Writing in English in Italy – from ‘compositions’ to ‘academic writing’
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21283/2376905X.1.10.2.2779Keywords:
English for Academic Purposes, teaching of writing, history of English language teaching, ESL/EFL writing, ELT textbooksAbstract
This article aims to investigate the evolution of L2 English writing instruction in the 20th century, focusing on the ‘pre-history’ of academic writing in Italy – when writing was mainly viewed as an ancillary activity, often added to grammar/translation language classes. To shed some light on the principles underlying L2 English ‘composition’ writing instruction, the article illustrates the findings of the analysis of a sample of English writing materials published in Italy between the 1940s and the 1990s. Against the background of a mostly stagnant institutional context, English writing pedagogy appears to have evolved in Italy throughout the 20th century as a result of wider social and cultural changes, as well as developments in applied linguistics. This evolution led to a reappraisal of the role of the learner writer, who was increasingly viewed as an active agent in the process of knowledge transformation.
References
Anderson, Laurie (1987). Learning to write in L2 in institutional contexts. In Richard Duda & Philip Riley (Eds.). Learning styles (pp. 135-154). Presses Universitaires de Nancy.
Balboni, Paolo Emilio (2009). Storia dell’educazione linguistica in Italia. Dalla Legge Casati alla Riforma Gelmini. UTET Università.
Baldi, Sergio, & Mercanti, Edgardo (1964). L'insegnamento della lingua inglese: metodologia e didattica. Le Monnier.
Bell, Francis L. (1948). English essays for University students. Casa Editrice Campa.
Bereiter, Marlene, & Scardamalia, Carl (1987). The psychology of -written composition. L. Erlbaum.
Brodine, Ruey (1991). Writing for yourself and others in an Italian university. In Maria Teresa Prat Zagrebelsky (Ed.). The study of English language in Italian universities (pp. 45-64). Edizioni dell’Orso.
Cavallucci, Olga (1953). Words and ideas: book for reading, conversation and essay writing. Pironti Editore.
Charnitzky, Juergen (1996). Fascismo e scuola. La politica scolastica del regime (1922-1943). La Nuova Italia.
Cohen, Louis, Manion, Lawrence, & Morrison, Keith (2018). Research methods in education. Eighth edition. Routledge.
Di Bello, Giulia, Mannucci, Andrea, & Rugiu Santoni, Antonio (1980). Documenti e ricerche per la storia del Magistero. L. Manzuoli Editore.
Dodd, William N. (1982). Risultati dell’inchiesta AIA sull’insegnamento della lingua inglese in alcune sedi campione dell’Università italiana. In Erina Siciliani, Rosangela Barone, & Guy Aston (Eds.). La Lingua inglese nell’università. Linee di ricerca, esperienze, proposte (pp. 155-174). Adriatica Editrice.
Frabboni, Franco, Genovese, Antonio, Preti, Alberto, & Romani, Werther (Eds.). (2006). Da magistero a scienze della formazione : cinquant'anni di una facoltà innovativa dell'Ateneo bolognese. CLUEB.
Grabe, William & Kaplan, Robert B. (1996). Theory & practice of writing. Pearson Education.
Guida all'esame scritto d'ammissione alla Facoltà di Magistero. (1966).
Hyland, Ken (2009). Teaching and researching writing. Second edition. Longman.
Lombardo, Vincent (1993). Composing with words: An approach to writing a university composition. Cooperativa Libraria IULM.
Matsuda, Paul Kei (2003). Second language writing in the twentieth century: A situated historical perspective. In Barbara Kroll (Ed.). Exploring the dynamics of second language writing (pp. 15-34). Cambridge University Press.
Nava, Andrea (2018a). How did language professionals study English grammar in Italian universities before 1980? Italiano Lingua Due, 10(1), 209-223. https://doi.org/10.13130/2037-3597/10587
Nava, Andrea (2018b). English grammaticography for university students in Italy (1999-2011): pedagogical grammars or pedagogical presentations of linguistic theories? SILTA - Studi Italiani di Linguistica Teorica e Applicata, 47(2), 249-268.
Pacitti, Domenico (1986). Reading and response: Practice in advanced English essay-writing and discussion on classic themes. ETS.
Pellandra. Carla. (2007). Le radici del nostro mestiere. CLUEB.
Pincas, Anita (1982). Teaching English writing. Macmillan.
Piemontese, M. Emanuela, & Sposetti, Patrizia (Eds.). (2014). La scrittura dalla scuola superiore all’università. Carocci.
Selvi, Ali Fouad (2019). Qualitative content analysis. In Jim McKinley & Heath Rose (Eds.). The Routledge handbook of research methods in applied linguistics (pp. 440-452). Routledge.
Silva, Tony (1990). Second language composition instruction: Developments, issues, and directions in ESL. In Barbara Kroll (Ed.). Second language writing: Research insights for the classroom (pp. 11–23). Cambridge University Press.
Vricella, Arsenio (1970). The gym: Raccolta di passi italiani e inglesi per l'esercizio alla versione, alla conversazione ed alla composizione in inglese. Le Monnier.
Yañez-Bouza, Nuria (2016). Early and Late Modern English grammars as evidence in English historical linguistics. In Merja Kytö & Päivi Pahta (Eds.). The Cambridge handbook of English historical linguistics (pp. 164-180). Cambridge University Press.
Zanola, Annalisa (2023). La lingua inglese per la comunicazione scientifica e professionale. Carocci.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Categories
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Andrea Nava
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
