Examination of two sections of Benedetto Varchi's sixteenth-century document on Italian language usage reveals an uncommon appreciation for living usage, recognition of common linguistic practice, and a significantly greater awareness of social differentiation than that typically reflected in other sixteenth-century manuscripts. (31 references)…

Describes the high Italian speech variety commonly used by Italian Americans, based on a study of 39 Italian Americans that included interviews and questionnaires. Dialectal characteristics, convergence with English, and language maintenance and language shift in the Italian-American community are discussed. (CB)

Addresses the current status of teaching Italian, outlines problems that teachers of Italian must confront, and offers recommendations for improving the Italian pedagogical scenario. (CFM)

An examination and comparison of reading materials intended for elementary and intermediate Italian second-language instruction looks at these aspects: the role of the "ancillary" reader in language instruction; selecting readers that facilitate achievement of the Standards of Foreign Language Learning; the dichotomy between literary and cultural…

Reviews research about the brain's hemispheric functions, emphasizing the practical implications and applications of bimodal language learning. Four pedagogical principles (contextualization, visualization, diversification, and personalization) that characterize any integrated approach to language teaching are also discussed. (CB)

Reviews the limited amount of research regarding ways in which primary stress is assigned to second conjugation infinitives in Italian and then proposes a new perspective taking into consideration root vowels, root-final consonants, syllable onset, monosyllabic vs. polysyllabic roots, and canonical form. (CB)

Offers a sampling of results achieved by Relational Grammar in exposing "hidden rules" behind various facts of Italian, major conspicuous facts as well as tiny arcane ones. (CB)

Reviews recent literature concerning what to do to help foreign learners of Italian develop communicative competence, i.e., a functional knowledge of the uses of the language. This literature shows that to be conceptually fluent in a language is to know how that language encodes concepts on the basis of metaphorical reasoning. (33 references) (CK)

Explores ways in which advanced conversation classrooms may provide the aural and written comprehensible input necessary for fostering the students' continued acquisition of the target language through examination of research and literature on: prelistening, decoding, intensive listening, comprehension, and skill application. (CB)

Examines and compares five available computer programs intended for self-instruction in Italian, focusing on their attention to learning strategies and personalized learning pace. Content, format, and other features of each are noted. General issues discussed include overall organization, cultural content, sequencing, exercise types, and ancillary…

While substantial evidence exists that classroom immersion in a second language teaches students about cultural diversity, raises cultural self-awareness, and improves communicative competence in the target language, most of the research has been performed at the elementary and secondary school levels. Implications for developing rationales and…