Examines growth of word reading skills in first- and second-grade Italian children by analyzing the pattern of reading errors. Tailors the selection of reading material to permit a meaningful cross-language comparison with pre-existing findings on English-speaking children. Finds that, in English and Italian, spatially related errors constituted a…

Tests the typological plausibility of Processability Theory, a theory of processability of grammatical structures that formally predicts which structures can be processed by the learner at a given level of development. Tests the theory for two typologically different languages--Italian and Japanese (Author/VWL)

The production of an "etymologary," a dictionary giving insight into etymology, is proposed as a creative Classroom activity and source of learning exercise that encourages linguistic manipulation, which can have positive effects on vocabulary development. Examples from French and Italian are presented. (MSE)

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.…

Discusses an interdisciplinary approach to foreign language learning that is integrated with an academic/professional curriculum as opposed to a traditional beginner's course. The use of an electronic concordance is described; the language of a pedagogic corpus is examined; and an example is given of an Italian course for Renaissance theater…

An investigation of the sociolinguistic features that govern contemporary use of the Italian formal ("Lei") and informal ("tu") forms of address suggests that teachers of Italian must help students become aware of the complex factors underlying the choice of form, rather than just drill them in usage. (12 references) (CB)

Summarizes a case study of the bilingual development (Italian/English) of a child in Australia. Data consist of recordings of her natural interactions from 18 months to her fourth birthday. The study focuses on how Christina learns the strategies of everyday interaction in the two languages. This is the first study to use the Systemic Functional…

Examined the extent to which cross-linguistic differences in sentence interpretation would generalize to complex sentences with an embedded clause. College students who were native speakers of English or Italian completed four experiments. Results indicated that cross-linguistic differences were maintained when students interpreted complex…

Vocabulary development of a sample of 42 Italian children was evaluated through monthly administration of the Italian version of the CDI. Data collection started at age one for 32 children and a few moths later for the remaining subjects and continued until children's vocabulary reached 200 words. At fixed stages of vocabulary size, individual…

Examines the difficulties children face in word segmentation in early writings. Rules about word separation have evolved over many years and are ow normative in the languages these children are trying to write: Italian, Portuguese, Spanish. Children were asked to write a story well-known in all three cultures. Quantitative analysis was done of…

Examines intercultural communication between Italians and speakers of Italian in North America. Argues intercultural communicative competence comprises three elements: deep cultural values or "mental software"; non-verbal means of communication; and language. Offers advice to teachers of Italian who want to help their students develop…

Introduces and describes the functions of the Opera del Vocabolario Italiano (OVI) database, a powerful Web-based, full-text, searchable electronic archive that contains early Italian vernacular texts whose composition may be dated prior to 1375. Examples are drawn from scholars in various disciplines who have employed the OVI in support of their…

The world's languages display important differences in their rhythmic organization; most particularly, different languages seem to privilege different phonological units (mora, syllable, or stress foot) as their basic rhythmic unit. There is now considerable evidence that such differences have important consequences for crucial aspects of language…

Data from one English-Italian bilingual child (1;10-3;1) are presented in this study which challenge the hypothesis that the consistent realization of overt subjects in English is caused by the emergence of finite verbal morphology in the child's grammar. The argument is made for the emergence of subjects as an independent grammatical property of…

This comprehensive guide to Italian study programs in American colleges, universities, specialized schools, and study abroad programs contains five major sections: (1) colleges, universities, and specialized schools offering introductory courses, minor, major, M.A., and Ph.D. programs; (2) colleges and universities offering graduate programs…