Italian as a foreign language: Teaching and acquisition in higher education


Book Description

This manual focuses on teaching Italian as a foreign language in the academic field, taking into consideration the various subjects and disciplines that can be found in a university course in Italian Studies. Various chapters are included within that range, for example, from Italian phonetics and dialectology to art as a means to deepen elements of the Italian language, to morphology with word formations, and to translation as well as subtitling. The range also covers technology as a tool for telecollaboration, academic writing, and learning Italian through geography or the language of vulgarity. Besides, the manual takes into consideration the use of the Italian press for learning, together with the use of comics and cartoons to teach the Italian language. The contribution aims to be a point of reference both for teachers and students who are focusing on linguistics, philology, didactics, and pedagogy. It lays emphasis on the teaching methodology, the instruments of teaching, and the available resources. It also seeks to deal with the various teaching problems and reflects on the disciplines as well as alternative proposals for teaching.




Higher Education and Second Language Learning


Book Description

In this volume, academics involved in teaching second languages at university level describe how they have embraced the challenges involved in facilitating student learning. It sets out practical ideas which can be implemented in everyday contexts, while ensuring that pedagogical practice is underpinned by the relevant theoretical literature.




New Approaches to Teaching Italian Language and Culture


Book Description

New Approaches to Teaching Italian Language and Culture fills a major gap in existing scholarship and textbooks devoted to the teaching of Italian language and culture. A much-needed project in Italianistica, this collection of essays offers case studies that provide a coherent and organized overview of contemporary Italian pedagogy, incorporating the expertise of scholars in the field of language methodology and language acquisition from Italy and four major countries where the study of Italian has a long tradition: Australia, Canada, Great Britain and the United States. The twenty four essays, divided into six main parts, offer a tremendous variety of up-to-date approaches to the teaching of Italian as a foreign language and L2, ranging from theoretical to more practical, hands-on strategies with essays on curricular innovations, technology, study abroad programs, culture, film and song use as effective pedagogical tools. Each case study introduces a systematic approach with an overview of theory, activities and assessment suggestions, collection of research data and syllabi. The book addresses the needs of instructors and teacher trainers, putting in perspective different examples that can be used for more effective teaching techniques according to the ACTFL guidelines and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.




CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) through English in Italian Higher Education


Book Description

This is a research study monograph into an approach known as Content and Language Integrated Learning or CLIL through English in Italian higher education. There is as yet little agreement on terminology, definitions, learning theories or classroom approaches as regards CLIL. A distinction is therefore made between CLIL, ICLHE (Integrating Content and Language in Higher Education), Content-based Instruction, L2-medium Instruction and Bilingual Education. The research design comprises both quantitative and qualitative elements. A questionnaire survey of all Italian universities profiled the many courses presently delivered using English as the vehicular language, and found some homogeneity in process and subjects, but differences linked to private or public funding and to geographical area. A survey of students (n=134) was designed and administered to obtain their evaluation of a list of techniques used by lecturers to help students understand lectures delivered through English. Respondents recognised and considered as useful most of the categories, including the use of repetitions, examples, summaries, definitions, synonyms, questions and emphasising with intonation. The qualitative part involved observing, recording, transcribing, and analysing lectures delivered through English by four university science lecturers, who were also interviewed. Results confirm the validity of some input presentation strategies and show similarities and differences between student and lecturer perceptions. The data also show discrepancies, at times, between the strategies considered useful by the lecturers and those actually used in the classes.







Production-oriented and Comprehension-based Grammar Teaching in the Foreign Language Classroom


Book Description

The book addresses one of the key controversies in teaching foreign language grammar, which is the utility of production-oriented instruction, as exemplified in the PPP sequence, and comprehension-based teaching, as implemented in interpretation tasks and processing instruction. It provides a thorough overview of issues related to learning and teaching grammar, with a particular focus on input-oriented approaches, and reports the findings of four studies which sought to compare their effects with instruction based on different forms of output practice. The findings serve as a basis for guidelines on how the two options can be successfully combined in the classroom




Critical CALL – Proceedings of the 2015 EUROCALL Conference, Padova, Italy


Book Description

The theme of the conference this year was Critical CALL, drawing inspiration from the work carried out in the broader field of Critical Applied Linguistics. The term ‘critical’ has many possible interpretations, and as Pennycook (2001) outlines, has many concerns. It was from these that we decided on the conference theme, in particular the notion that we should question the assumptions that lie at the basis of our praxis, ideas that have become ‘naturalized’ and are not called into question. Over 200 presentations were delivered in 68 different sessions, both in English and Italian, on topics related specifically to the theme and also more general CALL topics. 94 of these were submitted as extended papers and appear in this volume of proceedings.




Foreign Language Proficiency in Higher Education


Book Description

This volume comprises of chapters that deal with language proficiency relating to a wide range of language program issues including curriculum, assessment, learners and instructors, and skill development. The chapters cover various aspects of a broad-based proficiency initiative, focusing on numerous aspects of foreign language learning, including how skills develop, how assessments can inform curriculum, how learners and instructors view proficiency and proficiency assessment, and how individual use of technology furthers language learning. The concluding chapter points the way forward for issues and questions that need to be addressed.




Project-Based Learning in Second Language Acquisition


Book Description

This book showcases pedagogical tools for learning languages through interdisciplinary project-based learning (PBL). Chapters demonstrate a diverse range of PBL activities that help students build communities of practice within classroom settings, and across local and global communities. Too often, learning a language can become a static endeavor, confined to a classroom and a singular discipline. But language is dynamic and fluid no matter the setting in which learning takes place. In acknowledging this, this volume explores how PBL and community-engagement pedagogies serve to combine learning goals and community service in ways that enhance student growth and facilitate second language development in an interdisciplinary, multilingual, and multicultural higher education learning environment. Chapters touch on activities and approaches including spoken-word poetry, environmental projects, social activism, study abroad, and in-service learning. This book will be of interest to researchers, academics, and postgraduate students in the fields of language education, second language acquisition, higher education, and comparative and international education.