Italian as a foreign language: Teaching and acquisition in higher education

This volume contains a collection of papers on the teaching/learning of Italian as a Foreign Language. It presents a series of in-depth and systematic studies written by international specialists in the field.

The book consists of two parts (15 chapters). The first part, “Pedagogical approaches & methodological proposals,” brings together works on teaching various aspects of the language, as well as very new and interesting didactic proposals. The second part, “Italian through projects and case-studies,” focuses on the presentation of several case studies applied to the teaching of Italian as a foreign language, with an emphasis on the most recent tools and resources available. Following the pace of these studies, we can further explore and develop research on didactics in this field.

In sum, this is an innovative and original volume because it brings together numerous chapters on the didactics of Italian as a foreign language covering highly topical issues, methodological rigour, and easy didactic application, making it a very useful point of reference for both teachers and students involved in linguistic and didactic studies. The volume also contains a thematic index including authors and topics, facilitating its use and enriching the volume.

Dr. María Teresa Martín Sánchez

Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici

Università di Salerno, Italy

[...] Methodological pluralism is the collection’s primary strength: every essay provides ready-to-use task banks for lecturers who face time constraints. [...] "Italian as a Foreign Language" merits a place on the program director’s shelf. Its wide mix of phonetic clinics, field-work ethnographies, and LSP modules demonstrates a curriculum where disciplinary content and linguistic form develop together. While instructors seeking robust analytics or globalsouth perspectives must look elsewhere, the collection offers an indispensable repertoire for redesigning post-pandemic courses that aim beyond generic communicative competence. Recommended for MA-level teacher-training seminars and for departments intent on integrating Italian into art history, geography, media studies, or performance, this volume serves as a vehicle for the profession-ready literacy.

[Extract from book review on 'Annali d’italianistica' (Italian Studies Journal). Volume 43 (2025). pp 752-754. Reviewer: Deion Dresser (University of Pennsylvania). https://annali.org/volume-43-2025/ ]