Language through food: Italian food culture and its linguistic influence to improve Italian language acquisition

Abstract

The first part of this dissertation aims to describe the role of the Italian culture in the United States of America. The research was conducted at Queens College, City University of New York. The materials collected during this research show that there are several factors that motive students to study Italian as a Foreign Language. Besides the importance of literature, music, art and history linked to Italy, other factors known as 3Fs can be considered influential: Fashion, Food and Ferrari. Cinema is also investigated as relevant. The focus of the dissertation is Food and how it can influence students who are learning Italian as a FL. The second part is dedicated to another research that was conducted at the Cultural Association of the Molise Region in New York. Cooking during Italian lessons was used to verify the acquisition of grammatical concepts previously introduced to the students. The class was comprised of six adults, ranging from beginner to pre-intermediate levels. As a result, half of the students had fully acquired the concepts after the cooking lesson. In fact, practical activities can be disguised as playful and helpful: students learn the language while doing something practical and they forget that they are learning. Their motivation is stronger not only because they are improving their Italian skills, but they are also learning how to cook traditional Italian dishes. In conclusion, the positive results obtained by the research demonstrate that Italian teaching materials about Food, specifically recipes, can be used to increase the acquisition of an already familiar topic.