Page 5 - Via del Corso A1 for English speakers, edizioni Edilingua

Why Via del Corso?
Via del Corso is an innovative textbook for students of Italian, and the result of years of experience and the most
recent contributions of foreign-language pedagogy and neuro-linguistics to the field of foreign language learning.
How is it innovative?
The textbook is built around a story, set in Rome in the first volume of the book. Stories incite curiosity, they
attract, inspire, motivate, involve, create empathy, and allow students to identify with the characters. This decision
made it possible to better evaluate and maximize written and oral input from a communicative and practical
perspective, and to underline not only what is said, but also by whom, when, in which occasion, and for what
reasons – distinctions that are difficult to make when dealing with texts that are not at all connected. Our students
are exposed to authentic language and natural dialogues, with interjections, discourse markers, and common
colloquial expressions that can be easily borrowed to express themselves.
The storyline serves as a catalyst in the learning process. Using the suggestive power of emotions, which are the
key to opening their hearts and stimulating their minds, students barely even notice that they are learning. The
story is a noir comedy that exposes students to a continuous blend of characteristics of both genres: mystery,
intrigue, humor, suspense, and plot twists. Following the adventures of the protagonists, the students encounter a
great variety of authentic situations and are involved and motivated to communicate from the start of the book.

The story is told through the alternating formats of a sitcom and graphic novel; in terms of motivation and
cognition, still shots, comic strips, and engaging images in general are notoriously more powerful and immediate
than text, and lower the affective filter. Videos and comic strips are fully integrated in the structure of the course
and are not merely a supplementary resource. To facilitate their use in class, all of the video episodes are included
in the audio CD in the form of a radio series, and an animated version of the stories and comics are available on
the DVD. Finally, to further involve the students, we have created an interactive story: it is up to the students
themselves to decide which conclusion they will hear.
The most important lexical, communicative, and grammatical elements are systematically re-introduced, often
within the same unit, as well as in subsequent units and the student workbook, in a continuous macro- and micro-
spiral approach that, as demonstrated by various scholars (Medina, Ebbinghaus, etc.), allows students to commit
new input to long-term memory. The same method was applied in the development of all of the supplementary
materials: tests, self-tests, games, etc.

Another central aspect of the course is its inductive approach. Following the sequence motivation-globality-
analysis-synthesis-reflection, no element is introduced in a passive way. The students are constantly asked, through
guided activities, to discover new input and formulate and check hypotheses. This is paired with the concept of
interconnection – each activity introduces those that follow, and each episode of the story prepares and creates
expectations for the next.
We are well aware that the fear of making a mistake and activities that are too long or too difficult raise students’
affective filter, which lowers or even blocks acquisition. With the aim of calming and supporting the student, we
have preferred short units in which we have tried to create a balance between diverse input: rather than provide an
exhaustive list of words, expressions, and grammatical exceptions – which students would not be able to assimilate
anyway – only the most immediately useful elements at this level are introduced. A very gradual progression is
followed with the reintroduction of familiar situations and topics in subsequent units or volumes of the book,
and with the consolidation and expansion of knowledge. Authentic material is introduced following these same
guidelines, and never at the beginning of a unit.
We are aware of the value of gamified activities that put the student at the center of his or her learning process,
and we have included various original, short, and simple activities in the textbook, workbook, reviews, guided
activities, and online platform i-d-e-e.it, where numerous gamified activities can be found. Moreover, Via del Corso
comes with its own digital game and board game.

In line with a more active approach, we have often included information gaps and task-based, collaborative,
and problem-solving activities, always with the objective of keeping motivation high, fostering greater student
participation, and encouraging interaction between students.

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