Metacognizione linguistica e insegnamento universitario delle lingue

Abstract

This paper presents three aspects of the foreign language curriculum: (i) the need for a scientifically grounded reflection on the language faculty as well as the language specific grammars of the mother tongue(s) and the foreign language(s), (ii) the important role played by “less spoken/less taught languages” in higher education curricula, (iii) the support of new technologies to implement the two previous aspects. Starting from the results of recent neurolinguistic experiments suggesting that the language faculty is activated also by explicit instruction, and from the well-established fact that metacognition supports learning, I propose that explicit instruction based on recent advances in theoretical linguistics should replace “traditional” grammars. In this perspective, I address the question of multilingualism and suggest that despite appearances, less spoken/less taught languages, often called “minor languages”, play a crucial role in the foreign language curriculum. Finally, I illustrate certain technical and operative problems in teaching languages with the new technologies. In this context, I review some of the lessons learned in the COVCELL project (Cohort Oriented Virtual Campus for Effective Language Learning) run in 2005-2007.