This paper describes a language-for-specific-purposes test development project designed to assess both general language proficiency and classroom communicative competence for the purpose of accrediting teachers of Italian as a second/foreign language. A rationale for test design is presented that draws in a review of the second language…

This article stresses the idea that teaching communicative competence and the ability to deal with a variety of language situations should be the goal of foreign language teaching, with grammar instruction in a secondary position. Teaching by means of "dialogues with options" is discussed and sample dialogues for Italian instruction are given.…

A discussion on the nature of language argues the following: (1) the concept of a closed and finite rule system is inadequate for the description of natural languages; (2) as a consequence, the writing of variable rules to modify such rule systems so as to accommodate the properties of natural language is inappropriate; (3) the concept of such…

Project COPE provides supportive services, basic skills, career development, and occupational training to limited English proficient (LEP) students at three New York City high schools. Many COPE students are also limited in their ability to read and write in their native languages. Program participants in 1983-84 included: 173 Spanish-dominant…

This issue contains proceedings of a colloquium on linguistics at the University of Neuchatel: (1) "Propositions epistemologiques pour une etude du bilinguisme (Epistemological Propositions for a Study of Bilingualism)," by B. Py; (2) "Comment on di ca? Prolegomenes a une etude de la composante semantique du langage des migrants (How Do You Say…

The CAPISCO Bilingual Program at New Utrecht High School in New York is designed to offer bilingual instructional and supportive services to predominantly 9th and 10th grade Italian students. The target population consists of approximately 150 Italian language dominant students receiving intensive instruction in English as a second language…

This guide for elementary students will help them learn about five of South and Southwest Philadelphia's ethnic groups and examine their own ethnic heritage. These groups are: Afro Americans, Irish Americans, Italian Americans, Jewish Americans, and Polish Americans. The guide has different sections. "Hearsay" sections contain short…

This annotated bibliography lists all the published teaching materials for Italian currently available in the United Kingdom, either because it is published in the United Kingdom or published abroad and distributed in the United Kingdom. It is divided into two sections: course materials; and supplementary materials/readers (that replaces…

Italian pedagogical texts in general hold the position that the partitive is not obligatory as it is in French. However, some of these texts devote a great deal of time to repetition and transformation drills while others never mention the construction at all until the chapters on the pronoun replacement of accusative complements. Italian phrase…

This is the final report of one of three studies in an overall project entitled "Evaluation of Bilingual Education Programs." This study was sponsored in response to a need for more information regarding bilingual-bicultural education for other than Spanish language groups. The study's objectives were to: (1) identify the major issues…

This short paper asks three related questions: What factors erode ethnic ties? What factors support ethnic identification? What roles does ethnicity play in the process of assimilation? Data were obtained through a sample survey of registered voters in three wards of Providence and the entire suburb of Warwick, Rhode Island. After a field test,…

This issue of "Schulpraxis," a Swiss journal for language teaching, is devoted to Italian instruction in Switzerland. It includes: (1) an interpretation of the poem "Le morte chitarre" by Salvatore Quasimodo, conducted in a girls' school in German Switzerland, (2) a presentation of principles for an Italian textbook to be based…

A review of historically and sociologically significant cultural interrelations between Italy and its language and the world commences with a historical sketch from the Roman period. The author examines reasons for the rebirth of interest in Italian culture and suggests that the best approach to developing an appreciation of the culture is the…

The contents of this book are organized in seven chapters. Chapter one introduces this book as a study of the Italians in America--their cultural characteristics before migrating to the United States; their reasons for coming; the institutions they developed upon arrival; their problems of adjustment to the new society; their aspirations; their…

This student book, one in a series of civic education materials, focuses on white ethnic groups and how they influence the operation of the American political system. The ethnic groups which are investigated include Poles, Irish, Italians, and Jews. An ethnic person is defined as anyone who decides to identify with and live among those who share…