Teaching Italian language online. (Technologies and linguistic strategies for English-speaking people)

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Chapte r I: T he impor tanc e of the didac tic s: the fir st str ate gy of a suc c e ssful online
te ac he r .
In the present chapter, we are going to discuss all the didactics questions used in Italy
concerning Italian as second language. It encompasses everything from the
methodologies used in class to the political aspects that a teacher has to know in order to
face the daily reality. All the methods can be applied both in presential classes, in online
classes, and also for online social networks used as learning platforms. Another answer
to the question “Why is didactics important for a teacher?” is that if the professor knows
at least the basis of this relevant subject, there is a higher chance of a successful lesson.
In Italy are held lots of studies began in the seventies, concerning the didactics of Italian
as second language. Those studies refer to the basis and deepening of language didactics
subject. The branch of study that has a role in this field is called “linguistic education”.
1.1) The politic al aspe c t that c an he lp le arning a language .
Firstly, as mentioned before, it’s important to underline a political aspect that involves
all European languages: CEFR (The Common European Framework of Reference for
Languages). This “framework” was created by the Council of Europe, between 1966 and
1989. The aim of CEFR is to help both teachers and students. The benefits of a teacher
are to classify their students with a clear method, in order to give them the best input to
help the comprehension and learning of a language. Meanwhile, the benefit of a student
is to be classified and put in the correct level, as I am going to describe in the “degrees of
interaction in L2 classes” section. As it was discussed before, CEFR’s method is to
establish a language level, basing on four abilities or competences: speaking, writing,
listening, and reading.
The first ability, spe ak ing, has the objective to test the fluency of a student while he is
speaking with a mother tongue or people who know the language in question. The present
competence comprehends the ability to test the grammar features and the words the
student has learned. There are some examples, depending on the level. The alum that
possesses a lower level, as an A1, can express himself with few and simple sentences,
such as “subject+verb+object”. The only conjunctions that an A1 student may use are
“and” to link two sentences, like “io ho 30 anni e abito a Pisa” (I am 30 years old, and I
live in Pisa). Those are the first sentences that I have taught during my volunteering
activity for this level. Another conjunction for an A1 level is “or” and it’s used to make
a comparison: “questo colore è rosso o rosa?” (this colour is red or pink?).
The second ability in question is w riting. With this ability, the student can prove the
fluency that it possesses, especially if the alum has a different writing system. In the first
interview, as I am going to show in the next paragraph with more details, the interviewed
is due to copy some words, and depending on the speediness the student has, the teacher
can understand the level of alphabetization.
Another ability useful to live in a country and answer in the right way is liste ning. The
student, in order to answer in the right way, and so to prove its speaking skills, needs to
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A1 level
5
A2 level
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B1 level
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B2 level
understand the input to give the right output. In the “Degree of interaction in L2 classes”
section, this is the main key point to test a student, to put them in the right class group.
The last ability in question is re ading. A student that reads with fluency may possess a
good level of a language. Instead, the student that has some troubles, such as
pronunciation or reading broke sentences, it surely belongs to a lower level.
As it was analysed until this point, those four competences establish how to collocate a
person at a certain level. The Council of Europe has established three general kinds of
usersandsixcases,twopereachuser.ThereasonwhyTheCouncilofEuropehasdecided
to establish three kinds of users, at this moment, is deducible: every level has a clear
distinction. In A level, the user possesses elementary notions for daily scenarios. In B
levels, the user begins to build complex sentences and conjugate them to past tenses. In
the end, C level means being able to do things on your own, just like you would in a
normal situation. This can be seen at C2 level.
The first kind of user is called “basic user”, or A level. This is the initial user lever. As it
can be possible to see in the table below, this section is divided into two cases: beginner
(A1) and elementary (A2). A beginner basic user
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is a user that can understand and
communicate simple sentences, familiar and everyday expressions like present itself. It
canalsocommunicatewithotherusers,butonlyiftheyutterwordsandtheyspeakslowly.
Instead, elementary basic user
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skills still belong to a level “A”, but the most important
difference is that they can describe their routine with details, with present tense.
The second case is an intermediate level that the Council of Europe named “independent
User”. It’s divided into intermediate level
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and upper intermediate level
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. The first level
of the independent user is also called “threshold level”, due to the fact that the user has
Figure 1: CEFR tabel
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C1 level
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C2 level
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The most common definition to classify an Italian as second language teacher in the Italian education
system. Source: Sant’Anna university course.
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Or mother tongue language.
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The theories exposed are valid for every age, but my topic and focus is Italian as second language for
adults and immigrants
the ability to explain more complex topics and join to hard conversations that require the
use of past tenses and also expose correctly its own opinions, both in present and in past
tenses. An upper intermediate user is like a B1 user, but it can also communicate with a
native speaker fluently.
Finally, the last kind of CEFR user is “proficient user”, classified into advanced
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and
proficiency
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. In the advanced category, it’s possible to understand the implicit meaning
of a sentence and the hardest idioms. The student is able to articulate a speech or a text
clearly.Thelastcategory,theC2user,hastheabilitytospeaklikeanativeandunderstand
every single word, even the hardest conversations and dialects.
After having discussed CEFR, it’s evident concluding that a professor is due to know the
importance of the present reference framework because every level has clear goals to
reach and before starting a language course, the professor has to understand every
student’s need. For consequence, it’s due to expose how an Italian as second language
teacher or facilitator
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apply this framework since the first interview. Moreover, using
the CEFR, the facilitator also uses approaches related to language e duc ation, that are
introduced and explained by notorious linguists, as Krashen, that will be analysed in the
next paragraphs. Before continuing, it’s important to explain what “language education”
science is. This kind of science is a branch of linguistics, and it explains all the didactics
methods to learn a language. It also considers the development of educational politics
and society. Moreover, it can be defined a “non-science”, due to the correlation to human
sciences branch. Concerning the scientific aspect of language education, the science in
study analyses semiotics and linguistic capacities of learning development in a school,
between the student’s first
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, second and foreign language. In linguistics, a student’s first
language is the mother tongue language that learns from baby. Some studies affirm that
a human being could learn its mother tongue language from its mother’s womb. The
second case is foreign language, and it is the language learned in a country where it’s not
the official language. A concrete case may be Italian learned in France. Meanwhile, a
second language, and the focus of my work, is the language learned where the person has
daily approaches and where it’s spoken officially, such as Italian in Italy. So, the main
goal of language education is to develop different learning techniques for every exposed
case. For this reason, it’s important to consider the political aspect, because every country
has its own theories and standards, such as Italy.
1.2.) Linguistic e duc ation approac he s and me thods use d in Italian as se c ond language
c lass.
As it is possible to observe, Italy has a particular background, when we mention the
education system for adults and immigrants. Considering the scientific part of language
education science, it exists lots of theories
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, approaches and methods used to learn a
language, but moreover it’s useful to teach a language, in order to involve the student,
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Je ne sais pas / je n’entends pas.
because every lesson is a successful lesson if the student understands the topic, thanks to
this theory research. The purpose of this thesis’ chapter is to represent all the necessary
methods and techniques used with Italian as second language classes, as it will be
discussed in the next section, linked with coherent examples, taken from the classes I
held with the other volunteers.
Italianlanguage,asallEuropeanlanguages,hasCEFRasitsevaluationmethodtoclassify
a linguistic level of every student. According to Linguistic Education science that I have
mentioned before, there are lots of approaches and methods used in Italian as second
language classes.
The first one that I would like to expose, is connected to the first approach between the
student and the facilitator. In fact, before starting a grammar course, there is a preliminary
interview in which the student is analysed with CEFR table to classify the level of the
student and the didactic method, called “triadic move” and it’s used to be acted both for
the preliminary interview and for the first classes.
During the interview process to put the alums in the right class, in my volunteering
activity, this method resulted important because when the teacher asks a simple question,
like “what’s your name?”, the alum may answer or not. So, the triadic move is used in
order to decide the level of the student, testing the student’s “listening” and “speaking”
abilities. Listening ability is due to the fact that the students have to understand what the
facilitator says, while speaking is the input that the alum gives to the teacher, after his
question. As mentioned before, the teacher gives an initial input, as a simple question
“what’s your name?” and the alum has to answer the right question. Mostly, people who
never faced with Italian language only answer with their name or with the English
sentence “I don’t know” or “I don’t understand” or similar sentences in their mother
tongue language, as French
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, that I observed that is a common language for African
people. Here are some practical examples based on my experience:
1) The student does not understand simple sentences in Italian.
This is the case to give him a chance to formulating with other similar sentences or
question to him other topics. After two or three unanswered questions, it’s better
concluding, putting the alum in Alfa level or A1 level, depending on their educational
background, as well as I am going to describe.
Teacher “C iao. C ome ti c hiami?” INITIAL MOVE
Student “I don’t k now ” – “I don’t unde rstand”
(also in F re nc h)
ANSWER MOVE
Teacher “Ok ” (it starts another triadic move, in
order to help the alum)
“follow-up” (CLOSING
MOVE)
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Interview.
2) This is the simplest case: the student understands simple sentences in Italian. To
understand the level is necessary continue with other “triadic moves” or let him
make a self-presentation.
Teacher “C iao. C ome ti c hiami?” INITIAL MOVE
Student “Mi c hiamo A mir” ANSWER MOVE
Teacher “P e rfe tto A mir” (it starts another triadic
move)
“follow-up” (CLOSING
MOVE)
At this point, the teacher clearly knows the speaking level of the student, because the
conversation ends at the moment in which the student answers in another language. In
conclusion, the triadic move ends at the moment in which the teacher understands the
level.
The second step that a teacher adopts to collocate the student in the right level, according
toCEFR,istesting“writing”ability.InItalianassecondlanguagecourses,thisisacrucial
step, that determines if the student has to be put in “Alfa level” or “A1” level, depending
on two factors: if the student knows the Latin alphabet and the way he writes simple
words like house and dog.
Resuming the first approach
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, the professor analyses their students through all the four
CEFR’s abilities to determine their level. It’s important to make an individual interview
because every case is different and unique. By this method, it will be created the classes,
from A1 level to C2 level. In CIF association, this year, are held classes until the level
B2. There is another level, that belongs to the immigrant or refugee backgrounds: Alfa
level. Instead, in El Comedor association are held classes from Alfa to A2 levels.
In the next two paragraphs, I am going to describe all methodologies and approaches
belonging to didactics. The levels that I am going to take in study are the Alfa and A1
levels, because in my volunteering activity I hold three classes: Alfa level and A1 level
in CIF association and an A1 class in “El Comedor” volunteering Italian School. As I am
observing, those classes belong to a beginner background, but there is a huge difference
between them. First, I am going to focus on the very beginner course of alphabetization,
and then I will consider the A1 class courses. I have found the last level mentioned very
challenging, due to the fact that both schools have the same target of students (immigrants
and refugees), but they act in two different ways, as according to Linguistic Education
science. Moreover, also the alphabetization level is challenging, and mostly it is if it’s
compared with A1 level.
The didactics studies show that in se c ond language c lasse s is mostly used the dire c t
me thod, belonging to the induc tiv e approac h category. The inductive approach to
teaching a language was born in the 19
th
century. It concerns excluding completely the
student’s mother tongue language or a common lingua franca, as it could be English,
using instead the target language. Moreover, the mimics is used a lot during classes, this
because the language to learn is considered as it would be the mother tongue language.
The direct method, as mentioned before, is one of the methods that are categorized into
inductive approach. It has the focus on improving the student’s level, by using real
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Speaking ability.
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In other words, the facilitator role substitutes the well-known teacher role.
material, as in the Alfa level, which “codice fiscale” is one of the main topics of the first
classes, because with it the student will learn how to spell in Italian. Another case may be
the verb group, called conjugations, or giving to the students different colours and letting
them guess and understand the name of the colours, as it’s possible seeing after. In other
words, the linguistic -c ommunic ativ e c ompe te nc e is the main goal that this method
possesses. So, the professor has to give an active and clear input, in order to afford with
success, the communication. Another method used in these levels and that makes the
professor a facilitator is the notional-func tional me thod, a method that belongs to the
communicative approac h. This approach was defined by Dell Hymes in the 60s. Hymes
was a linguist, sociolinguist, and anthropologist and thanks to his research he contributed
to developing new strategies to learn a language better. In fact, the historic dynamics
concerning language learning until the 60s were very different. The methods applied to
learn a language were statics and focused on translating into the mother tongue language,
as grammar translation me thod, born in the 18
th
. For instance, students never had the
possibility to have a fluency in the speaking ability, unless they went to a country to learn
it, as it happened with rich class in the 18th century. This method wasn’t a success, due
to the main purpose: writing ability. Hymes, instead, had understood that to be fluent in
a language, it would be important to introduce the speaking ability and give to the student
the possibility to learn a language as it would be mother tongue language. As the name
suggests, the communicative part
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is the most important input and output of the lesson.
Input, concerning what students learn with the “help”
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of the teacher, and output is what
the student can contribute to the class group. In fact, all students are invited to socialize
between them. Thanks to this new way of thinking, the way to see a language changed
from the 60s. For this reason, nowadays, a language is not only seen as a combination of
rules, but an occasion to socialize with other students. In the next paragraphs are going to
be analysed two cases that have a different development, depending on the level. The
first will be “how to present itself”. Resuming the notional-functional method responds
to all communicative needs of a student in its daily life.
1.3) A n inte re sting Italian c ase : w hat is “A lfa” le v e l, and w hy is it important to abolish
a lingua franc a as E nglish?
The purpose of this paragraph is to analyse what happens during the Alfa level class that
I hold to CIF association. Before starting, I would like to underline the fact that, even if
the present project is focused on Italian language for English speakers, it’s important to
mention this level, since some migrants may have English as lingua franca and also
because Alfa level is the first step of alphabetization, used to get students used to writing
or reading, due to the reasons that are going be explained successively. Another reason
for which I am going to explain how to hold classes at this level is because the techniques
are very similar to the online approach. In fact, both cases must be simple and easily
comprehensible.
In this level, called “first alphabetization level” or “Alfa level”, are mostly collocated all
students who do not approve the “writing test”, even if they can speak Italian very well.