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)

Presents a proposal to bring literature into the basic program of instruction and make it a meaningful component of the learning process. A model lesson describes how literary texts can be perceived and studied as performances of a language. (CB)

Considers the behavior of certain classes of personal pronouns which have come to be known as clitics, covering the categories of clitic pronouns as special elements, a framework for clitics, stressed clitics, clitic doubling, Piedmontese clitic inversion, subject clitics, clitic clustering, clitic movement, and causative and perception verbs. (CB)

Describes a workshop offered at the Middlebury College Italian School on contemporary Italy. The morning sessions consisted of a discussion by a native Italian scholar of contemporary Italy and of related readings and the afternoon sessions consisted of readings and discussions and hands-on activities in lesson preparation. (SED)

After reviewing previous research on speech acts, this article describes a study that analyzed the behavior of speakers of standard Italian in refusing an offer of food. The importance of "face" is explained, and the refusal strategies are classified into four categories: explicit, tactical, decisive, and conclusive. (CFM)

A national survey sought data on fall 1990 enrollments in Italian classes in U.S. colleges and universities, including junior and community colleges, to supplement previous surveys. Findings show that Italian is regularly taught in 370 institutions with a total combined enrollment of 44,102 students. Institution-by-institution data are tabulated.…

Describes class activities for incorporating and teaching about opera into the Italian language instruction classroom, focusing on the enhancement of cultural knowledge and understanding that opera offers. (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)

Explores issues related to the successful integration of songs and music into the Italian curriculum and suggests methods for incorporating music to enhance students' speaking, understanding, reading, writing, and cultural awareness skills. (27 references) (CB)

Examination of several interrelated topics on postage stamps, including their multiple functions and significance as semiotic artifacts, precedes suggestions for incorporating them into the Italian language curriculum in such activities as reading, writing, speaking, listening, and cultural understanding. (CB)

Courses in business Italian have an important place in the traditional foreign language curriculum because they expose students to broader cultural areas in which they can exercise their foreign language skills. Guidelines for course development and some classroom activities are described. (CB)

Describes the origin and reason for a survey conducted by questionnaire of pedagogical software use in Italian as a foreign language; analyzes each of the aspects surveyed; and ends with an overview of the current situation, including suggestions for the future. Describes projects respondents have developed or are developing. Findings reveal that…

Argues that teaching about Italian dialects ought to form an integral part of the Italian curriculum and offers ideas on what could be included in such a course. Points out that the study of these dialects can teach students about the history and synchronic structures of standard Italian as well as the role of Italian sociolinguistics as it…

Examines the conflict between students' focus on learning the grammar and vocabulary of a foreign language instead of considering the culture that lies beneath the target language, in this case, Italian. Suggestions are made for overcoming the practical difficulty of imposing a language as a cultural entity upon the students. (25 references) (CK)

Overviews the most recently published or revised version of North American second-year Italian textbooks. Notes that each of the six textbooks reviewed provides sound pedagogical materials designed to enhance instruction. (55 references) (CK)