99926 - Literacy in Italian L2 (LM)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course students will acquire the theoretical and practical knowledge about teaching a second language to adults who are non-literate or low educated in their first language. Students will know the basic assumptions of literacy in adulthood and will get acquainted with the well-known international specialized field, LESLLA-Literacy Education and Second Language Learning for Adults. Students will also acquire the principles underlying a L2 literacy syllabus and will be able to apply practical tools and methods specifically referred to non-literate people or people of various literacy initial levels.

Course contents

L2 Italian literacy (1° semester)

The aim of the course is to introduce students to ‘Italian second language literacy’ as a specialized area of the larger field ‘Learning and teaching Italian as a second language’.

Starting from an overview of “orality, writing, and schooling” and from recent advances in international research on the development of literacy and oral proficiency in a second language (L2) among adult learners who are non-literate, semi-literate or low educated in their first language, the course will focus on the steps required to progress from basic literacy (pre-A1) to AI-level competence in L2 Italian.

Among the main topics are: the essential differences between the process of acquiring writing for the first time in a second language (L2) during adolescence or adulthood and the processes of acquiring literacy in the first language (L1) during childhood; the learning of grapheme-phoneme correspondences in L2, the knowledge of the parts that make up a word (syllables, consonant clusters, morphemes), that is, the development of decoding skills and, subsequently, encoding skills in the L2; the teaching strategies used in early literacy instruction, such as copying texts and dictation; the relationship between illiteracy and multilingualism.

We will examine the tools currently available – the Laslliam reference guide or its Italian version Alsilma, as well as its Syllabus – to help guide lesson planning and the development of literacy practices linked to real life (real-life literacy activities). Together with the adult basic reading and writing skills and social uses of written language, we will consider digital literacy, which is currently intersected with the former (print literacy).

Readings/Bibliography

Fernanda Minuz, Lorenzo Rocca, “LESLLA Country Overview: Italy”, in LESLLA Symposium Proceedings, 20 (1), 2025, pp.1-13. [13]

Marta Maffia, “L’analfabetismo”, cap.1, in M. Maffia, Analfabetismo, abilità orali e lingue seconde. Uno studio su senegalesi apprendenti di italiano L2, Studi Aitla16, Milano, 2023, pp.1-27 [27].

Nicole Pettitt et al. “Adult L2 writers with emergent literacy: Writing development and pedagogical considerations” in Journal of Second Language Writing, 51, 2021, 100800, pp. 1-5 [5]

Lisa Gonzalves, “Development of copying skills in L2 adult English learners with emergent print literacy”, in Journal of Second Language Writing, 51, 2021, pp.1-14. [14]

Bernard Balas (2012), “La copie de texte comme outil d’évaluation des représentations de la langue écrite par l’adulte dans son parcours d’apprentissage”,Lidil-Revue de linguistique et de didactique des langues, 45, (2012), pp.1-13 [13]

Jeanne Kurvers, Roeland van Hout, Ton Vallen's (2006), “Discovering Language: Metalinguistic Awareness of Adult Illiterates”, in LESLLA Symposium Proceedings, 1(1), pp.69–88. [19]

J. A. Altherr Flores (2021), “The semiotics of writing: How adult L2 learners with emergent literacy make meaning in assessment texts through writing”, in Journal of Second Language Writing, 51, pp.1-14. [14]

M. D’Agostino, E. Mocciaro (2021), “Literacy and literacy practices: Plurilingual connected migrants and emerging literacy”, in Journal of Second Language Writing 51, pp.1-16 [16]

M. D’Agostino (2022), “Giovani, mobili, multilingui, connessi, non di rado analfabeti. Una nuova migrazione fra risorse e bisogni”, in Italiano LinguaDue 1/ 2022. p.1-9 [9]

M. Amoruso, “Un nuovo profilo di apprendenti. Analfabeti plurilingui”, in Italiano LinguaDue 1. 2022, pp.19-27 [8]

Arianna Welisch, Giulio Asta, “La media literacy come supporto all’apprendimento della lingua”, in Lingue e Linguaggi 41 (2021), pp. 249-263 [12]

Rosa Pugliese, “Interazioni narrate di una literacy in L2. 'Mandorle amare' tra letteratura e case study”, in C. Andorno, R. Grassi (a cura di), Le dinamiche dell’interazione. Prospettive di analisi e contesti applicativi, Milano, Studi AiTLA, 2016, pp. 123-138. [15.]

 

Strumenti:

F.Minuz, L.Rocca, J.Kurvers, R.Naeb, K. Schramm, Reference Guide- Literacy And Second Language for the Linguistic Integration of Adult Migrants (LASLLIAM), Strasbourg, Council of Europe, 2022.

https://rm.coe.int/prems-008922-eng-2518-literacy-and-second-language-learning- couv-texte/1680a70e18

oppure, in versione italiana:

F.Minuz, L.Rocca, J.Kurvers, R.Naeb, K. Schramm, Alfabetizzazione e apprendimento della lingua seconda per l’integrazione linguistica dei migranti adulti-ALSILMA, Consiglio D’Europa, Loescher editore, 2025.

Alessandro Borri, Florinda D’Amico e Francesca Lasi, “Introduzione”, in L’officina delle parole. Attività per insegnare a leggere l’italiano L2 a adulti migranti, Edizioni Centro Studi Erickson 2023, pp.1-30 [30]

• Materiali e siti per consultazione

  • https://www.leslla.org
  • https://www.coe.int/en/web/lang-migrants/overview
  • https://www.coe.int/it/web/language-support-for-adult-refugees/list-of-all-tools

 

 

Teaching methods

Teaching will be carried out through lectures, classroom discussions and group work assignments (i.e. mainly, analysis of: written texts, activities in language classes, textbooks excerpts), and seminars by experts.

Assessment methods

Students’ knowledge and competence about the theoretical and practical aspects acquired during the course and through the mandatory readings will be assessed by means of an oral exam. Answers to oral questions will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

– extent of knowledge concerning content;

– clarity and skills of synthesis and argumentation;

– skill in explaining links between theoretical and practical aspects of the main topics covered in the course;

– lexical appropriateness and specialized terminology.

Depending on how these criteria are met during the oral exam, i.e. thoroughly, partially or in a limited way, grades will correspondingly be high, average, or low.

 

Students with SLDs or temporary or permanent disabilities:

we suggest that you contact the relevant university office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en ) and your teacher immediately to work together to find the most effective strategies for attending classes and/or preparing for exams.

Any requests for exam accommodations must be made at least 15 days before the date of the exam, by sending an email to the teacher and copying (Cc) the email address disabilita@unibo.it [mailto:disabilita@unibo.it] (in case of disability) or dsa@unibo.it [mailto:dsa@unibo.it] (for students with Specific Learning Difficulties).

Teaching tools

power point presentations, dvd, printed hand-outs, websites and web resources.

Office hours

See the website of Rosa Pugliese