I programmi televisivi italiani come sussidio nell'insegnamento dell'italiano

Abstract

During the past decade or so, thanks to the fact that the mushrooming of tens of Italian and Sicilian television stations has favoured a huge increase in the number of Italian programmes received in Malta, the quantity of exposure to the Italian language has continually been on the increase. Moreover, it appears that the most exposed of all is the younger generation who from a very tender age, starts watching daily a certain number of Italian television programmes these being mainly cartoons. Convinced that in this way a certain quantity of language learning is unknowingly taking place, the main aim of this research study is to find out if there exist the grounds for the introduction of the study of the Italian language at the Primary Level. This study of about 250 Maltese primary school pupils from government and private schools alike is divided into three main parts. The first describes how the above situation came to be and, studies in detail how television is being utilised in the teaching of foreign languages. The second, through the analysis of a purposely constructed questionnaire examines the situation, always as regards Italian television programmes and ancillary issues, currently prevailing in Malta. This is then followed by the study of the proposals for foreign language teaching as laid down by the Council of Europe in The Threshold Level, and whether these have applicability to the Maltese situation. In the third part, including an examination of the various difficulties envisaged and guidelines of how it could be carried out, it is proposed that the teaching of Italian in the Primary School, for the time being on an experiment basis, should become a reality.