The research group "Divers-ITA" aims to explore teaching methodologies for inclusive instruction of the Italian language, with particular attention to students' multilingualism and cognitive diversity.
Cummins (2024) states that language teaching is going through the “cross-linguistic/translanguaging phase” and highlights how contact between languages and modalities can provide a productive opportunity both linguistically and cognitively.
The Companion Volume to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (Council of Europe, 2020) delves into the concept of plurilingual and intercultural competence, building on other European documents such as the FREPA/CARAP, Framework of Reference for Pluralistic Approaches to Languages and Cultures (Candelier, 2012).
Plurilingual and intercultural competence implies, on the one hand, the ability to relate to otherness, with the goal of promoting the idea of global democratic citizenship, and, on the other, maximizing one’s own linguistic resources by acting within an interconnected repertoire, combining language skills with general competences and various cognitive strategies. Furthermore, the new descriptors in the Companion Volume related to mediation make it possible to highlight not only the plural dimension in the interdependence between individual speakers and the community, but also the process of meaning-making in interaction through more complex cognitive skills (Piccardo, 2022).
The group’s research lines therefore concern plurilingual teaching, multimodal communication (Kress, 2010) understood as a plurality of semiotic expression, and cognitive diversity with a focus on neurodivergence. The main research context is the Italian language and culture courses at the Università per Stranieri and the various opportunities for linguistic and intercultural contact within the university's educational community, but also in the urban context of Perugia.
The objectives of the Divers-ITA research group are:
- to implement teaching strategies aimed at developing linguistic competence in Italian, leveraging multimodal communication and verifying its impact in terms of learning
- to outline educational pathways focused on the development of plurilingual and intercultural competence, enhancing students' linguistic backgrounds, particularly from a metalinguistic perspective, and the encounter with otherness, verifying the outcomes in terms of learning
- to identify teaching strategies to support cognitive diversity, applying methodologies such as Universal Design for Learning and supporting students with special educational needs and neurodivergent students, verifying the results in terms of motivation and inclusion
- to extend the applicability of research results to design teaching materials and peer learning pathways, with a view to sharing best practices, with immediate effects on Italian language and culture courses.
Roberto Dolci, associate professor GLOT-01/B
Borbala Samu, associate professor GLOT-01/B
Letizia Cinganotto, RtdB researcher GLOT-01/B
Valentina Carbonara, RtdB researcher GLOT-01/B
Marco Filardi, RtdB researcher PSIC-01/A
Cristina Gaggioli, RtdB researcher PAED-02/A
Chiara Bambagioni, Italian native speaker language instructor (CEL)
Maria Chiara Lisi, Italian native speaker language instructor (CEL)
Roberta Scarpocchi, Italian native speaker language instructor (CEL)
Francesca Leonardi, Italian native speaker language instructor (CEL)
Catia Mugnani, Italian native speaker language instructor (CEL)
Andrea Civile, Italian native speaker language instructor (CEL)
Fulvio Bifarini, Italian native speaker language instructor (CEL)
Caterina Calicchio, PhD student (Linguistics and language teaching specialization), XXXVIII cycle