The main objective of the course is to provide the fundamentals of second language (L2) and/or foreign language (LS) teaching, introducing the knowledge and skills, both theoretical and practical, necessary for teaching an L2 or LS, as well as the processes and variables that govern language learning.
The course will be structured as follows. After an overview of the historical and epistemological framework of applied linguistics, the notions of language acquisition and learning will be discussed (giving account of the main theoretical approaches to language acquisition). The course will also provide elements of educational linguistics, covering issues related to teaching different language levels (from phonetics and phonology to grammar, lexicon and pragmatics). Finally, approaches, methods and techniques for teaching will be presented, together with the most recent teaching resources and techniques for testing and evaluating language skills.
The expected outcomes will mainly concern the knowledge of theoretical models of language acquisition and learning, as well as the ability to address, also on a practical level, the linguistic specificities required with learners who are not Italian native speakers.