The teaching of a foreign language involves the use of methods, rooted in an approach to language teaching, and often incorporates the use of technology such as computers and multimedia. In order to examine the approach, method, and use of multimedia technology in the teaching of Italian in British Columbia at the elementary and secondary levels, it is important to first define these critical elements. The first chapter examines the global shift from using a Grammar-Translation Approach to teaching foreign languages towards using a Communicative Approach. It is interesting to note that this shift spans numerous centuries and develops gradually through a series of innovative foreign language teaching approaches and methods. The second chapter provides an in-depth look at this Communicative Approach. It examines the theories it is based on, the components a Communicative Language Teaching or CLT syllabus incorporates, as well as the classroom manifestations of CLT, including the types of activities used, the role of grammar, the learning resources used, the teacher's role, and the student's role. The chapter also reviews criticism levied against CLT. The third chapter examines the role of computer technology in foreign language teaching. As computers become ubiquitous, it is important to highlight the reason why computers go hand in hand with CLT; computer technology incorporates aspects of the theories which Communicative Approach is based upon. As such, computer technology should be part of the CLT classroom but only after the most effective Computer Assisted Language Learning or CALL program has been chosen. This chapter identifies criteria for the selection of effective CALL as well as identifying how to implement CALL in the classroom setting. In trying to examine CALL's overall value to CLT, the chapter also highlights some of the positive and negative attributes of CALL. The final chapter uses the terminology and approaches introduced in previous chapters and relates them to the actual panorama of Italian taught at the elementary and secondary levels in British Columbia. The driving force behind the use of the Communicative Approach and the use of computer technology in the local teaching of Italian comes from the Italian Ministero degli affari esteri, or MAE. This can be seen through MAE's foreign policy, their financial assistance, their trained personnel sent to assist local teachers of Italian, and their ongoing commitment to the teaching of Italian abroad. The chapter, through a questionnaire completed by local teachers of Italian, also tries to ascertain whether the resources offered by MAE are being used to their fullest.

Children of Italian immigrants in Montreal are in contact with many languages and kinds of speech. French and English are used publicly, formal Italian is studied in heritage classes, a dialect of the family's region of origin is used at home, and a kind of koine is frequently used in interactions with other Italian immigrants. The contact of these languages produces various kinds of interferences. These lead a child to make errors when he tries to use the Standard Italian code. In this research, children's compositions are examined for errors which in turn are analysed and classified. The causes of these errors are investigated and statistics are presented to indicate the frequency of errors or the power of various causes. / An effort is made to show all the different errors and interferences that occur, and to discover a pattern of their causes. The data put forth might eventually serve as a base for further studies on the pedagogical prevention or correction of errors in the teaching of Standard Italian as adapted to the specific situation in Montreal.

In the 1950s, countless letters were sent from family members in Italy to their sons or daughters, brothers or sisters, and husbands or wives who had emigrated earlier to Canada. / This research is a study of nineteen letters written in Italy between 1954 and 1955. These letters, written in the language known as "l'italiano popolare," are the primary source from which stems a linguistic analysis. As well, a brief overview of "l'italiano popolare" follows in addition to a synopsis on popular letters and on the sociohistorical circumstances surrounding Italy at the time in which the letters were written.

Thesis--Université de Paris III, 1974. / Includes indexes. Includes bibliographical references (v. 2, p. 933-965).

The teaching of a foreign language involves the use of methods, rooted in an approach to language teaching, and often incorporates the use of technology such as computers and multimedia. In order to examine the approach, method, and use of multimedia technology in the teaching of Italian in British Columbia at the elementary and secondary levels, it is important to first define these critical elements. The first chapter examines the global shift from using a Grammar-Translation Approach to teaching foreign languages towards using a Communicative Approach. It is interesting to note that this shift spans numerous centuries and develops gradually through a series of innovative foreign language teaching approaches and methods. The second chapter provides an in-depth look at this Communicative Approach. It examines the theories it is based on, the components a Communicative Language Teaching or CLT syllabus incorporates, as well as the classroom manifestations of CLT, including the types of activities used, the role of grammar, the learning resources used, the teacher's role, and the student's role. The chapter also reviews criticism levied against CLT. The third chapter examines the role of computer technology in foreign language teaching. As computers become ubiquitous, it is important to highlight the reason why computers go hand in hand with CLT; computer technology incorporates aspects of the theories which Communicative Approach is based upon. As such, computer technology should be part of the CLT classroom but only after the most effective Computer Assisted Language Learning or CALL program has been chosen. This chapter identifies criteria for the selection of effective CALL as well as identifying how to implement CALL in the classroom setting. In trying to examine CALL's overall value to CLT, the chapter also highlights some of the positive and negative attributes of CALL. The final chapter uses the terminology and approaches introduced in previous chapters and relates them to the actual panorama of Italian taught at the elementary and secondary levels in British Columbia. The driving force behind the use of the Communicative Approach and the use of computer technology in the local teaching of Italian comes from the Italian Ministero degli affari esteri, or MAE. This can be seen through MAE's foreign policy, their financial assistance, their trained personnel sent to assist local teachers of Italian, and their ongoing commitment to the teaching of Italian abroad. The chapter, through a questionnaire completed by local teachers of Italian, also tries to ascertain whether the resources offered by MAE are being used to their fullest. / Arts, Faculty of / French, Hispanic, and Italian Studies, Department of / Graduate

No description available.

This thesis explores mood selection in Old Italian, describing the use of the subjunctive and indicative in complement clauses in non-literary Tuscan of the Quattrocento (1375-1499). Using Wandruszka’s (1991) model of the subjunctive, and a Tuscan corpus of merchant letters and ricordi, sermons and other religious writing, based on Tavoni’s (1992) hierarchy of non-literary Quattrocento writings, I quantitatively assess the factors that influence mood selection in complement clauses. I restrict my analysis to complement clauses so as to compare the findings with those of Stefinlongo’s (1977) and Vegnaduzzo’s (2000) similar corpus-based studies of mood selection in thirteenth-century Italian, where possible, in order to suggest any trends in the use of the subjunctive. While I find that the semantics of the governing lexical element still has the predominant influence on the mood of the complement clause in fifteenth-century Italian, I also find that other factors, such as clause type, person and number, and tense and aspect, have a significant role in the modal outcome of complement clauses. However, the influence of these other factors is neither categorical nor equal, and it may be collective in the case of co-present factors. By conducting a quantitative comparison of mood selection in a variety of text types, my study also investigates Stefinlongo’s hypothesis that subjunctive use is not influenced solely by semantic or syntactic factors but also by features at the level of text type. However, I find the modal influence of text type to be largely indirect, influencing the relative incidence of different semantic contexts which in turn influences the incidence of subjunctive and indicative in a text. The findings of this study serve to inform our understanding of the evolution of the subjunctive in Italian.

Orientador: Angélica Terezinha Carmo Rodrigues / Banca: Cristina Martins Fargetti / Banca: Cristina dos Santos Carvalho / Resumo: Esta pesquisa visa a estudar, na língua italiana, a ocorrência de um tipo particular de construção, a saber, as construções verbais paratáticas (CVPs, daqui em diante). As construções focalizadas nesta pesquisa formam-se a partir de dois ou mais verbos flexionados, conectados ou não pela conjunção e, como por exemplo: se ne va e piange ("vai-se chora"), prendo e me ne vado ("pego e vou-me embora"). Nossa investigação inicial consistiu na documentação destas construções a partir de corpora do italiano. Todavia, considerando que o estudo das CVPs é incipiente no italiano, sua descrição e análise ainda carecem de um estudo exaustivo, que vise à análise de sua estrutura e função. Desse modo, nosso objetivo é aprofundar o trabalho iniciado em nível de iniciação científica, com foco nas seguintes questões: estatuto categorial das CVPs como um tipo de predicação complexa não previsível no âmbito da gramática do italiano contemporâneo (a saber, serialização verbal); e gramaticalização, tendo em vista os processos de mudança envolvidos na emergência dessa construção. Nossa hipótese é a de que as CVPs sejam consideradas como construções de foco. Adotamos os pressupostos teóricos da gramática funcional, visto que esta pesquisa tem por objetivo estudar a língua em uso. Dentro do funcionalismo, cabe estudar outros pontos caros a este trabalho, como: a estrutura informacional, a categorização, a gradiência da predicação complexa, a auxiliaridade e a serialização verbal. A metodologia empregada aqui consta da análise dos dados coletados a partir dos corpora CORIS e LABLITA (do projeto C-ORAL-ROM), além de buscas na web a partir do site google, sendo que foi efetuada uma pesquisa quantitativa sobre estes dados com uso do programa GOLDVARB. A análise efetuada a partir destes corpora focou na estrutura das CVPs; na sua função, haja vista que propomos sua interpretação como construções... / Abstract: This work aims to study, in Italian, the occurrence of a particular type of construction, which are the paratactic verbal constructions (PVCs, henceforth). The constructions focused in this research are formed by two or more verbs inflected, connected or not by the conjunction and, as in: se ne va e piange ("go and cry"), prendo e me ne vado ("I take and go away"). Our initial investigation consisted in the documentation of these constructions through corpora from Italian. However, considering that the study of the PVCs are incipient in Italian, its description and analysis still need an exhaustive study, which aims the analysis of its structure and function. Therefore, our objective is to deepen the work begun in scientific initiation level, focusing in the following questions: categorial status of the PVCs as a type of complex predicate not predictable in the ambit of the contemporary Italian grammar (as verbal serialization); and grammaticalization, due to the processes of change involved in the emergence of this construction. Our hypothesis is that the PVCs are considered as focus constructions. We adopt the theoretical presuppositions of the funcional grammar, since this research has as an objective to study the language in use. In the funcionalism, there are some other issues relevant to this work, as: the informational structure, the categorization, the gradience of the complex predicates, the auxiliar constructions, and the verbal serialization. The methodology employed here is constituted by the analysis of the collected data through the corpora CORIS and LABLITA (from the C-ORAL-ROM project), besides a search on the web through Google, and a quantitative research was carried out about these data using the GOLDVARB programme. The analysis made through these corpora focalized in the structure of PVCs; in their function, since we propose their interpretation as focus constructions; in their categorization, due to the fact ... / Mestre

Thesis (doctoral)--Université de Paris, 1901. / Includes bibliographical references and index.

Thesis (Revise). / Sassetta, near Livorno (Tuscany). Includes index (p. 185-202), bibliography (p. 203-216) and bibliographical references.