Transforming language teaching - a view from Italy

Transforming language education: a view from Italy

We continue our international education debate with this interview with Gisella Langé, Foreign Languages Inspector with the Italian Ministry of Education, who explains how Italy approaches language teaching.

[We've] “completely changed the paradigm of language learning and teaching” in Italy. "

Gisella Langé, Foreign Languages Inspector with the Italian Ministry of Education

One of the biggest challenges facing educators around the world is the need to equip learners and teachers with the language skills needed to succeed in an international environment.

In Italy every school child in the country learns English from the age of six to 19, and is required to take an additional subject taught entirely in a foreign language during their final year. The large numbers of students, teachers and schools involved make this a particularly challenging task for the Ministry of Education, which has implemented a major programme to identify and develop teachers’ language skills and professional competences.

To achieve this, the country underwent a complete overhaul in the delivery, monitoring and assessment foreign language learning in schools, while changing the mind-set of the teaching community along the way.

In this video, Gisella Langé, Foreign Languages Inspector with the Italian Ministry of Education, describes two major projects - amongst many initiatives -which led to a new concept of language teaching in Italy. As she explains, a total revision of the national system for assessing schools that was vital in the delivery of something that “completely changed the paradigm of language learning and teaching” in Italy.

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