Abstract:

Moving both physically and symbolically is foundamental for creating new social relationships and building learning communities, especially in the context of language learning. Valuing diversity is therefore essential to create a positive atmosphere of cooperation, innovation and creativity. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to identify the characteristics that may favor the development of a learning community, focusing on elements such as curiosity, motivation, openness to diversity and cultural immersion. This paper will present the sociolinguistic dynamics in a course for beginners of Italian as a second language. The study is based on researchers' partecipative observation and on an online questionnaire delivered to 52 American college students. The data has been analyzed with a quantitative and qualitative method. Moreover, mean and frequency have been calculated. The research findings demonstrate that openness to diversity and challenge enhances cross-cutting skills such as intercultural and communicative skills.

Keywords:

Italian as second language, language learning, learning community, openness to diversity.