Reviews three Italian-French dictionaries recently published in Italy comparing them with an older one. States that all three mark a definite progress compared to the latter, for the variety and abundance of examples and the coverage of phraseology, but finds them lacking in the areas of syntactic and semantic information. (MES)

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)

Argues for the inclusion of courses in phonetics and phonology in college Italian programs, claiming that the myth of Italian as a phonetic language blurs the clear need for such training and that students actually require advanced coursework in phonetics and phonology to improve their articulation and pronunciation. (43 references) (Author/CB)

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)

Emphasizes the importance of pronunciation in the teaching of Italian as a second language and discusses a course in phonetics and phonology taught at the University for Foreigners in Perugia, Italy. Common difficulties are highlighted, and lab exercises to overcome these difficulties are provided. (27 references) (CFM)

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…