Spontaneous Intercomprehension Strategies in Italian Poetry: An Observation of Three Profiles of Plurilingual Participants
Special Volume on Pedagogy, Italica. Peer reviewed
Abstract
Literature in a foreign language classroom has often been discouraged at a beginner level. However, the results provided by this research show that, with no knowledge of the Italian language, a specific profile of participants can use strategies that guide them to a certain level of comprehension of a poetic text.
The ultimate objective of this research is to define the potential profile of students of Italian as an additional language who could use literature as authentic material from the beginning of their course of study. This research aims at observing the spontaneous reading and listening intercomprehension strategies of the first seven tercets of the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri.
The three profiles of participants consist of users of different languages who have never been instructed in Italian. This research confirms that bilingual users of Romance languages have an advantage in the reading and listening comprehension of a poetic excerpt in Italian.