SVILUPPO E LINGUA (DEVELOPMENT AND LANGUAGE)

With the rise in youth education programs incorporating foreign languages around the United States, researchers are interested in understanding what types of foreign language programs are most beneficial to students. In Europe, students are exposed to several languages throughout their grade school years as a result of the importance placed on multilingualism. In this cross-cultural observational study, students in Rome, Italy and students in Montana were observed while learning a new language over the course of eight months. The researcher was interested in cross-cultural language development and the importance placed on acculturation in these instructional settings. Although the main focus of this qualitative study was on the settings mentioned above, the author also explored various other foreign language teaching strategies being used in Montana during this time. By meeting with English teachers from Korea and Chinese teachers from China, the author gained insight to teaching techniques used in different cultures. The primary results gained from the study are reflected in the acculturation research. Rather than finding a main difference in language development across cultures, results are discussed in terms of the significance placed on the need to acculturate. Limitations and suggestions for further research are also discussed