Il lessico in corsi universitari di italiano l2

This thesis is about vocabulary and especially its role in teaching and learning Italian as a foreign language. In recent decades, in fact, the crucial importance of vocabulary has been repeatedly reaffirmed within the disciplines that deal with the learning of second languages as well as in language teaching, although in the past has not always received the attention it deserved. The first chapter gives an account of some terminological and theoretical issues. The second chapter explains the role that vocabulary has played and currently plays in second language acquisition research and also in the different methods used in language teaching. The third chapter is focused on two case studies, namely the analysis of the place specifically dedicated to teaching vocabulary during university classes of Italian language for foreign students observed by the writer in two different contexts: the University of Leeds and the University of Cagliari. In the same chapter, we also analyse the lexical activities found in the different teaching materials adopted in the two aforementioned universities. In the fourth chapter, on the one hand we analyse those moments when teachers intervene to clarify the meaning of words during activities not necessarily dedicated to vocabulary. On the other, we analyse an activity practiced in Leeds which is the preparation of a glossary accompanying the oral presentation of a report by each student. The analyses point out some details of two specific contexts at specific times. What has been observed cannot be generalized to contexts of teaching and learning other than those in which the material was collected and, in view of this, the conclusion proposes some reflections on what was found.