Prepositions and articles in Italian: challenges and strategies in language learning at the lowest levels of the CEFR

This article refers to an issue of prepositions as one of the big obstacles in learning the Italian language by foreign students. The use of prepositions in the Italian language is complicated by a number of factors, one of which is the presence of articles resulting in the articulated prepositions. There are many grammatical aspects affecting this issue, which are not easily managed by the students themselves. L2 students at the A1 level of the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) often have difficulties in using prepositions with or without articles. In particular, such difficulties are faced by students whose native language does not come from the Romance languages, as in the case of Lithuanian language, which does not have articles.The study analyses the evolution of some prepositions comparing the theories explained in various historical grammar books. Further, some ways of language learning are proposed in order to provide the L2 teachers some suggestions while teaching this topic. One of such ways could be a possibility to use several descriptors foreseen in the CEFR in a recursive manner: at the beginning, one learner’s capacity, described in the CEFR, can be gradually improved starting from a limited knowledge of grammar. A teacher can generalize some set of grammar rules and develop a student’s ability as foreseen in the CEFR’s descriptors. At a higher language learning level, these rules should be updated with grammar exceptions before returning again to the same descriptor.Very often the use of prepositions and articles misses a logical background. In fact, the historical evolution of prepositions and their use with articles show that many Italian language modifications derive from a stylistic point of view. Already since the Renaissance time, development of the Italian language has been strictly connected to literature, therefore many changes of grammar rules are often the result of a discussion by philologists and linguists about the style of language