The metapragmatic reflection as a mechanism in learning the imperative form in the Italian class as a foreign language

Abstract

This paper presents the progress of a research work carried out with the data collected during the teaching of the imperative form to a group of students of an advanced course of Italian as a foreign language inside a Mexican public university in the center of the country. Throughout the data collection sessions, different activities were carried out that aimed to make students aware to some pragmatic aspects of the imperative in Italian, such as paralinguistic and kinetic elements. The partial results that are presented here, based on the analysis of the participants’ discourse, show that the students’ exposure to the various materials used, such as videos, audios and worksheets, where the pragmatics of the imperative is evinced, caused a reflection on the use of (im) politeness. This derives from the interpretation of the messages produced by the native speakers when they use the imperative, which developed a metapragmatic awareness in students. From these results, a didactic proposal for the teaching of cultural aspects is created where teachers adopt an important role in the teaching and learning processes of foreign languages ​​in the classroom.