HISTORY OF THE ITALIAN LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION
cod. 1004624

Academic year 2019/20
2° year of course - First semester
Professor responsible for the course unit
MEZZADRI Marco
integrated course unit
12 credits
hub: PARMA
course unit
in ITALIAN

Course unit structured in the following modules:

Learning objectives

History of the Italian language

Specialist Course of Italian Language’s History will provide the students an approach to the linguistic general questions and to several important texts (most of all being literary), and will promote the use of historical grammatic and dictionary, specialistic bibliography, concordances and online resources.

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Teaching of Italian
At the end of the course students will have acquired knowledge related to
the acquisition of a language, in particular of Italian as a first or second
language and competences on teaching Italian to native and non native
students.

Prerequisites

Basics of Italian Literature and Italian Language History

Course unit content

History of the Italian language

The course examines the evolution of Manzoni’s thought about the Italian language by the analysis of Promessi sposi critical edition (Fermo e Lucia, Seconda minuta, Promessi sposi 1827), linguistic works, marginale notes, letters, contemporaneous writings by different authors about several linguistic questions. The purpose of this course is focusing on all the steps of Manzoni’s work, starting from the Fermo e Lucia until the first edition of Promessi sposi.
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Teaching of Italian

The first part of the course is dedicated to the exploration of the mechanisms which rule language acquisition.
The second part deals with language teaching processes. Leraning to create teaching materials for learning and teaching Italian as a first, second or foreign language will be the main goal of the second part of the course.

This course complies with D.M.616.
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Full programme

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Bibliography

History of the Italian language
L. Serianni, Il primo Ottocento, Bologna, il Mulino, 1989
G. Nencioni, La lingua di Manzoni, Bologna, il Mulino, 1993
M. Danzi, Lingua nazionale, lessicografia milanese. Manzoni e Cherubini, Alessandria, Ed. Dell'Orso, 2001.
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Teaching of Italian

1 Balboni P., Le sfide di Babele, Torino, Utet 2015.
2 Mezzadri M., Studiare in italiano all'università, Bonacci, Torino 2016.
3 For students who cannot attend the classes on a regular basis, the study
of the following book is to be added: Chini M. e Bosisio C. (a cura di), Fondamenti di Glottodidattica, Roma, Carocci 2014.
These students are kindly requested to contact Prof. Mezzadri in order to arrange a meeting aimed to define the chapters form the third book which they are supposed to prepare and to get further information on the written part of the exam.

Teaching methods

History of the Italian language

The students will be guided to examine separate important texts in addition to the frontal lessons dedicated to the authors and their literary context. Every student will be guided to prepare a presentation that will consist in collection calaloguing, critical analysis of linguistic data. The presentations will be discussed during the final lessons. Attendance is strongly recommended. Non-attending students will have to contact the professor.

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Teaching of Italian

Lectures; interaction with students during lectures; workshops.

Assessment methods and criteria

History of the Italian language

The final exam will be an oral interview in which the student will prove to be able to: 1) know the development of the linguistic issue between the seventeenth and eighteenth century; 2) put the authors and works correctly in the contest of Italian Language History of eighteenth century; 3) identify and remark on the peculiar linguistic features inside the texts using the most appropriate analysis instruments. Oral exam: the evaluation test establishes if students are achieving specific learning goals for the course.
Most relevant criteria for didactic evaluation include:
- Unsatisfactory grade (score <18): lack of basic skills.
- Passing grade (score 18-24): the exam is deemed to be passed with a minimum of 60% of right answers.
- Positive grade (score 24-27): students can certificate a good knowledge of basics; they give good oral exposition and develop critical thinking.
- Excellent grade (score 28-30 cum laude): knowledge of basics and advanced competences. Very good abilities in using specific language; excellent historical knowledge; argumentation consistency.
Nevertheless, interested students can be evaluated by the presentation of a scientific paper. The paper (of no more than 30.000 characters). It must be submitted to the examination board at least one week before the exam.
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Teaching of Italian

Oral exam and written work.
Students will first have to create a teaching material designed for the teaching of a language to foreign learners.
For the creation of the teaching material it is reccomended to use the book Mezzadri M., Studiare in italiano all'università, Bonacci, Torino 2016.
The material will count for 20% of the total mark. Students will be allowed to sit for the oral exam regardless of the performance in the written part. The oral exam will be based on a discussion about the written part and of topics dealt with during the classes and through the study of materials and books assigned.

Other information

History of the Italian language

If interested in particular research projects, students can also request specific bibliography