Ingreso de datos al SCREEN3

Wellesley University’s Italian programme offers both language and content courses, where the latter usually involve the study of Italian literature or other language-based sources of Italian culture, such as film, theatre and history. Some examples of content courses offered by the programme during the main data collection period are ‘Italy

through fiction and drama’, ‘Dante’s Inferno’, ‘Italy through film’ and ‘Contemporary Italian literature’. At Wellesley University, students wanting to major in Italian must begin by completing two first-year Italian language courses (equivalent to a complete academic year) and can only enrol in content courses starting from year two. The formal requirements for the Italian major include satisfactory completion of a total of six language papers and at least two content papers. Within the Italian programme, as in all other foreign language programmes at Wellesley, the completion of content courses is seen as an integral part of the study of language, as it is through these courses that the students can complement their knowledge of the language with the historical and cultural knowledge necessary to be acquainted with contemporary Italy.

What follows is a selective description of some of the courses offered by the Italian programme at Wellesley University. Within it, language and content courses are treated separately on account of the obvious differences in their aims, content, materials and teaching tools. A detailed description of all the programme’s courses would be too long and outside the scope of the present study; for this reason I have decided to focus the discussion on the courses completed by both the two case-study participants from this setting (Giulia and Livia) with particular attention to the courses they attended during the main data collection phase of the project and to the elements of these that are deemed relevant to the participants’ motivational profiles.

5.3.2.1 I corsi di lingua: The language courses

The specific purposes of each of the language courses part of the Italian major vary slightly depending on the level of Italian taught, however the general aims of all of the language papers are the same: to develop the skills of reading, writing, oral comprehension and speaking of standard Italian and to present insights into various aspects of contemporary Italian society and culture. The specific objectives of the very last course, ‘Italian language 3B’, which is also the language requisite for the Italian major, can give us an idea of the of the language skills learners are expected to achieve by the end of their major:

Upon completing the course successfully students will be able to: - read and comprehend a wide variety of authentic Italian texts;

- have a grasp of current affairs and be able to read Italian newspapers with a good degree of linguistic and contextual comprehension;

vocabulary;

- comprehend standard Italian spoken at normal to fast speed; - speak on a variety of topics confidently and with good pronunciation;

- translate from Italian into English with a good level of accuracy and speed. (W1web)

Interestingly, fluency in the language, which is often mentioned by the study’s participants as a personal goal or a milestone against which to measure one’s progress, is never mentioned in any of the official course materials produced by the university or by the teachers, even though some teachers believe that some of the students who complete the major can be rightfully considered fluent:

A: Qual’è il livello d’italiano degli studenti che finiscono il major?

C: Anche qui si varia tantissimo da studente a studente, ma generalmente è

un livello buono: sono in grado di andare in Italia, e di lavorare in un ambiente Italiano, di cavarsela in un ambiente di studio Italiano… Penso che chi finisce il major è soddisfatto del livello che ha raggiunto. (C1)

A: What’s the level of Italian of the students who complete the major?

C: It tends to vary a lot but generally it’s a good level, they are able to travel to Italy and work in an Italian environment, manage in a study environment in Italy. I would say that the ones who finish the major have a good level (…) I think that the ones who complete the major are satisfied with the level they have achieved. (C1)

Generally all language classes, regardless of the level of Italian taught, have many elements in common. Among these the most obvious is the great amount of time and effort teachers in these courses devote to the explicit teaching of grammar. Virtually all of the grammar of Italian language is taught during the first two years of the major, while the third and final year is dedicated to reviewing the previously introduced grammar through a study of examples of authentic language from different printed sources, such as newspapers and magazines. Throughout the major, the teaching of grammar is supported by the use of three different textbooks, one for each year, containing all of the content and the exercises the learners will need to complete the courses.

Another recurrent feature is the structure of the learners’ assessment, which is the same in all language courses and consists of two written in-class grammar tests, two temi

(written compositions), two in-class audio-visual tests, a weekly oral assessment and a final oral examination. Such an extensive and diversified assessment calendar is only possible in language courses because of the relatively large amount of weekly hours of class attendance this type course demands. Depending of the year and the level in fact, students are required to attend four to five hours of classes per week, which are divided in lectures, tutorials and audio-visual (AV hereafter) classes.

The typical lecture consists in the introduction of a section of the textbook, normally a text containing new vocabulary and/or the application of a specific grammatical rule or rules, followed by the teacher’s explanation of the essential point(s) and the completion of one or more exercises from the textbook. Teachers do attempt to speak Italian as much as possible during lectures, especially for already familiar or recurring elements, such as the initial greetings and basic instructions.

Buongiorno ragazzi, come state? Bene?

Good morning guys, how are you, good?

Allora, dove eravamo?

So, where were we?

Giulia, vuoi continuare tu a leggere?

Giulia, would you like to continue reading?

Hai capito Giulia? Mi sembri un po’ perplessa.

Have you understood, Giulia? You look a little unsure. (WL3obs)

Even so, they often need revert to English, especially when explaining technical points or when wanting to ensure beyond any doubt that students have understood, as for example when talking about the assessment, or when offering feedback. The lecture always ends with the assignments of the compiti or homework, and often the following lecture will begin with its correction in class. Soon after the end of each session, a detailed outline of the session, including a list of the textbook sections and exercises covered in class, is made available to students by posting it on Blackboard11.

11_{Blackboard is an online environment that supports teaching and learning at Wellesley University by} making course information, materials and learning activities available online via the Internet. Blackboard gives Web-based access to course content, assessment, communication and collaboration tools.

If during the lectures it is the teacher who does most of the talking, the weekly tutorials, especially those of first and second-year courses, are designed to encourage learners to practise their spoken Italian. For this reason during the tutorials students are often made to complete oral tasks and activities, sometime involving the use of talking prompts such as images, cards, games and songs. However in spite of the continuous encouragement from the tutors, most learners are still very reluctant to speak Italian in class and this makes the task of the tutors all the more difficult:

It’s like getting blood from a stone sometimes to get them to speak in tutorials; that is the thing they are most intimidated by, they are really resistant about that. And especially being in a big class like that, people feel really self-conscious. So we all work very hard at trying to make them feel comfortable and just to get their confidence up and to feel that it’s not a problem for them to make a mistake and that ultimately the goal is to communicate with someone. (S1)

In order to create an Italian-speaking environment Italian tutors are specifically instructed to speak Italian in class, and in spite of the difficulties involved, they often do, reverting to English only rarely and briefly. An additional strategy put in place to induce learners to speak was the establishment of a weekly assessment of the students’ participation in the tutorial tasks. However in the end, in spite of the tutors’ best efforts, the above-mentioned difficulties persist, particularly in first and second-year tutorials, meaning that often the learners’ contribution to the tutorial discussions is minimal, and that the tutor still ends up doing most of the talking.

Just as lectures and tutorials, AV classes follow a regular structure, which normally involves the showing of a video clip of a dialogue in Italian and the completion of a series of esercizi orali di comprensione (oral comprehension exercises) in class. The main source of clips for the AV classes is the DVD disks that are part of the students’ textbooks. The exchanges in the video clips are usually short (15 to 30 seconds), scripted and performed by actors. They closely relate to the themes/situations found in the section(s) of the textbook covered during the lectures. Some examples of titles from one of the third-year courses are Parliamo d’infanzia (Let’s talk about our childhood), Il tempo libero degli Italiani (What Italians do in their spare time) and La famiglia Italiana: nuovi scenari (The Italian family: a new scene). The pace of the exchanges is usually slow, the actors’ pronunciation deliberately clear. The clips are shown many times, but even so most learners are reluctant to volunteer answers to the questions

posed by the tutors, so that also in this type of classes, much of the available time is spent by the tutor attempting to encourage the learners to speak.

Although the basic design of the three types of classes is generally the same throughout the three years of major, third year classes tend to be very different from those of previous years in many respects, and this is mainly due to the small numbers of students they include and the high level of Italian of the students. ‘Italian Language 3B’ is a good example of the distinctive nature of third year courses. In 2006 the course only counted nine students, all females, most of whom knew each other from attending the same courses in previous years. Together with Chiara, their teacher, they all sat around four desks put together, everyone facing everyone. With most of the class members being young mature students in their mid-twenties to early thirties, who had previously travelled or lived in Italy, the whole group shared more than the Italian class they were attending, they shared some parts of their identity, and this made for an informal, even intimate class atmosphere. Even the teacher, seemingly casually sitting among the students, could have easily passed for one of them, and someone even commented “Chiara sembra una di noi” or “Chiara looks like one of us”.

All sessions took place in the same departmental lecture room and the sitting arrangements never changed. Perhaps this influenced the way I perceived all classes to be very similar, regardless of whether they were a lecture or a tutorial, or perhaps the differences between these lose much of their significance when teaching such a small and competent group. The constant use of Italian by the teacher, and, above all, the way in which most students seemed to understand it all, was impressive. Chiara still needed to encourage some learners to speak, but most volunteered answers and comments in Italian without any coaxing. The most extensive part of the lesson was in most cases the correction of the homework, which at times took up to half of the available time. Clearly this reflected the fact that, at this level, students are expected to put a lot more effort into their individual study, which should be easier now that the grammar studied is never completely new to them. The only students whose foreheads were furrowed were those for whom the previously studied rules had not yet become automatic, and that therefore seemed to struggle not only with the stylistic details of the authentic language considered, but first and foremost with the language itself.

5.3.2.2 Letteratura e cultura: The content courses

Considered an essential complement to the language courses in the Italian major, the programme’s content courses are designed to explore some literary, historic and cultural aspects of Italy. Each of the courses investigate a different subject matter, but all classes are similar in that they revolve around a consideration of readings or video materials, their commentaries, and the discussion of various elements to do with their form and meanings. Except for two second-year offerings, content courses are normally 300-level papers; this is principally to ensure that students have the necessary language skills to understand a range of authentic language sources, even though all of the courses’ lectures, in-class discussions and assessment are normally carried out in English. Just like the other courses in the programme, content courses also include lectures and tutorials; however the differences between the two types of session are minimal, if they exist at all.

Among the 2006 content offerings, a course that can serve as a good example of this type of paper is ‘Contemporary Italian Literature’. This course covered the principal aspects of contemporary Italian fiction through a study of selected works by three prominent Italian authors: Dino Buzzati, Paola Capriolo and Antonio Tabucchi. According to the course outline available from the university’s website, the aims of the course are:

1. To introduce students to a general overview of contemporary Italian fiction; 2. To extend students’ ability to understand the many forms of fiction in the genres

of the racconto12 and of the romanzo13;

3. To teach students basic critical theory and textual analysis skills and encourage them to express themselves critically (both orally and in writing) about the texts studied in the course. (W1web)

As I had a chance to observe in class, the distinction between lectures and tutorials did not apply in the slightest to the sessions of this course. Rather, classes were structured according to a series of fixed elements: an introductory lecture, a number of sessions devoted to the interpretation and discussion of parts of the writings, and a final review session. All of these elements were then repeated in the same order for each of the writers studied, with the middle stage covering a different number of sessions

12 _{‘short story’}

according to the number and length of the works considered. Like most other third-year classes, also this one was very small, with only six students enrolled. The cosy Italian library room, chosen as the venue for all of the course’s sessions, suited the small group perfectly, as students could gather around its central table with the teacher a capotavola

(as the head of the table), in an arrangement more reminiscent of a family dinner than a lesson in literature.

The relationship between teacher and students was very informal. Paolo, the lecturer, opted for a very relaxed style of lecturing, in which the students were made active participants in the process of discovering relevant information about the authors and their writings rather than a one-way delivery of knowledge. Students’ participation was maximised by making English the official language of the course, as the lecture/discussion reached all of the students, making it easy to ask questions and offer opinions. The teacher even sought the cooperation of the students in choosing the assignment topics, so to ensure the range of questions contained issues they would enjoy writing about. Such a relaxed approach to teaching can at times lead to a relaxed attitude towards study in the students, with potentially negative consequences on the effort expended and on the learning. However nothing of the sort was ever observed in this course. The students seemed to appreciate Paolo’s style: they looked attentive; they often participated to the discussion and generally seemed to enjoy the material. In many cases, some arrived to the venue early and consulted each other on various aspects of the readings before the beginning of the lesson. Even during these impromptu study-group meetings, they seemed very focussed on their work and comments about the course and the teacher were always positive, the atmosphere always upbeat. The quality of some of the students’ literary essays was so high that Paolo decided to submit parts of their writings to academic journals for publication. It is not surprising therefore to learn that in the end all students in the class completed the course with excellent results.