Teaching Italian grammar as a foreign language: a didactic resource

Teaching Italian grammar involves several critical aspects, amongst which is a recurring lack of motivation in students. Therefore, combining the teaching of grammar with the use of potentially appealing resources for students is a challenge for the teacher of Italian as a foreign language (FL). With regards to this, songs represent an important didactic resource; in fact, they can motivate students’ learning, are texts full of linguistic and cultural references (such as the variety of sociolinguistic registers or rhetorical figures), and foster the memorisation of lexical and grammatical structures thanks to their intrinsic characteristics (like rhythm and melody). In order to take advantage of the potentialities of songs, the teacher of Italian as a FL should acquire both appropriate methodological competences and a broad collection of didactic techniques to present the various grammatical topics.
The essay is divided into four sections: the first attempts to explore the teaching of Italian grammar from a humanistic perspective; the second is devoted to the presentation of the critical aspects that characterise it, together with the introduction of some possible solutions, such as the use of songs, which is debated in the third section. Finally, the fourth and last part is concerned with some didactic considerations about how and when to use songs for grammatical purposes.