37088 - Italian Teaching with Writing Laboratory (2nd cycle)

Learning outcomes

The student knows the basic subjects and is able to reflect on the Italian language teaching, in relation to the philosophical, historical, psychological and educational background studies. The student also masters a method, learned during the course, of teaching how to read and write in relation to different school and extra-school activities.

Course contents

A) The teaching of Italian: history, problems, methods
- Historical profile of the Italian teaching from the Italian unification to date
- The turning point represented by Giscel's Dieci tesi per l'educazione linguistica democratica (1975)
- The Italian language in the past school curricula and in the Indicazioni nazionali per il curricolo della scuola dell'infanzia e del primo ciclo d'istruzione (2012)
- Methods for teaching of Italian
- Language skills in the classroom
- Language education and languages for specific purpose
- Linguistic requirements at work: Italian for professional purposes
- The teaching of Italian as a foreign language (L2, LS)

B) Contents for language education
- Types of Italian language for education. Educating to the linguistic change
- The role of grammar in the language education
- A new model for teaching Italian: the “ valency grammar”
- The concept of text and its centrality in teaching
- Readability as a tool for training

C) Writing workshop: learning to write, teaching to write, evaluating written productions.

Readings/Bibliography

[1] Students have to choose one of the following texts:

- Maria G. Lo Duca, Lingua italiana ed educazione linguistica. Tra storia, ricerca e didattica, Roma, Carocci, 2008

- Cristina Lavinio, Comunicazione e linguaggi disciplinari. Per un'educazione linguistica trasversale, Roma, Carocci, 2004



[2] Francesco Sabatini, Carmela Camodeca, Cristiana De Santis, Sistema e testo. Dalla grammatica valenziale all'esperienza dei testi, Torino, Loescher, 2011 (chapters 4-12)



[3] Students have to choose one of the following texts:

- Dario Corno, Scrivere e comunicare. La scrittura in lingua italiana in teoria e in pratica, Milano, Bruno Mondadori, 2012 (chapters 1-11 and 19-26)

- Luca Serianni, Italiani scritti, Bologna, il Mulino, 2012 (third edition)

- Massimo Cerruti, Monica Cini, Introduzione elementare alla scrittura accademica, Roma, Laterza, 2007



[4] Students have to choose one of the following texts:

- Luca Serianni, Giuseppe Benedetti, Scritti sui banchi. L'italiano a scuola tra alunni e insegnanti, Roma, Carocci, 2011

- Adriano Colombo, “A me mi”. Dubbi, errori, correzioni nell'italiano scritto, Milano, Franco Angeli, 2011



[5] Depending on the interests of the student, one of the following texts has to be chosen:

- Luca Serianni, L'ora d'italiano. Scuola e materie umanistiche, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2010

- Paolo E. Balboni, Fare educazione linguistica. Attività didattiche per italiano L1 e L2, lingue straniere e lingue classiche, Torino, Utet Università, 2008 (only the parts about L1, L2 and LS Italian)

- Maria G. Lo Duca, Esperimenti grammaticali. Riflessioni e proposte sull'insegnamento della grammatica dell'italiano, Roma, Carocci, 2004

- Loredana Corrà, Walter Paschetto (a cura di), Grammatica a scuola, Milano Franco Angeli, 2011 (choose four out of sex parts)

- Giuliana Fiorentino (ed.), Perché la grammatica? La didattica dell'italiano tra scuola e università, Roma, Carocci, 2012

- Anna Ciliberti, Glottodidattica. Per una cultura dell'insegnamento linguistico, Roma, Carocci, 2012

- Ugo Cardinale (ed.), A scuola d'italiano a 150 anni dall'Unità. Più lingua più letteratura più lessico: tre obiettivi per l'italiano d'oggi nella scuola secondaria superiore, Bologna, il Mulino, 2001 (choose three out of five parts)

- Paola Baratter, Sara Dallabrida (eds.), Lingua e grammatica. Teorie e prospettive didattiche, Milano, Franco Angeli, 2009

- Salvatore Claudio Sgroi, Per una grammatica “laica”. Esercizi di analisi linguistica dalla parte del parlante, Torino, Utet Università, 2010 (choose six out of nine parts)

- Giorgio Graffi, La frase: l'analisi logica, Roma, Carocci, 2012



[6] Students also have to read:

- Dieci tesi per l'educazione linguistica democratica of the Giscel Group (http://www.giscel.it/?q=content/dieci-tesi-leducazione-linguistica-democratica)

- Parts related to the teaching of Italian language in the old ministerial programs and new guidelines for the curriculum (texts are also available online, i.e. at www.istruzione.it or www.edscuola.it/archivio/norme/programmi/index.html)


Students taking the course for 6 credits must prepare only the texts in [1], [3] and [5].

Students who do not attend classes have to prepare the texts listed in the above-mentioned bibliography, from [1] to [6].

For students who regularly attend the course there will be a different reading path: the notes taken in class, as well as the writing exercises assigned in the weekly writing workshops replace certain parts of the exam papers and some parts of the bibliography. More details will be provided in class.

Teaching methods

Lectures, seminars and workshops.

Assessment methods

For all (6 and 12 CFU, attending and not attending students), the examination includes an oral exam to check the mastery of the acquired content and discussion of a written paper of 4-6 pages.

The written paper consists in the preparation (with related materials) and discussion of a lecture on a topic of Italian language chosen according to the scheme of teaching unit presented in class. Alternatively, it is possible to prepare a paper in which the student develops an aspect of the topics covered in the course to be agreed with the teacher.

The written essay will be evaluated both in terms of content and form, in order to assess the writing skills of the student.

Teaching tools

Students who regularly attend the lessons can use the reference material provided online. In particular, an up-to-date calendar of the classes and an e-learning platform reserved to attending students.

Office hours

See the website of Matteo Viale