B8266 - LINGUA ITALIANA PER STUDENTI STRANIERI

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student has improved his/her knowledge of tools for comprehension and production of written and oral Italian, with reference also to the disciplinary vocabulary of the statistical sciences.

Course contents

The course aims to enhance the use of Italian as a language of communication for academic purposes, helping students to acquire the skills needed to navigate key situations in university life: interacting with lecturers, tutors and administrative staff; understanding official communications; using academic vocabulary; and describing data and information in Italian.


Particular attention will be paid to the language of statistics and data communication, through activities that will enable students to acquire basic subject-specific vocabulary and develop the ability to read, interpret and present graphs, tables and simple statistical reports. The subject content will thus provide an authentic context for language learning, building on students’ existing knowledge and facilitating the transfer of skills between English and Italian.


The course also aims to encourage critical reflection on the role of data communication in contemporary society, providing students with the linguistic tools necessary to understand, interpret and communicate statistical information in Italian clearly, accurately and effectively.

Readings/Bibliography

The course materials will be provided by the lecturer.

Teaching methods

The teaching approach will be communicative and workshop-based, with a particular focus on the principles of Task-Based Language Teaching, Italian for Academic Purposes and language mediation as outlined in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages – Supplementary Volume (Council of Europe, 2020). The activities will prioritise the use of authentic materials – such as charts, datasets, reports, infographics and university communications – and will be geared towards developing language skills that can be immediately applied in academic and everyday life.

Assessment methods

The assessment of learning will aim to evaluate students’ ability to use the Italian language in communicative situations relevant to the university and academic context.

The final assignment will consist of an oral presentation of a short report or a dataset, supported by one or more graphs, including a description of the data, an interpretation of the results and answers to the lecturer’s questions.

Assessment will be based on the following criteria:

• linguistic accuracy and appropriateness;

• range and precision of academic and subject-specific vocabulary;

• communicative efficiency;

• ability to describe, compare and interpret quantitative data;

• clarity of presentation and organisation of the discourse.

Teaching tools

The course will make use of authentic materials and digital tools designed to encourage active and participatory learning. In particular, the following will be used: slides and teaching materials prepared by the lecturer; authentic texts; graphs, tables, infographics and datasets from official sources; multimedia resources; and the University’s e-learning platform for sharing materials, exercises and further reading.

Office hours

See the website of Monica D'Argenzio