Strategia didattica per sviluppare la comprensione della lettura negli studenti di Italiano I presso un’università privata di Lima

The purpose of this research study is to design a didactic strategy that develops the reading comprehension of students of Italian I course at a private university in Lima. The study is framed within the interpretative paradigm, with a qualitative approach and within the research type of applied education. The sample consisted on two Italian teachers, the academic coordinator of other languages department and thirty-five Beca 18 students. The students were registered in eight Italian I courses of the 2018-01 semester at this private university. The participants were selected using a non-probabilistic convenient sampling. The research study is based on the different theories, approaches, models and strategies related to the reading comprehension of Italian as a foreign language. The research tools used for the data collection process were participant-observation, depth interview, student survey and an Italian reading comprehension test (CILS). The diagnosis performed in this study is based on current developments on the state of reading comprehension of Italian I course, in order to understand the level of competence achieved by these students and their perceptions of in classroom reading comprehension activities. In addition, this study also observed the teachers’ theoretical and practical knowledges inside the teaching and learning processes. The didactic strategy proposed in this study aims to respond coherently to the problem identified and to provide an understanding of this complex mental process through which the student interprets, assimilates, organizes and values texts in Italian.

Ripensare la ricerca italiana in linguistica educativa

This is not a research essay, it is a survey of the characteristics of present-day research essays in Italian educational linguistics. Many weak points are pointed out, most of which concern ‘borders’, such as the fuzzy epistemological borders between educational linguistics and other scientific areas; the frequent overlapping of different research typologies, which require different methodologies and have different rhetorical structures; confusion as far as implied readers are concerned. The consequence is that sometimes edulinguistic research allows amateurish trips outside educational linguistics, and allows for non educational linguists to take amateurish trips (and sometimes jobs) in the field of educational linguistics. A tentative list of parameters that can be used by referees, editors and evaluators is provided, in order to define the quality of studies before they are accepted in journals and conferences.

English Lingua Franca: New Parameters for the Teaching (and Testing) of English Pronunciation?

The recent (2018) Companion Volume to the Common European Framework offers an overhaul of many of the scales of descriptors, including, notably, phonology. A single, skeletal, scale for ‘phonological control’ is replaced by three scales, describing overall control, sound articulation, and prosodic features. In each of these, the focus has become intelligibility, rather than proximity to a native speaker accent. In this article I examine the development of pronunciation teaching since the communicative revolution, and the rise of English as a lingua franca (ELF) in which intelligibility is crucial. The article concludes with a reflection on how (if at all) the revised framework could inform an ELF aware assessment of pronunciation.

Cenerentola entra a palazzo: il nuovo ruolo della pronuncia nell’insegnamento linguistico

This paper provides an overview of the current status of L2 pronunciation teaching and shows that there is a greater appreciation for L2 pronunciation teaching today than there was in the past. The paper starts by reviewing the main theoretical approaches in pronunciation teaching of the past 70 years and introduces today’s approach focusing on ‘speech intelligibility’ rather than on the achievement of native-like pronun-ciation. It then addresses the following issues: what we mean by foreign accent and speech intelligibility; how foreign accent can affect communication and speakers’ integration in society; what challenges present-day L2 pronunciation teachers; how technology can help.

The Promotion of Intercultural Understanding in English Language Teaching Textbooks A Content Analysis

The paper centres around the idea that second language learning is an intercultural process. The global role of English as a primary means of intercultural communication has highlighted the need to develop intercultural competences in language learners. Based on these premises, this study will explore the extent to which intercultural aspects are incorporated in course materials and textbooks. A content analysis of 4 textbooks will be conducted. The preliminary results will highlight the limited coverage of intercultural content in most of the textbooks analysed and the need to promote intercultural knowledge and understanding in the language classroom.

Imparare dagli errori: apprendenti russofoni di italiano LS/L2

The study deals with written errors in Italian language made by Russian learners and their use in Italian LS/L2 lessons. The cultural-linguistic background of Russian learners of Italian and the differences in the morphosyntax of Italian and Russian are partly accounted for causes of such errors. The paper focuses on the didactic advantages of ranking multiple choice test on the base of the degree of incorrectness of the proposed choice: it supports the importance of using systematic errors as a source to create ad hoc multiple choice, and to trigger students’ conscious second language learning.

L’uso delle mappe mentali per l’apprendimento della lingua francese

It is easy to teach a good student who shows no difficulty in learning. A greater commitment is necessary however, with a learner who is unable to follow the set pace and pursue the set educational objectives. This paper is the fruit of a collaborative, didactic experience centered on the use of mental maps which has led to excellent results. This tool is often associated with didactics for learners who have specific learning difficulties. We have used mental maps in the organizational stage of learner’s study, for their presentations, in the review stage and for their written French work, increasing both the performance and concentration of university students.

Theatrical Pedagogy and Language Acquisition: A Methodological Analysis

The present study, conducted in a secondary school in Perugia (Italy), aimed to verify the benefits of the theatrical teaching methodology on the acquisition of a foreign language, in this case Spanish. The project, funded with the Three-year Plan of the Arts, took place for 20 hours over a school term, involving 23 students in the theatrical teaching group and 30 learners in the control group. The paper describes thoroughly the original experimental protocol in all its different phases, in order to encode it and make it replicable. It also provides the results obtained, measured quantitatively and statistically through the administration of a language pre-test, at the beginning of the project, and a final post-test.

Ay! Gulp! Splash! A Proposal for Hispanic-American Literatures’ Didactics with Comics

This article focuses on the possibility of studying literature, in particular Hispanic-American one, with the support of comics. Studying the adaptations in comics permits to explore new possibilities for Didactics and to introduce adaptations in comics as a resource in academic courses. In fact the comic is a facilitator in linguistic learning and literary acquisition and it is an efficient tool that permits decoding and analysing contemporary realities. Moreover, it is a vehicle of political, social and cultural contents, and it has a mediator function that is useful in the teaching of foreign languages and literatures. It is an accessible, intuitive, familiar and inclusive language – it knows how to understand the skills of the students – that facilitates the language’s communicative function and that motivates the student in the learning process.