA, US, November 02\u201305.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u015eafak, D. F.<\/strong>, & Hopp, H. (2019). The (non)interaction of lexical and discourse information in L2 sentence processing. Talk presented at EuroSLA 29, Lund, Sweden, August 28<\/em>\u201331.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jacob, G.,\u015eafak, D. F.<\/strong>, Demir, O., & K\u0131rk\u0131c\u0131, B. (2017). Preserved morphological processing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

in heritage speakers: Evidence from a masked priming study on Turkish. Talk presented at Conference on Multilingualism (COM2017)<\/em>, Groningen, Netherlands, November 06\u201308.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lago, S., Gra\u010danin Y\u00fcksek, M., \u015eafak, D. F.<\/strong>, Demir, O., & K\u0131rk\u0131c\u0131, B. (2017). Contextual and syntactic information jointly affect the processing of Turkish anaphors. Poster presented at the 30th<\/sup> CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing<\/em>, MIT, Cambridge MA, March 30\u2013April 01.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u015eafak, D. F.<\/strong>, Gacan Ertu\u011frul, P., & K\u0131rk\u0131c\u0131, B. (2016). The processing of derived words in L2 English: further evidence for the effect of orthography. Talk presented at International Symposium on Bilingual Processing in Adults and Children (ISBPAC)<\/em>, Kaiserslautern, Germany, April 14\u201315. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Selected Projects:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Priming Across Languages in Heritage Language Speakers<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Postdoc Research Project, University of Mannheim \u2013 Co-Principal Investigator (with Dr. Ioli Baroncini), 2025\u2013present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Structuring the Input in Language Processing, Acquisition and Change (SILPAC)<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

German Research Foundation (DFG) Research Unit \u2013 Postdoctoral Researcher (PI: Prof. Dr. Holger Hopp), 2022\u20132026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Experimental Studies on German-Turkish Multilingualism<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

T\u00dcB\u0130TAK\u2013BMBF Collaborative Project \u2013 Researcher (PIs: Prof. Dr. Bilal K\u0131rk\u0131c\u0131 and Prof. Dr. Harald Clahsen), 2014\u20132017.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Assistant Professordsafak@bilkent.edu.tr+90 312 290 2910 Google Scholar Profile LinkedIn ResearchGate Biography: Dr. Duygu F. \u015eafak is Assistant Professor in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) at Bilkent University. Her research lies at the intersection of psycholinguistics and second language acquisition, with a particular focus on language processing, sentence comprehension, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1082,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/es.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1942"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/es.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/es.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/es.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/es.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1942"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/es.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1956,"href":"https:\/\/es.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1942\/revisions\/1956"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/es.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/es.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}