Abstract:

In the past decade, creators of educational materials and textbook publishers have developed an interest in teaching the correct pronunciation of Italian words. However, with the exception of audio recordings of Italian consonants and vowels, most materials are paper-based and focus solely on the way words are spoken, emphasizing the correct articulation and production of sounds, syllables, and stress patterns. This approach allows to achieve a good proficiency in spoken Italian for everyday use, but does not meet the needs of music students, who require higher than average control of the correct articulation of Italian sounds (pronunciation). Such students also need to apply their language skills in stage performances and develop the tools necessary for the accurate conveyance of meaning (enunciation). Their speech must exhibit clear pronunciation, appropriate emphasis on syllables and words, accurate production of sounds and phonetic elements, and attention to such factors as intonation, rhythm, volume, stress patterns, and more.

To meet the specific needs of such student body, in April 2019 «Italian Enunciation I and II», the two courses offered by the Italian Language Program that I supervise, began offering music majors a variety of digital tools to enhance their learning process.
The initial step involved introducing voice recognition software drills using tablets (iPads) and incorporating diverse interactive activities focused on listening and dictation. These activities were based on an Elementary Italian digital textbook that I developed earlier in my career.

In April 2020, just before the outbreak of the pandemic, I had the opportunity to collaborate on a research project with ear-nose-throat surgeon Jochen Bretschneider of Amsterdam UMC. Our collaboration led to the release of a series of short videos featuring MRI scans that showcased the pronunciation of all the sounds in Italian. These videos proved to be significantly more effective in helping students grasp the correct articulation of Italian sounds than simple pronunciation drawings or animations. By providing an interactive visualization of the sounds, the videos played a crucial role in facilitating remote learning during the pandemic.

After the pandemic, however, the issue of teaching enunciation resurfaced when in-person classes resumed. The problem was approached through two different paths. First, I created a series of online drills. These drills allowed students to record themselves while reading short texts, designed for them to focus on the pronunciation of specific groups of sounds. Students received direct feedback from the teacher on how to improve their fluency.
Second, I took an interactive approach to analyze librettos, lyrics, and poems of interest to the students. The texts were transformed into interactive presentations using Keynote. Each phrase was animated based on such factors as intonation, rhythm, and volume. By following the movements of each word and syllable on the screen, students were able to understand and closely reproduce the intonation pattern of Italian lyrical texts, thus honing both their pronunciation fluency and reading comprehension.

My talk will focus on the following points:
1) How to create an effective environment to learn Italian Enunciation by way of ICT;
2) Assessing the reception of interactive materials by university students;
3) Addressing challenges and expectations for this project in the near future.

Keywords:

Italian enunciation, Italian pronunciation, Interactive reading.