The teaching of elementary Italian as a second language in Canadian universities, methodologies, curricula, and future considerations

grantor: University of TorontoForeign language departments in Canadian universities are currently confronting new challenges that reflect distinctive exigencies in educational reform. These convey the following concerns on which these departments must immediately focus: (a) anticipated enrollment figures (as a result of expanding population and the "double cohort"), and (b) the changing student body (i.e., non-traditional L2 students) that will enroll in the course offerings of these language departments. As Italian is a microcosm of foreign language pedagogy in Canada (it truly is a reflection of the richness in research and practice of second language teaching and learning theories), Italian departments will harness these issues and interpret them positively by continuing to enhance research, materials production and curriculum design. These three fundamentals in second/foreign language pedagogy have been cultivated by a number of Italian pedagogues in Canada with great success. However, there has never been a comprehensive study to examine the national perspective of Italian as a foreign language. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to put forth the following three questions: (1) what are the current directions of research, and what influenced this research? (2) do the Italian language programs implemented in university curricula evidence the theoretical and practical research conducted by Canadian pedagogues? and (3) what do these programs indicate about the teaching of Italian in Canadian universities? As a response to these queries, this study first observes the current Canadian research in Italian L2 pedagogy, then provides a comparison of the elementary Italian programs adopted by the various universities, and concludes with implications and suggestions derived from research and curricula. As a final thought, a pedagogical cycle of elementary L2 Italian in Canadian universities is advanced to promote a more fully integrated and active investigation by all participants of this hypothesis. Data was collected from all Italianists whose focus in research is specifically language teaching at the beginner's level via publications and personal communications, while facts regarding program and syllabus design were collected via surveys distributed to the twenty-two universities that offer an introductory level Italian courses. As well, some universities were personally visited to experience both research and curriculum in action.Ph.D