Academic literature on the topic 'Italian language, textbooks for foreign speakers'

The aim of this study is to compare various lexical structures between a learner corpus of students with Italian as a foreign language and a reference monolingual Italian corpus. More specifically, the first is a learner corpus (part of a wider learner corpus) comprised of Greek students studying Italian as a foreign language while the second is the CWIC reference corpus of native Italian speakers. The research findings help us explain the role of didactic material in comprehending linguistic structures that are found in informal letters/emails and, moreover, they provide us valuable information regarding the use of the same lexical structures by native speakers.

The complex and varied sociolinguistic reality of World Englishes and English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) has important implications for English Language Teaching (ELT). Besides questioning the validity of the ‘native speaker model’, the complexity of Global Englishes raises several issues, both at a theoretical and at an applied level, particularly for teaching. A plurilithic rather than a monolithic (monolingual/monocultural) perspective is called for, one that can make learners aware of the different roles, contexts, linguistic and functional varieties of English, so that they can be prepared to effectively interact with speakers of different Englishes and in English as a Lingua Franca contexts. Communication strategies have been shown to have a particularly significant role in English as a Lingua Franca communication, that is characterized by negotiation and co-construction of meaning; in these encounters, where different linguacultures meet, ELF speakers employ a range of pragmatic strategies to solve, or pre-empt, (potential) non-understandings often drawing on their plurilingual repertoires, too. Communication strategies can thus be said to play a fundamental role in effective communication, particularly in contexts where English is used as an international Lingua Franca. In this light, it would seem important for ELT materials to include activities aimed at raising awareness and promoting practice of communication strategies, so that they can become an integral part of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom practices towards the development of communicative ‘capability’. This article will illustrate a study investigating whether ELT materials addressed at Italian upper secondary school students include activities and tasks related to communication strategies. The examination of textbooks published by Italian and international publishers from the 1990s to 2015 shows that, apart from a few interesting cases, consistent attention has not been given to this important area. Implications for further research on the inclusion of communication strategies in ELT will also be set forward.

Increasing preoccupations and interest manifested for the Romanian language as a foreign language compose a focused and clear expression in the volume “Romanian as a foreign language. Methodology and cultural applicability”, launched at the Turku University publishing house, Finland (2018). The editors, Paul Nanu (Department of Romanian Language and Culture, University of Turku, Finland) and Emilia Ivancu (Department of Romanian Studies of the Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznań, Poland) with this volume, continue a series of activities dedicated to the promotion of the Romanian language and culture outside the country borders. This volume brings together a collection of articles, previously announced and briefly presented at a round table organized by the two Romanian lectors, as a section of the International Conference “Dialogue of cultures between tradition and modernity”, (Philological Research and Multicultural Dialogue Centre, Department of Philology, Faculty of History and Philology, “1 Decembrie 1918” University of Alba Iulia). The thirteen authors who sign the articles are teachers of Romanian as a foreign language, either in the country or abroad. The challenge launched by the organisers pointed both at the teaching methods of Romanian as a foreign language – including the authors’ reflections upon the available textbooks (Romanian language textbooks) and the cultural implications of this perspective on the Romanian language. It is probably no accident that the first article of the aforementioned volume – “Particularities of teaching Romanian as a foreign language for the preparatory year. In quest of “the ideal textbook’’ (Cristina Sicoe, University of the West, Timișoara) – brings a strict perspective upon that what should be, from the author’s point of view, “the ideal textbook”. The fact that it does not exist, and has little chances ever to exist, could maybe be explained by the multitude of variables which appear in practice, within the didactic triangle composed by teacher – student – textbook. The character of the variables is the result of particular interactions established between the components of the triad. A concurrent direction is pointed out by the considerations that make the object of the second article, “To a new textbook of Romanian language as a foreign language’’ (Ana-Maria Radu-Pop, University of the West, Timișoara). While the previous article was about an ideal textbook for foreign students in the preparatory year of Romanian, this time, the textbook in question has another target group, namely Erasmus students and students from Centres of foreign languages. Considering that this kind of target group “forms a distinct category”, the author pleads for the necessity of editing adequate textbooks with a part made of themes, vocabulary, grammar and a part made of culture and civilization – the separation into parts belongs to the author – that should consider the needs of this target group, their short stay in Romania (three months to one year) and, last but not least, the students’ poor motivation. These distinctive notes turn the existent RFL textbooks[1] in that which the author calls “level crossings”, which she explains in a humorous manner[2]. Since the ideal manual seems to be in no hurry to appear, the administrative-logistic implications of teaching Romanian as a foreign language (for the preparatory year) should be easier to align with the standards of efficiency. This matter is addressed by Mihaela Badea and Cristina Iridon from the Oil & Gas University of Ploiești, in the article “Administrative/logistic difficulties of teaching RFL. Case study”. Starting from a series of practical experiences, the authors are purposing to suggest “several ideas to improve existent methodologies of admitting foreign students and to review the ARACIS criteria from March 2017, regarding external evaluation of the ‘Romanian as a foreign language’ study programme”. Among other things, an external difficulty is highlighted (common to all universities in the country), namely the permission to register foreign students until the end of the first semester of the academic year, meaning around the middle of February. The authors punctually describe the unfortunate implications of this legal aspect and the regrettable consequences upon the quality of the educational act. They suggest that the deadline for admitting foreign students not exceed the 1st of December of every academic year. The list of difficulties in teaching Romanian as a foreign language is extremely long, reaching sensitive aspects from an ethical perspective of multiculturalism. This approach belongs to Constantin Mladin from Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, Macedonia, who writes about “The role of the ethical component in the learning process of a foreign language and culture. The Macedonian experience”. Therefore, we are moving towards the intercultural competences which, as the author states, are meant to “adequately and efficiently round the acquired language competences”. In today’s Macedonian society, that which the author refers to, a society claimed to be multiethnic, multilingual and pluriconfessional, the emotional component of an intercultural approach needs a particular attention. Thus, reconfigurations of the current didactic model are necessary. The solution proposed and successfully applied by Professor Constantin Mladin is that of shaking the natural directions in which a foreign language and culture is acquired: from the source language/culture towards the target language/culture. All this is proposed in the context in which the target group is extremely heterogeneous and its “emotional capacity of letting go of the ethnocentric attitudes and perceptions upon otherness” seem to lack. When speaking about ‘barriers’, we often mean ‘difficulty’. The article written by Silvia Kried Stoian and Loredana Netedu from the Oil & Gas University of Ploiești, called “Barriers in the intercultural communication of foreign students in the preparatory year”, is the result of a micro-research done upon a group of 37 foreign students from 10 different countries/cultural spaces, belonging to different religions (plus atheists), speakers of different languages. From the start, there are many differences to be reconciled in a way reasonable enough to reduce most barriers that appear in their intercultural communication. Beneficial and obstructive factors – namely communication barriers – coexist in a complex communicational environment, which supposes identifying and solving the latter, in the aim of softening the cultural shock experienced within linguistic and cultural immersion. Several solutions are recommended by the two authors. An optimistic conclusion emerges in the end, namely the possibility that the initial inconvenient of the ethnical, linguistic and cultural heterogeneity become “an advantage in learning the Romanian language and acquiring intercultural communication”. Total immersion (linguistic and cultural), as well as the advantage it represents as far as exposure to language is concerned, is the subject of the article entitled “Cultural immersion and exposure to language”, written by Adina Curta (“1 Decembrie 1918” University of Alba Iulia). Considered to be a factor of rapid progress and effectiveness of acquisition, exposure to language that arises from the force of circumstances could be extended to that what may be named orchestrated exposure to language. This phrase is consented to reunite two types of resources, “a category of statutory resources, which are the CEFRL suggestions, and a category of particular resources, which should be the activities proposed by the organizers of the preparatory year of RFL”. In this respect, we are dealing with several alternating roles of the teacher who, besides being an expert, animator, facilitator of the learning process or technician, also becomes a cultural and linguistic coach, sending to the group of immersed students a beneficial message of professional and human polyvalence. A particular experience is represented by teaching the Romanian language at the Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. This experience is presented by Nicoleta Neșu in the article “The Romanian language, between mother tongue and ethnic language. Case study”. The particular situation is generated by the nature of the target group, a group of students coming, on the one hand, from Romanian families, who, having lived in Italy since early childhood, have studied in the Italian language and are now studying the Romanian language (mother tongue, then ethnic language) as L1, and, on the other hand, Italian mother tongue students who study the Romanian language as a foreign language. The strategies that are used and the didactic approach are constantly in need of particularization, depending on the statute that the studied language, namely the Romanian language, has in each case. In the area of teaching methodology for Romanian as a foreign language, suggestions and analyses come from four authors, namely Eliana-Alina Popeți (West University of Timișoara), “Teaching the Romanian language to students from Romanian communities from Serbia. Vocabulary exercise”, Georgeta Orian (“1 Decembrie 1918” University of Alba Iulia) “The Romanian language in the rhythm of dance and hip-hop music”, Coralia Telea (“1 Decembrie 1918” University of Alba Iulia), “Explanation during the class of Romanian as a foreign language” and Emilia Ivancu (Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznań, Poland), “Romanian (auto)biographic discourse or the effect of literature upon learning RFL”. The vocabulary exercise proposed to the students by Eliana-Alina Popeți is a didactic experiment through which the author checked the hypothesis according to which a visual didactic material eases the development of vocabulary, especially since the textual productions of the students, done through the technique that didactics calls “reading images”, were video recorded and submitted to mutual evaluation as well as to self-evaluation of grammar, coherence and pronunciation. The role of the authentic iconographic document is attested in the didactics of modern languages, as the aforementioned experiment confirms once again the high coefficient of interest and attention of the students, as well as the vitality and authenticity of interaction within the work groups. It is worth mentioning that these students come from the Serbian Republic and are registered in the preparatory year at the Faculty of Letters, History and Theology of the West University of Timișoara. Most of them are speakers of different Romanian patois, only found on the territory of Serbia. The activity consisted of elaborating written texts starting from an image (a postcard reproducing a portrait of the Egyptian artist Eman Osama), imagining a possible biography of the character. In the series of successful authentic documents in teaching-learning foreign languages, there is also the song. The activities described by Georgeta Orian were undertaken either with Erasmus students from the preparatory year at the “1 Decembrie 1989” University of Alba Iulia, or with Polish students (within the Department of Romanian Studies in Poznań), having high communication competences (B1-B2, or even more). There were five activities triggered by Romanian songs, chosen by criteria of sympathy with the interests of the target group: youngsters, late teenagers. The stake was “a more pleasant and, sometimes, a more useful learning process”, mostly through discovery, through recourse to musical language, which has the advantage of breaking linguistic barriers in the aim of creating a common space in which the target language, a language of “the other”, becomes the instrument of speaking about what connects us. The didactic approach, when it comes to Romanian as a foreign language taught to students of the preparatory year cannot avoid the extremely popular method of the explanation. Its story is told by Coralia Telea. With a use of high scope, the explanation steps in in various moments and contexts: for transmitting new information, for underlining mechanisms generating new rules, in evaluation activities (result appreciation, progress measurements). Still, the limits of this method are not left out, among which the risk of the teachers to annoy their audience if overbidding this method. Addressing (Polish) students from the Master’s Studies Program within the Romania Philology at the Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznań, Emilia Ivancu crosses, through her article, the methodological dimensions of teaching Romanian as a foreign language, entering the curricular territory of the problematics in question by proposing an optional course entitled Romanian (auto)biographic discourse”. Approaching contact with the Romanian language as a foreign language at an advanced level, the stakes of the approach and the proposed contents differ, obviously, from the ones only regarding the creation and development of the competence of communication in the Romanian Language. The studied texts have been grouped into correspondence/epistolary discourse, diaries, memoires and (auto)biography as fiction. Vasile Alecsandri, Sanda Stolojan, Paul Goma, Neagoe Basarab, Norman Manea, Mircea Eliade are just a few of the writers concerned, submitted to discussions with the help of a theoretical toolbox, offered to the students as recordings of cultural broadcasts, like Profesioniștii or Rezistența prin cultură etc. The consequences of this complex approach consisted, on the one hand, of the expansion of the readings for the students and, on the other hand, in choosing to write dissertations on these topics. A “tangible” result of Emilia Ivancu’s course is the elaboration of a volume entitled România la persoana întâi, perspective la persoana a treia (Romania in the first person, perspectives in the third person), containing seven articles written by Polish Master’s students. Master’s theses, a PhD thesis, several translations into the Polish language are also “fruits” of the initiated course. Of all these, the author extracted several conclusions supporting the merits and usefulness of her initiative. The volume ends with a review signed by Adina Curta (1 Decembrie 1918 University of Alba Iulia), “The Romanian language, a modern, wanted language. Iuliana Wainberg-Drăghiciu – Textbook of Romanian language as a foreign language”. The textbook elaborated by Iuliana Wainberg-Drăghiciu (“1 Decembrie 1918” University of Alba Iulia) respects the CEFRL suggestions, points at the communicative competences (linguistic, sociolinguistic and pragmatic) described for levels A1 and A2, has a high degree of accessibility through a trilingual dictionary (Romanian-English-French) which it offers to foreign students and through the phonetic transcription of new vocabulary units.

RESUMO: Adotar o uso de gêneros textuais para o ensino de língua é uma forma de demonstrar aos alunos as diferentes manifestações cotidianas de uso da língua em questão. Dessa forma, nossa proposta busca demonstrar como o ensino de leitura e de língua italiana pode se beneficiar com a adoção de gêneros textuais, e, portanto, apresentamos um relato de experiência com base nessa abordagem teórica em específico. A partir da análise de documentos que normatizam o ensino de línguas materna e estrangeiras no país e da contribuição de teóricos que dão suporte ao nosso objetivo, demonstraremos a posição central do gênero textual para o ensino de línguas no Brasil. Nesse sentido, mergulharemos nas contribuições valorosas de Geraldi (1999), Marcuschi (2010) e Travaglia (2009), nesse aspecto vital em que os três autores convergem como proposta para o ensino de língua. Nossa investigação se propõe a indicar caminhos para que o gênero textual, em vias de consolidação de seu papel nas aulas de língua materna na escola, também seja adotado no contexto do ensino de língua estrangeira e desenvolvimento de práticas de leitura, e, portanto, seja mais valorizado nas propostas de materiais didáticos adotados por cursos de língua. Ao contrapor o modo com o qual se ensinava línguas ao modo que defendemos para o ensino produtivo, buscaremos desestruturar o ensino engessado em práticas de metalinguagem, nomenclaturas e identificações de funções linguísticas para privilegiar o ensino produtivo, isto é, aquele que visa à criação e ao desenvolvimento das competências e habilidades comunicativas do falante. Para ilustrar nossa fala, apresentaremos, também, a metodologia utilizada para o ensino de italiano em uma turma de nível A1-A2, com vias de contemplar o ensino produtivo a partir da leitura e discussões de gêneros jornalísticos escolhidos.Palavras-chave: Ensino Produtivo. Gêneros textuais. Ensino de línguas. Ensino de italiano. ABSTRACT: Adottare l’uso di generi testuali per l’insegnamento di lingue è una forma di dimostrare agli studenti le diverse manifestazioni quotidiane di uso di questa lingua. In questo modo, la nostra proposta prova a dimostrare la maneira in cui l’insegnamento di lettura e di lingua italiana possa essere beneficiato dall’addozione dei generi testuali, e, quindi, presentiamo un rapporto di esperienza basato sul cosidetto approccio teorico. Partendo dall’analisi dei documenti che standardizzano l’insegnamento di lingue madre e straniere nel paese e dal contributo di teorici che sostengono il nostro obiettivo, dimostreremo la posizione centrale del genere testuale per l’insegnamento di lingue in Brasile. Per raggiungere il nostro obiettivo, useremo i contributi preziosi di Geraldi (1999), Marcuschi (2010) e Travaglia (2009) nell’aspetto in cui le loro ricerche e pubblicazioni convergono come proposta per l’insegnamento di lingue. La nostra ricerca si propone ad indicare percorsi perché il genere testuale, in fasi di consolidamento del suo ruolo nelle lezioni di lingua madre alla scuola, sia anche utilizzato nel contesto dell’insegnamento di lingua straniera e sviluppo di pratiche di letture, e, pertanto, sia più apprezzato nelle proposte di materiali didattici adottate dai corsi di lingua. Per contrastare il modo con cui si insegnavano le lingue con quello che difendiamo come insegnamento produttivo, proveremo a destrutturare l’insegnamento chiuso nelle pratiche di metalinguaggio, nomenclature e identificazione di funzioni linguistiche per privilegiare quello tipo di insegnamento di lingue che mira alla creazione e allo sviluppo delle competenze e abilità comunicative del parlante. Per illustrare il nostro discorso, presenteremo, anche, la metodologia utilizzata per l’insegnamento di italiano in una classe livello A1-A2 affinché si contempli l’insegnamento produttivo attraverso la lettura e discussione dei generi giornalistici scelti.Parole chiave: Insegnamento produttivo. Generi testuali. Insegnamento di lingue. Insegnamento di italiano. ABSTRACT: Adopting text genres for language teaching is a way to demonstrate students the daily different manifestations of the specific language being used. This way, our proposal aims at demonstrating how reading and Italian language teaching can be benefited from the adoption of text genres, and, thus, we present a case study based on this theoretical approach. From the analysis of native and foreign language teaching normative documents, we demonstrate the central role of text genre for language teaching in Brazil. This way, we dive deep into Geraldi’s (1999), Marcuschi’s (2010) and Travaglia’s (2009) worth contributions, in the point of utmost importance where they all agree as a way to teach language. Our investigation proposes to indicate paths so that the text genre, in consolidation of its role in mother language at school, can also be adopted for foreign languages and reading practices’ developments, and, therefore, acquire more value in textbooks adopted by language schools. Comparing the way in which languages were taught in the past to the way we defend for productive teaching, we aim at deconstructing teaching based on metalinguistic practices, naming labels and syntax function identification to privilege productive teaching, that is, practices whose target is developing the speakers’ competences and communicative skills. So as to illustrate our text, we will also present the methodology used towards Italian teaching in an A1-A2 group, with the intention to contemplate productive teaching from the reading and discussion of selected journalistic texts’ discussion.Keywords: Productive Teaching. Textual genres. Language teaching. Teaching Italian.

This research is motivated by the cultural elements contained in the BIPA teaching materials at Andalas University. The method used in this research is content analysis. The data used is data obtained from cultural material contained in BIPA teaching materials at Andalas University. Data collection techniques use reading and note-taking techniques. The data sources in this research are six BIPA teaching materials including Indonesian language textbooks for foreign speakers (BIPA) at the basic level, Indonesian language textbooks for foreign speakers (BIPA) at the advanced basic level, Indonesian grammar for foreign speakers at the basic level, writing. Indonesian for basic level foreign speakers, listening Indonesian for basic level foreign speakers, speaking Indonesian for basic level foreign speakers from Andalas University. According to the results of the analysis, 2 vocal and language symbol systems were found, a knowledge system, a social organization system, a living equipment and technology system, a livelihood system, a religious and artistic system.

In this paper, foreign language textbooks are interpreted from a social constructivist perspective, as sociocultural products that contain not only specific subject knowledge, but also social norms, cultural values and ideologies (Curdt-Christiansen 2). From the point of view of critical discourse analysis ideology is a construct based upon assumptions and beliefs that reinforce, reproduce and legitimate asymmetrical power relations between different social groups. In line with this, we employ CDA to examine the presence of patriarchal ideologies in the depiction of the private sphere in a corpus composed of five textbooks of Italian as a Foreign Language and four textbooks of Serbian as a Foreign Language. Since the issue of patriarchal legacy in FL textbooks in previous research is primarily addressed in relation to English FL textbooks, one of the objectives of the present study is to shed a light on Italian FL textbooks that are insufficiently explored, and to compare them to Serbian FL textbooks, that are especially relevant as they were until now never approached from the perspective of gender. All the textbooks are employed in the specific educational context of foreign language teaching and learning in the post-secondary education in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The importance of the critical analysis of FL textbooks is emphasized because foreign language acquisition includes not only the development of communicative competence in the target language, but also represents a complex process of acculturation, during which students learn and incorporate the cultural values and customs of other countries. In this vein, we argue that FL textbooks used in class should not contain outdated gender stereotypes that convey the message that Italy and Serbia are places where patriarchal cultural values and inequalities are commonly accepted as undisputed societal norms; instead, it is argued that textbooks should promote a more emancipatory discourse and support the transformation of traditional gender roles that has occurred in the past decades in both Serbian and Italian society.

We investigated auditory gaydar (i.e., the ability to recognize sexual orientation) in female speakers, addressing three related issues: whether auditory gaydar is (1) accurate, (2) language-dependent (i.e., occurs only in some languages, but not in others), and (3) ingroup-specific (i.e., occurs only when listeners judge speakers of their own language, but not when they judge foreign language speakers). In three experiments, we asked Italian, Portuguese, and German participants (total N = 466) to listen to voices of Italian, Portuguese, and German women, and to rate their sexual orientation. Our results showed that auditory gaydar was not accurate; listeners were not able to identify speakers’ sexual orientation correctly. The same pattern emerged consistently across all three languages and when listeners rated foreign-language speakers.

This article is about the type of language that is offered to learners in textbooks, using the example of Russian. Many modern textbooks of Russian as a foreign language aim at efficient development of oral communication skills. However, some expressions used in the textbooks are not typical for everyday language. We claim that textbooks’ content should be reassessed based on actual language use, following theoretical and methodological models of cognitive and corpus linguistics. We extracted language patterns from three textbooks, and compared them with alternative patterns that carry similar meaning by (1) calculating the frequency of occurrence of each pattern in a corpus of spoken language, and (2) using Russian native speakers’ intuitions about what is more common. The results demonstrated that for 39 to 53 percent of all the recurrent patterns in the textbooks better alternatives could be found. We further investigated the typical shortcomings of the extracted patterns.

Abstract Unlike communities of speakers of other Romance languages such as French and Spanish, it has often been noticed that many Italian speakers are not particularly concerned by the inflow of foreign (mainly English) words. One reason for this, according to some scholars, is that standard Italian does not stir up linguistic identity for many native users, while English enjoys great prestige as the international language. In this paper, positions on neologisms of foreign origin are illustrated, using recently updated monolingual Italian dictionaries and also comments on neologisms collected from blogs and websites. Although they have a different status and degree of representativeness, the latter respond faster than dictionaries to doubts concerning the use of loans in Italian texts.

In the last decades, Italy has been affected by new migratory waves which enriched its varied sociolinguistic landscape. If on one hand Italy has been dealing with the integration of new immigrants in the society, on the other foreign immigrants need to cope with the extreme sociolinguistic complexity which defines the Italian linguistic reality. The present study aims to examine how foreign speakers perceive regional linguistic variation of Italy. A perceptive experiment was conducted on 44 foreign respondents to test their linguistic perception of six regional Italian varieties. Results showed that Italian’s explicit learning helps linguistic comprehension, but it is not enough to grasp differences between regional varieties of Italian, and this could cause comprehension difficulties for the unrepresented varieties in Italian language programs. We suggest that the enhancement of Italian regional varieties’ representation could foster new immigrants’ integration in the welcome society.

This dissertation consists of an analysis of errors made by English native speakers in Italian as their foreign language. It is a description of these students’ interlanguages, analysing different factors involved in L2 acquisition, and the causes of their errors. This analysis is meant to be helpful for the teachers, to understand what are the major areas of difficulty for an English-speaking class. They will understand where the students have reached and will also help setting the syllabus for future language work. In the last chapter some reinforcement activities are proposed, to better the teaching of Italian and for the students to gain higher levels of proficiency.

The purpose of this study was to determine the implication for learning for learners whose home language is different from the medium of instruction at school.The study is focused on a group of Afrikaans learners for whom English is not a foreign language. Rather, English is a language that they are in contact with on a daily level through the media, their peers and in the classroom. The study looked at why these learners find themselves in English classes when the language policy of the country makes provision for their specific home language in the classroom. It also tried to determine whether these learners experience problems in their learning as they shift from Afrikaans as a home language to an English medium of instruction in class.

Questo lavoro sperimentale si prefigge come obiettivo quello di indagare il ruolo che la lingua svolge sul giudizio morale dell'individuo. I partecipanti all'esperimento sono giovani studenti universitari di madrelingua italiana con un alto livello di competenza nella lingua inglese. Attraverso un questionario redatto online, la ricerca vuole provare ad approfondire il cosiddetto "foreign language effect" in correlazione con il processo decisionale dell'individuo bilingue.

The objective of this research paper was to examine how, through the prism of student migration patterns, the domination of the English language is extended and entrenched. Using the example of Chinese students in South Africa, the paper explored some of the reasons that underpin South Africa's growing appeal as an international study destination. The research specifically focused on the period between 2002 and 2004 which witnessed Chinese students arriving in unprecedented numbers to pursue higher education in a post-apartheid South Africa.

This thesis was a critical analysis of students academic second language writing at Sokoine University of Agriculture. Student writing in English as a second language in higher education has excited much interest in the English as a Second Language writing research and discussion in Tanzania. The interest was motivated by frequent criticisms from examiners regarding students literacy performance in the English as a Second Language writing in the post primary and higher education where the language of instruction is English as is configured in the Tanzanian language policy.

The effect of constituent division of reading texts on ESL students was examined to note possible benefits to reading comprehension. An experimental group in each of three ESL proficiency levels was tested on a reading passage divided at the ends of lines at major constituent boundaries. Within each level, the experimental group was compared to a control group in three areas: reading time, test time, and test results. Results of the study do not support the theory that constituent division of reading texts could be beneficial to ESL students. The differences in reading time, test time, and test results of the experimental group and the control group in each level were insignificant.

Reading comprehension in English as a second language in the context of Iranian education system is not unproblematic. Hardly any studies have been attempted to investigate reading strategies and processes employed by novice and skilled readers through an on-line method of reading skills research in this context. The present study was thus undertaken to address the present need by employing think-aloud methodology to compare novice and skilled reading strategies. Therefore, a qualitative approach was taken to elicit as much information as possible for the purpose of identifying and describing competence in reading skills. The main research question addressed in this study deals with comparing strategy use of a group of novice second language EST readers studying academic English in Iran with another group of skilled second language EST readers from the same ethnic population but studying at the highest academic levels outside their mother land, viz. in Scotland. Several hypotheses were formed following a preliminary pilot study which included the following: a) there was a positive relationship between the number of strategies used by readers of each group and their performance on the TOEFL test; b) there are common areas in the readers' use of comprehension strategies which make the individual difference hypothesis in reading comprehension a debatable issue; c) the readers tend to follow an interactive approach to reading comprehension. Using an interactive model of reading seven categories of strategies were identified and classified. Non-significant correlation was obtained between number of strategies and language proficiency scores. Using a human information processing system, each reader's protocol was subjected to a detailed stage by stage analysis which supported the notion of the individual difference in reading comprehension. The readers also applied an interactive reading process to text comprehension.

In this paper we examine the treatment of terminology in CLIL context (Content and language integrated learning), through the analysis of a corpus of subject textbooks in a foreign language and in Italian as a second language. After introducing the CLIL methodology and its application in the field of foreign language and Italian as a second language teaching as regards the Italian context, we consider the role of terminology in CLIL environment. Then we present the results of the analysis of the corpus, which consists of CLIL textbooks in English for the secondary school and of subject textbooks in Italian as a second language for non-native speakers of secondary school and adult migrants who need the qualification of Italian secondary school. The analysis of the treatment of terminology in the corpus allows to outline methodological suggestions to integrate the terminological approach into teaching practice in different CLIL contexts.

In this paper we examine the treatment of terminology in CLIL context (Content and language integrated learning), through the analysis of a corpus of subject textbooks in a foreign language and in Italian as a second language. After introducing the CLIL methodology and its application in the field of foreign language and Italian as a second language teaching as regards the Italian context, we consider the role of terminology in CLIL environment. Then we present the results of the analysis of the corpus, which consists of CLIL textbooks in English for the secondary school and of subject textbooks in Italian as a second language for non-native speakers of secondary school and adult migrants who need the qualification of Italian secondary school. The analysis of the treatment of terminology in the corpus allows to outline methodological suggestions to integrate the terminological approach into teaching practice in different CLIL contexts.

At the end of the 1970s, the conservative Italian scenario of foreign language teaching witnessed various innovations. The process of change was prompted by a reform of the national school syllabus for lower secondary school that advocated a new and comprehensive approach to language education. After an overview of the main tenets underlying this approach, the chapter focuses on “reflection on language”, one of the cornerstones of the reform. It then reports on an investigation of how reflection on language was implemented in a corpus of communication-oriented ELT school textbooks published in Italy in the 1980s and 1990s. In an attempt to understand the perspectives of those involved, leading figures and textbook authors of the period were also interviewed. In spite of the authors’ claims about introducing new features of language reflection, textbook analysis shows how their implementation in fact swung between innovative and traditional options.

This study aims to triangulate the results of the pragmalinguistic analysis of L1/L2 English criticisms and suggestions carried out in a previous study with the ratings of speakers of US English. Five students from a Californian university were asked to rate the pragmatic appropriateness of three Italian learners' and four L1 or highly proficient speakers' use of English during the peer feedback discussion phases of e-tandem interactions. A pragmatic assessment questionnaire was purposely developed for the rating, and the raters were trained to focus on the pragmatic aspects of the speakers' productions. The study did not confirm the evidence for incidental pragmatics learning emerged in Del Bono and Nuzzo. However, the triangulation of findings revealed that the raters focused on the same features addressed in the previous analysis.

Abstract German is spoken as a first language by approximately 100 million people in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and elsewhere, and as a second language by many others in Central and Eastern Europe. It is also learnt as a foreign language by people all over the world. There are many books which purport to describe the language, ranging from compendious grammars intended for native speakers to elementary textbooks for foreign learners, and from dictionaries of current usage to philological studies of earlier stages of the language.

Abstract German is spoken as a first language by approximately 100 million people in the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Democratic Republic, Austria, Switzerland, and elsewhere, and as a second language by many others in Central and Eastern Europe. It is also learnt as a foreign language by people all over the world. There are many books which purport to describe the language, ranging from compendious grammars intended for native speakers to elementary textbooks for foreign learners, and from dictionaries of current usage to philological studies of earlier stages of the language. The present book is none of these, however. Though written primarily for foreign learners of German, it is not a language textbook, and makes no attempt to improve the reader’s practical mastery of the language in any direct way. And, though it presents a description of German, it is not a grammar of the language in the usual sense, and does not contain comprehensive lists of forms. Nor does it have anything to say about the historical development of German.

This chapter considers language-learning in educational travel. Early modern English elites placed great emphasis on the educational value of travel, and saw the study and practice of vernacular languages—most commonly French and Italian—as central to educational travel. This chapter uses a rich set of manuscript source materials (including travellers’ polyglot diaries, letters, and notebooks) to show how travellers learnt foreign languages while abroad. It aims to put the education back into educational travel, showing the importance of everyday pedagogies to early modern travel practices. It argues that linguistic concerns helped to shape everything from the routes that travellers followed to the company they kept and the notes they wrote. While the focus of this chapter is on the unusually well-documented travels of mostly male and mostly wealthy English-speakers, it offers reflections on language-learning practices that are relevant to other kinds of traveller, from merchants to servants.

“I am of this opinion that our own tung should be written cleane and pure, unmixt and unmangeled with borowing of other tunges,” wrote Sir John Cheke in 1561, defending English against the deluge of language imported from French and Italian. The first professor of Greek at Cambridge University, Cheke did not object to foreign phrasing out of ignorance, but rather argued from principles so fastidious that his translation of the Gospel According to Matthew substituted the word crossed for crucified and gainrising for resurrection. Proud of his heritage, unbowed by European cultivation, Cheke refused to be indebted to other cultures in his expression, “wherein if we take not heed by tiim, ever borowing and never paying,” he warned, “[our tung] shall be fain to keep her house as bankrupt.” Nearly half a millennium has passed, and Cheke’s disquiet seems ridiculous, not only because English has been incalculably enriched by mortgaged non-Germanic words such as democracy and education and science, but also because our own tongue has so flourished as to be seen on the European continent and around the world as the sort of cultural threat that Classical and Romance languages were to Cheke’s countrymen. The predominance of English is staggering. An estimated 1.5 billion people speak it, a number that the British Council predicts will increase by half a billion by the year 2016. Moreover fewer than a quarter of these people speak English as a first language; there are nearly twice as many nonnative speakers in India and China as native speakers on the planet. As might be expected given these statistics, few of the world’s 1.5 billion English speakers are fluent. Most get by with a vocabulary of a couple thousand words, as compared to the eighty thousand familiar to the average American or Briton. Pronunciations are often simplified, especially in the case of tricky consonant clusters. (For example, cluster becomes clusser.) Rules of grammar are frequently streamlined, irregularities dropped.

Abstract Articulation implies the word article, a locution allowing the language to be clearer, more legible, more . . . articulate. Newspaper headlines use no articles: “Mother Robs Bank for Son’s Bail.” A whole story in six words, but hardly an example for musical interpretation. Each musical phrase can be taken as a spoken sentence, each element of this phrase as a word, and each note as a syllable. This, in turn, consists of consonants and vowels. The sound equivalent of any syllable is unique to each language. Consider the imaginary words tude and ture (for example, in latitude and miniature): it is difficult to compare the dryness of the French u, the guttural German ü or y, the velvet of the Italian and Spanish out, the wet English you. The wonder of sounds!. The consonant t is more or less dental; in the r, we hear all the different flavors: the rasp of the German and French and the roll of bel canto in Italian, Spanish, and the ancient French that can still be heard in some French-speaking provinces and lands (such as Canada and Lebanon). The brogues of Ireland and Scotland and the local tongues of England roll around like a mouthful of pearls. The r seems to be the stumbling block of Japan, where r and l are pronounced almost identically. Modern English speakers find it hard to deal with either the rolled or the guttural r. Learning a foreign tongue or two opens one’s mental scope; for a musician, and particularly for a flutist, it is a charming and helpful tool for articulation and for a natural phrasing.

The author aims to determine the denotation-reference map of new cultural and humanitarian holidays reflected in modern calendars. As a result of the survey of native speakers (234 people aged 17 to 70 years), only 20 holidays out of 50 passed the five percent threshold for knowledge of the existence of a holiday. Some of them are not related to religious or mythological systems, others refer to religious and mythological systems. The second part of the study was conducted in order to identify those holidays that have repetitive patterns of behavior. It was revealed that only 12 new calendar dates have such properties (International Day of Friendship; Intenational Yoga Day; World Kissing Day / International Kiss Day; International Cat Day, International Coffee Day; International Dance Holiday; International Hug Day; Earth Hour; Halloween; Day of the Dead; St Patrick’s Day; Valentine’s Day). The third stage was the identification of typical actions and holiday-related objects using a distributive analysis of the contexts describing them in the media. The results of the study indicate the predominance of the aesthetic function of a modern holiday over a world-modeling one and prove the hypothesis that when a holiday is transferred to another culture, it moves from a religious or mythological picture of the world to a naive one and loses its ritualism and sacred meaning. The results of the data analysis show that the cultural — humanitarian holiday, as a variant of the secular holiday concept, is distinguished by the predominance of the individual aspect over the social, the absence of a ritual component and connection with the narrative at the base of the event; the absence of a system of statuses, the presence of a system of roles; the absence of the process of creating a different space; these holidays are not a means of ethno-cultural identification. The obtained lists of dominant lexemes of cultural-humanitarian holidays are useful in selecting cultural material for creating textbooks on the Russian language for foreign students. The material of the analysis was the articles of the newspaper subcorpus of the Russian National Corpus. Refs 19.