“Teacher of Italian as a Non-Native Language for Low Educated Users”. A New Professional Profile.

Abstract

In last few years, migrants' cultural features and age have changed and an increasing amount of people landing on Italian shores is constituted by unaccompanied foreign minors, mostly belonging to the category of LESLLA. This scenario imposes the definition of new competencies, suitable for the training needs of these new users. In fact, teachers of Italian L2 have to acquire literacy skills, which traditionally do not fall within their professional background. Moreover, these competencies should be markedly oriented in a strategic way, as the timeframe for learning is typically long for illiterate adults, in contrast with the urgent needs of pragmatic use of the language. The paper describes the new professional profile of the "Teacher of Italian as a non-native language for low educated users, as it has been defined within the research and teaching experience of the School of Italian Language for Foreigners of the University of Palermo.