Journal | EL.LE
Journal issue | 7 | 3 | 2018
Research Article | Socially Vulnerable Students’ Language Needs in Italian SL

Socially Vulnerable Students’ Language Needs in Italian SL

A Survey on Second Language Courses Provided by Reception Centers in Piedmont

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a research on language educational practices related to the teaching of Italian as a second language (ISL), aimed at learners in the situation of vulnerability and disadvantage. In many contexts of welcoming, the need to reconcile the first reception practices relating to housing, sustenance and health, with the dimension of language teaching, is evident. The ISL teachers who work within emergency frameworks often experience a feeling of discomfort connected to the motivational dynamics: if the students receive the necessities of the essentials from those who deal with the reception and expect to stay in Italy for a short period of time, it is possible that there will not be intrinsic motivation for studying and exercising the language. The survey, divided into several operational phases, is based on a questionnaire submitted to the teaching staff that deals with the ISL education within the contexts of reception. The most significant aspect of the data analysis is the absence of communicative needs compared to the daily life of the students.


Open access | Peer reviewed

Submitted: Jan. 10, 2019 | Accepted: Feb. 9, 2019 | Published June 7, 2019 | Language: it

Keywords Language needsEducational LinguisticsMotivationItalian as second languageLanguage education


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