- Department of Languages, Literatures, Communication, Education and Society
University of Udine
Via Mantica, 3
33100 Udine – Italy
- I am Associate Professor of English language at the University of Udine (Italy) in the Department of Languages, Liter... moreI am Associate Professor of English language at the University of Udine (Italy) in the Department of Languages, Literatures, Communication, Education and Society.
My research interests are in the areas of discourse studies and teacher education.
My latest research work deals with media discourse studies, multimodaI literacies in language learning, and ICT for language teacher education.
I teach English (FL/SL) in the Course of Foreign Languages and Literatures (undergraduates and postgraduates) and in teacher training courses (postgraduates).
I have a post-graduate degree in Modern Languages and Literatures (Udine, Italy), an M.A. in Language Studies at the University of Lancaster and my Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh. I also hold a Post-Graduate Diploma in Professional Development for ELT Practioners (University of East Anglia, U.K.).
PROJECTS
I am currently coordinating the project YELL/TELL (Young English Language Learners): a virtual space to promote collaboration between school and university for teachers and trainees of English as a foreign language
http://yell.uniud.it
http://yell.uniud.it/?page_id=157&lang=en
I am a partner in the LearnWeb-OER project for teacher education organized by the L3S Research Center of Leibniz University, Hannover (http://www.l3s.de).
I participated in the national project funded by the Italian Ministry of Research and Education (PRIN 2009-2011, ended in 2013) about websites used for children and user-generated by children on relevant social issues:
COME: COnsapevolezza Multimodale e Empowerment dei minori
MACE: Multimodal Awareness for Children's Empowerment
The project was a collaboration with research units of the Universities of Messina and Trieste.
I take part in the research activities of the Partnership Studies Group http://all.uniud.it/?page_id=60
From 2011 onwards I am the President and local coordinator for Friuli-Venezia Giulia Committee of the International project Gadda Prize Juniors co-ordinated by the University of Edinburgh: creative writing for undergraduate students and higher secondary schools across Europe http://www.gaddaprize.ed.ac.uk/italy.php
I took part in a number of international and national projects: PRIN (2005-2007 and earlier projects from 2002 onwards); project region across borders 2009-2010 (Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia); Interlink (India, U.S.A., Italy) 2005- 2008; projects funded by the Italian Ministry of Education and Research (from 2002 onwards). Scholarships awarded: British Council and Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1998), European Bursary Lingua (1997); John Orr Scholarship for Post-graduate research - University of Edinburgh (1993-1994).
ADVISORY BOARDS
I am Associate Editor of the series ALL (Forum - www.forumeditrice.it).
I was Associate Editor of the academic refereed online journal Le Simplegadi from 2002 to 2011 (2002-2011) http://all.uniud.it/simplegadi/.
I am on the scientific board of the journals:
Le Simplegadi http://all.uniud.it/simplegadi/
Lingue e Linguaggi http://siba-ese.unisalento.it/index.php/linguelinguaggi/index
I am on the editorial board of the journal:
Lingue Antiche e Moderne http://all.uniud.it/lam
I am a referee for New Media and Society (Sage), Linguistica and other academic journals.edit
This open access volume is a call for ecological awareness and action through communication. It offers perspectives on how we, as humans, posit ourselves in relation to, and as part of, the environment in both verbal and non-verbal... more
This open access volume is a call for ecological awareness and action through communication. It offers perspectives on how we, as humans, posit ourselves in relation to, and as part of, the environment in both verbal and non-verbal discourse. The contributions investigate a variety of situated communicative practices and how they instantiate and potentially influence our actions.
Through the frameworks of ecolinguistics, multimodal studies and ecoliteracy, the book discusses how the environmental crisis is communicated as an urgent global and local issue in a variety of media, texts and events. The contributions present a wide range of case studies (including news articles, institutional websites, artwork installations, promotional texts, signposting, social campaigns and other), and they explore how communicative actions can help meet the challenges of ecologically-oriented change. The focus is on the impact that linguistic and multimodal communication can have on acting in, with and towards the environment seen as living ecosystems, or 'lifescapes'. The chapters offer a reflection on the way we experience, endorse, reframe and resist value systems in ecological communication, and propose alternative and healthier perspectives to respect and preserve the common and nurturing lifescapes through awareness and action.
Through the frameworks of ecolinguistics, multimodal studies and ecoliteracy, the book discusses how the environmental crisis is communicated as an urgent global and local issue in a variety of media, texts and events. The contributions present a wide range of case studies (including news articles, institutional websites, artwork installations, promotional texts, signposting, social campaigns and other), and they explore how communicative actions can help meet the challenges of ecologically-oriented change. The focus is on the impact that linguistic and multimodal communication can have on acting in, with and towards the environment seen as living ecosystems, or 'lifescapes'. The chapters offer a reflection on the way we experience, endorse, reframe and resist value systems in ecological communication, and propose alternative and healthier perspectives to respect and preserve the common and nurturing lifescapes through awareness and action.
Research Interests:
Stories are an essential part of children’s life. And they are a means for parents, teachers, caregivers and educators to take care of children and their cognitive, emotional and communicative development. This book presents resources,... more
Stories are an essential part of children’s life. And they are a means for parents, teachers, caregivers and educators to take care of children and their cognitive, emotional and communicative development. This book presents resources, strategies and techniques that can support storytelling activities for an informal, involving and enriching approach to English as a foreign/second language for children. It addresses teachers, student teachers, educators, parents, caregivers, librarians and volunteer narrators interested in storytelling with children in English L2. The book and its open access set of resources (Online Companion) are based on the experience of Let’s Tell a Tale, a collaboration between the teacher education section of Udine University (Italy) and the Udine Municipal Library ‘V. Joppi’.
https://forumeditrice.it/percorsi/lingua-e-letteratura/all/lets-tell-a-tale/lets-tell-a-tale/libro_view
https://forumeditrice.it/percorsi/lingua-e-letteratura/all/lets-tell-a-tale/lets-tell-a-tale/libro_view
Research Interests:
This collection focuses on media representations of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, defendants in the Meredith Kercher murder case. Adopting a multidisciplinary approach, encompassing criminology, socio-legal analysis, critical... more
This collection focuses on media representations of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, defendants in the Meredith Kercher murder case. Adopting a multidisciplinary approach, encompassing criminology, socio-legal analysis, critical discourse studies, cultural studies and celebrity studies, the book analyses how this case was narrated in the media and why Knox emerged as the main protagonist.
The case was one of the first transmedia crime stories, shaped and influenced by its circulation between a variety of media platforms. The chapters show how the new media landscape impacts on the way in which different stakeholders, from suspects and victims’ families to journalists and the general public, are engaging with criminal justice. While traditional news media played a significant role in the construction of innocence and guilt, social media offered users a worldwide forum to talk back in a way that both amplified and challenged the dominant media narrative biased in favour of a presumption of guilt.
The case was one of the first transmedia crime stories, shaped and influenced by its circulation between a variety of media platforms. The chapters show how the new media landscape impacts on the way in which different stakeholders, from suspects and victims’ families to journalists and the general public, are engaging with criminal justice. While traditional news media played a significant role in the construction of innocence and guilt, social media offered users a worldwide forum to talk back in a way that both amplified and challenged the dominant media narrative biased in favour of a presumption of guilt.
Research Interests:
Whereas plants are essential in sustaining life, their representation in ecolinguistics and multimodal discourse studies is as yet underexplored. This chapter presents findings of an ongoing research project investigating how plants are... more
Whereas plants are essential in sustaining life, their representation in ecolinguistics and multimodal discourse studies is as yet underexplored. This chapter presents findings of an ongoing research project investigating how plants are represented in texts promoting environmental protection. Within the framework of ecolinguistics, critical discourse studies and multimodality, the study addresses the following questions: How are plants represented in connection with the environment they belong to and contribute to creating? How are plants represented in relation to humans and other animals? The data selected for analysis are influential and agenda-setting reports by authoritative international institutions and two short environmental videos. Drawing on Social Actor methodology, the study reflects on how it can be adapted and applied in written and multimodal texts for plant participants that lead life, move, act and establish relations in ways that are often imperceptible to humans and often neglected or misinterpreted in human discourse.
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Introduction to the edited volume Ecological Communication and Ecoliteracy. Bloomsbury Academic. Open Access
Research Interests:
In this study, we discuss how volunteer, non-professional narrators (student teachers of primary education university courses) collaborate (offline and online) to engage young children during storytelling sessions to help them adopt an... more
In this study, we discuss how volunteer, non-professional narrators (student teachers of primary education university courses) collaborate (offline and online) to engage young children during storytelling sessions to help them adopt an active approach towards a story in English L2. The case study focuses on the project Storytelling in English L2 for young learners (Udine University, Italy) on the power of storytelling as a multimodal experience for children and volunteer narrators alike. Storytelling is seen as a collaborative practice that offers children and storytellers the means to create and recreate contexts through interaction among participants who (consciously or spontaneously) “orchestrate” ensembles of co-deployed modes and are active agents in co-constructing meaning. The underlying framework of reference is a socio-semiotic view of education which recognizes learners’ agency and teachers’ role in facilitating and promoting educational interaction. The chapter analyzes three videos of storytelling sessions focusing on key multimodal aspects of storytelling dimensions and on the collaborative reflection between narrators and educators: verbal aspects (storybook language and/or narrator’s language choices), voice quality (volume, speed of delivery, pitch, type of intonation), soundtrack (music, sound effects), gestures, gaze, and use of space.
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT The community platform Young English Language Learners and Teen English Language Learners (YELL/TELL) was developed to respond to the needs of collaboration and sharing among trainee teachers, school teachers, teacher trainers... more
ABSTRACT The community platform Young English Language Learners and Teen English Language Learners (YELL/TELL) was developed to respond to the needs of collaboration and sharing among trainee teachers, school teachers, teacher trainers and researchers in the field of language learning for English as second language (L2) and English as foreign language (EFL). The social community YELL/TELL, supported by the LearnWeb2.0 platform, has the aim to encourage professional collaboration among trainees, teachers of different schools and teacher educators in pre-service and in-service training. Lifelong learning is promoted on the basis of sharing resources, commenting and reflecting on them in the spirit of open educational practices and free resources, offering support, ideas, and competences for teaching English as L2. Within the framework of reflective socio-constructivism and multiliteracies, this paper discusses the YELL case study as a peer-training and open professional community.
Research Interests:
This chapter discusses how digital multiliteracies and multimodal practices are shared and recontextualised through a mobile-assisted community for language teachers; the case study is YELL/TELL (Young / Teen English Language Learners), a... more
This chapter discusses how digital multiliteracies and multimodal practices are shared and recontextualised through a mobile-assisted community for language teachers; the case study is YELL/TELL (Young / Teen English Language Learners), a professional online community open to student teachers, language teachers, language educators and volunteer narrators in English L2. The paper, underpinned by multiliteracies pedagogy and multimodal studies, focuses on Mobile-Assisted Language Teacher Education (MALTE) as a way to support student teachers and experienced teachers in their initial and lifelong development through mobile-assisted learning. We analyze mobile-assisted practices for teacher education in the project Storytelling with Children in English L2, based on storytelling events for children whose native language is not English. We discuss how professional actions performed by language teacher narrators (searching, planning, rehearsing storytelling events, performing them, reflecting on them, assessing one's work, sharing recordings and comments, re-contextualising resources) are facilitated, or problematically informed, by mobile-assisted exchanges during the different phases of the project. Among the advantages of MALTE, the study highlights the enhanced agency of the teacher students/narrators, the active co-construction of professional knowledge together with peers and educators, the use of authentic communication for professional purposes in multimodal settings and through a variety of media, and sharing language competence and professional knowledge across educational institutions (in our case the university and the local library). Audio-recordings, self-recorded videos, digital applications for storytelling and podcasting (easily available, shared and commented through mobile devices) contribute to creating a seamless
Research Interests:
The second largest party in the Italian Parliament, the ‘5-Star Movement’, is led by comedian-turned-politician Beppe Grillo. Grillo is well-known for a distinctive and often inflammatory rhetoric, which includes the regular use of... more
The second largest party in the Italian Parliament, the ‘5-Star Movement’, is led by comedian-turned-politician Beppe Grillo. Grillo is well-known for a distinctive and often inflammatory rhetoric, which includes the regular use of humorous but insulting epithets for other politicians, such asPsiconano(‘Psychodwarf’) for Silvio Berlusconi. This paper discusses a selection of epithets used by Grillo on his blog between 2008 and 2015 to refer to Berlusconi and three successive centre-left leaders. We account for the functions of the epithets in terms of Spencer-Oatey’s (2002, 2008) multi-level model of “face” and of Culpeper’s (2011) “entertaining” and “coercive” functions of impoliteness. We suggest that our study has implications for existing models of face and impoliteness and for an understanding of the evolving role of verbal aggression in Italian politics.
ABSTRACT In the knowledge society the processes of learning and knowledge management take place, very often, online and in social online environments, thus creating issues of complexity and sustainability related to cognitive processes of... more
ABSTRACT In the knowledge society the processes of learning and knowledge management take place, very often, online and in social online environments, thus creating issues of complexity and sustainability related to cognitive processes of learning that students - even at university level - are not always able to recognize and cope with. In this paper we present a research case study carried out at the University of Udine with a group of first year students of Multimedia Communication and Technology during the course of English language (Englishes and Media Communication in a World Context). The aim of the research was to determine whether specific activities can enhance the development of skills for lifelong learning, such as the ability to search the Internet and use online resources to pro-mote continuous education and learning to learn. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered within a framework of Personal Knowledge Management and the results are guidelines potentially useful both for teachers and learners.
The paper focuses on an ongoing project in which Collaborative Virtual Communities use a social platform to promote a humanistic view of teacher training within the framework of Partnership Studies, life-long learning and reflexive... more
The paper focuses on an ongoing project in which Collaborative Virtual Communities use a social platform to promote a humanistic view of teacher training within the framework of Partnership Studies, life-long learning and reflexive socio-constructivism respectful of cultural variety and practices. The social platform YELL/TELL (Young English Language Learners / Teen English Language Learners) offers support and tools to improve pre-service and in-service teacher training on the basis of sharing resources, commenting and reflecting on them in the spirit of Open Educational Resources and peer-learning/peer-teaching practices. Thanks to the collaboration with the L3S Research Center in Hanover, the YELL and TELL communities can use the social platform LearnWeb2.0 adapted to the needs of the users. The paper focuses on how the platform is used by trainers, trainees and teachers (including all levels of education from nursery to academia) to promote peer-learning / peer-teaching, share, ...
Research Interests:
This small case study investigates the usefulness of two complementary assessment models to find evidence of the cognitive thinking processes associated with behaviours of increased intercultural awareness. Two intercultural... more
This small case study investigates the usefulness of two complementary assessment models to find evidence of the cognitive thinking processes associated with behaviours of increased intercultural awareness. Two intercultural telecollaboration exchanges (Autumn 2017 and Winter 2018) involved participants from a Canadian (Québec) and an Italian university who were all studying English as foreign/second language. Participants' written answers to questionnaires and discussion questions were quantitatively and qualitatively analysed to find evidence of increased intercultural awareness. Two models were employed: the Interacting Processes of Intercultural Learning by Liddicoat and Scarino (IPIL; Liddicoat and Scarino 2013, Scarino and Liddicoat 2009) and the model of Practical Inquiry (PI) within the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework by Garrison et al. (2001). The IPIL model describes intercultural learning as a progression of behaviours, whereas the PI model emphasizes the cognitive phases involved in online, interactive learning. IPIL provided evidence of participants' increased intercultural awareness in the analysis of questionnaire data; however, the higher cognitive interactive behaviours were elusive. The PI model, conceived for assessing online interactive learning, not only provided evidence of the participants' higher cognitive processes in discussion questions, but also afforded a rich and deep description of the learners' progress toward greater intercultural awareness.
Research Interests:
This paper discusses the results of a project investigating the use of web searching for professional purpose by language teachers of different school levels. The study focuses on language teachers’ actual practice: criteria for... more
This paper discusses the results of a project investigating the use of web searching for professional purpose by language teachers of different school levels. The study focuses on language teachers’ actual practice: criteria for planning the web search, identifying and selecting resources, sharing and using them for their teaching practice. Resources (Open Educational Resources in particular) have been multiplying on the web, but finding specific resources is often difficult because they are not uniformly classified and organized on the net, and there are no user-friendly interface/tools that facilitate search. This research project aims at identifying best practices and developing guidelines for web searching in language teacher education. The research questions addressed are: How do (language) teachers search for resources on the Web? What categories of resources? What strategies do they adopt for selecting, assessing and sharing resources? We interviewed and recorded six expert teachers about their web searches for educational purposes; we video-recorded their web searching tasks while they were commenting on their online choices through think-aloud protocols. The results of data analysis show main trends in the strategies used by these expert teachers: personalization of the web searching process by accessing websites suggested by trusted colleagues offline or online; selecting trustworthy websites of well-known institutions; relevance of resources not created for educational purposes; need for adaptation and re-contextualization of resources; web searches for class activities as a reflection on teaching practice and personal development. Ultimately web searching is a heuristic process of personal and collective learning for professional purpose in a lifelong perspective.
Research Interests:
This paper presents how we apply Exploratory Search KiP model, a model capable of assisting the visualization of search patterns and identifying best practices associated to users' decision-making processes, to log analysis and how it... more
This paper presents how we apply Exploratory Search KiP model, a model capable of assisting the visualization of search patterns and identifying best practices associated to users' decision-making processes, to log analysis and how it helps understand the process and decisions taken while carrying out a search. This study aims to model searches performed through web search tools and educational resources portals, to enable a conceptual framework to support and improve the processes of learning through searches. Applying the model to log analysis, we are able: (1) to see how the information retrieved is used to define decision criteria about which data are worth extracting; (2) to draw inferences and shortcuts to support understanding; (3) to observe how the search intention is modified during search activities; and, (4) to analyze how the purpose that drives the search turned into real actions.
Research Interests:
The ongoing study looks at the online behaviours of language teachers in the open access professional online environment YELL / TELL. The present paper focuses on how language teachers (from different backgrounds and experiences) carry... more
The ongoing study looks at the online behaviours of language teachers in the open access professional online environment YELL / TELL. The present paper focuses on how language teachers (from different backgrounds and experiences) carry out web searches and collaboratively tag and comment online open access, Open Educational Resources and user-generated resources in order to find and re-find them and make them more easily accessible to other colleagues. This allows teachers to exchange professional knowledge and practice giving colleagues suggestions on how resources can be used, re-contextualised, reused and become relevant for different teaching and learning contexts. The qualitative and quantitative analysis of their behaviour allowed researchers to create a new search interface to facilitate sharing resources and practices, personalising their digital environment while learning in the process.
Research Interests:
The present study focuses on ecological narratives for children as presented in websites. The paper summarises the results of a qualitative research study on the interaction of children and adolescents aged from 8 to 13 with... more
The present study focuses on ecological narratives for children as presented in websites. The paper summarises the results of a qualitative research study on the interaction of children and adolescents aged from 8 to 13 with adult-generated websites promoting awareness about ecology and positive action about ecological behaviour.
This study is carried out within the theoretical frameworks of critical multimodal digital literacy and multiliteracy. The main research questions addressed in the present paper are:
1. What are the levels of critical awareness in children and adolescents (from age 8 to 13) when engaged with multimodal texts about ecology produced by adults for the purpose of children education?
2. How do phenomena related to critical awareness vary within a developmental perspective from Grade 3 to Grade 8?
The key areas of investigation encompass two wide-ranging aspects: a) Awareness of multimodal/multiliteracy strategies to decode eco-sustainable narratives; b) Levels of participation in social action through multimodal texts.
The discussion of the qualitative data analysis contributes to guidelines for
empowering children, promote safe child autonomy and multiliteracy skills,
and foster ecology of communication across generations and communities of practice (PRIN project: ACT MACE 2009-2011).
This study is carried out within the theoretical frameworks of critical multimodal digital literacy and multiliteracy. The main research questions addressed in the present paper are:
1. What are the levels of critical awareness in children and adolescents (from age 8 to 13) when engaged with multimodal texts about ecology produced by adults for the purpose of children education?
2. How do phenomena related to critical awareness vary within a developmental perspective from Grade 3 to Grade 8?
The key areas of investigation encompass two wide-ranging aspects: a) Awareness of multimodal/multiliteracy strategies to decode eco-sustainable narratives; b) Levels of participation in social action through multimodal texts.
The discussion of the qualitative data analysis contributes to guidelines for
empowering children, promote safe child autonomy and multiliteracy skills,
and foster ecology of communication across generations and communities of practice (PRIN project: ACT MACE 2009-2011).
Research Interests:
One of the greatest challenges of Web 2.0 is to find the most relevant information to users’ needs with minimum effort and time. Though search en-gines have improved greatly in the recent years, search results heavily depend on the... more
One of the greatest challenges of Web 2.0 is to find the most relevant information to users’ needs with minimum effort and time. Though search en-gines have improved greatly in the recent years, search results heavily depend on the textual search query, which does not fully reflect users’ search context. In particular, teachers find it difficult to retrieve suitable materials to be used in their specific learning/teaching scenario. Tags, namely free-form user annota-tions, are found to be beneficial for improving search and retrieval but there has been no in-depth understanding as to which type of tags are useful and should be encouraged when designing a resource-sharing system for teachers. In this paper, we present an empirical study on the types of contextual meta-data that play an important role when teachers search for new learning/teaching materi-als. Based on results we collected, we propose a prototypical interface that fa-cilitates the searching of shared resources among a community of teachers.
Research Interests:
This case has sparked much controversy online and offline among people who believed that Knox and Sollecito were innocent (pro-innocent), and people who were convinced they perpetrated the crime (pro-guilt). Within a framework of critical... more
This case has sparked much controversy online and offline among people who believed that Knox and Sollecito were innocent (pro-innocent), and people who were convinced they perpetrated the crime (pro-guilt). Within a framework of critical discourse and social media studies, the chapter discusses the patterns of socialization as presented by individual voices of pro-innocent participants: the representation of the ‘default other’ (the pro-guilt community); the individual positioning of pro-innocent campaigners within and towards their online community; their attitudes vis-à-vis Knox and Sollecito and their representation of the context of the murder and trials (Perugia and Italy). Due to the degree of social commitment and online activism, the personal level of identification with the cause is inextricably portrayed by the participants as intertwined and overlapping with the relational and collective levels of representation.
Research Interests:
The chapter discusses practices and processes of self- and other identification in the pro-innocent online community devoted to obtain full exoneration for Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito from the charges of murdering Meredith Kercher... more
The chapter discusses practices and processes of self- and other identification in the pro-innocent online community devoted to obtain full exoneration for Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito from the charges of murdering Meredith Kercher in 2007. As part of a wider ethnographic study of social media interaction on the case (Gies & Bortoluzzi, 2014; Gies, 2016), nine members actively involved in the pro-innocent online community were interviewed. Their diverse voices offer insights into the complex processes of disidentification from the ‘default others’ (the pro-guilt community), and identification with the cause of a miscarriage of justice case and the pro-innocent community. The questions addressed in this chapter are the following: what are the strategies used by the interviewees to project their identification or seeming distancing strategies in relation to the cause and the online pro-innocence collectivity? How do they construct the pro-guilt ‘other’ vis-à-vis their online media activities? How do they perceive and portray their diverse individual and collective contribution (online and offline) in relation to the social engagement they are all committed to?
Following Cameron’s work on empathy (2011a, 2011b, 2011c, 2012, 2013) and Spencer-Oatey’s studies on facework (2002, 2005, 2007, 2008), the chapter discusses empathy and dyspathy features that contribute to the identification or even distancing of the participants with the common cause and the community, and their disidentification from the pro-guilt community. The interviewees present online and offline actions as the core of their grassroots activity driven by collectively negotiated values and free individual choices.
Following Cameron’s work on empathy (2011a, 2011b, 2011c, 2012, 2013) and Spencer-Oatey’s studies on facework (2002, 2005, 2007, 2008), the chapter discusses empathy and dyspathy features that contribute to the identification or even distancing of the participants with the common cause and the community, and their disidentification from the pro-guilt community. The interviewees present online and offline actions as the core of their grassroots activity driven by collectively negotiated values and free individual choices.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The second largest party in the Italian Parliament, the '5-Star Movement' is led by comedian-turned-politician Beppe Grillo. Grillo is well-known for a distinctive and often inflammatory rhetoric, which includes the regular use of... more
The second largest party in the Italian Parliament, the '5-Star Movement' is led by comedian-turned-politician Beppe Grillo. Grillo is well-known for a distinctive and often inflammatory rhetoric, which includes the regular use of humorous but insulting epithets for other politicians, such as Psiconano ('Psychodwarf') for Silvio Berlusconi. This paper discusses a selection of epithets used by Grillo on his blog between 2008 and 2015 to refer to Berlusconi and three successive centre-left leaders. We account for the functions of the epithets in terms of Spencer-Oatey’s (2002, 2008) multi-level model of 'face' and of Culpeper’s (2011) 'entertaining' and 'coercive' functions of impoliteness. We suggest that our study has implications for existing models of face and impoliteness and for an understanding of the evolving role of verbal aggression in Italian politics.
Research Interests:
This contribution provides an outline of the status of English as a “global language” in the workplaces of academia and education. Institutions and individuals seem to accept as “natural”, “normal” and even desirable that English is a... more
This contribution provides an outline of the status of English as a “global language” in the workplaces of academia and education. Institutions and individuals seem to accept as “natural”, “normal” and even desirable that English is a hegemonic language worldwide. However, academia and education are not only workplaces and institutions, they are socio-cultural centres that contribute significantly to shaping the present and future prospects of society, culture, the economy, research developments and their representations. Thus, an overview of the dominant status of English in academia and education is followed by a critique of the ideological underpinnings and practical consequences of this current situation and widespread influence of English. An English-only “lingua franca” for academia and education does not address the need for flexibility, metacommunicative competence and the challenges of a fast-changing superdiverse society and global workplace.
It is advocated that academia, education and research should lead the way towards diverse plurilingual communication. Valuing language diversity and its cultural wealth should take us towards plurilingual workplaces and environments, and beyond the dominance of any one language. Academia and education have the potential to become agents of change and spearhead the development of plurilingual working environments. Technology can facilitate change, but only language users (scholars, teachers, students and institutional bodies) can promote linguistic and cultural respect for diversity, find new ways to implement them in academia and education, and enhance linguistic and metalinguistic flexibility, creativity, and adaptability.
It is advocated that academia, education and research should lead the way towards diverse plurilingual communication. Valuing language diversity and its cultural wealth should take us towards plurilingual workplaces and environments, and beyond the dominance of any one language. Academia and education have the potential to become agents of change and spearhead the development of plurilingual working environments. Technology can facilitate change, but only language users (scholars, teachers, students and institutional bodies) can promote linguistic and cultural respect for diversity, find new ways to implement them in academia and education, and enhance linguistic and metalinguistic flexibility, creativity, and adaptability.
ABSTRACT Web applications and resources offer unique opportunities for lifelong learning and, at university level, to customise the learning environment for individual learners. But the processes of online learning and online knowledge... more
ABSTRACT Web applications and resources offer unique opportunities for lifelong learning and, at university level, to customise the learning environment for individual learners. But the processes of online learning and online knowledge management involve issues of complexity and sustainability that students - even at university level - are not always able to recognise and cope with. This work presents two research case studies, concerning activities carried out within two university courses. The aim of the research was to determine whether specific activities can enhance the development of skills for lifelong learning, such as the ability to search the Internet and use online resources to promote continuous education and learning to learn. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered within a framework of personal knowledge management and the resulting guidelines are potentially useful both for teachers and learners.
Research Interests:
2009. Multimodal Analysis of Virtual Learning Environments: A University Campus in Second Life. In Sapio B. et al.(eds). The Good, the Bad and the Challenging. The User and the Future of Information and Communication Technologies. Vol. 1: 443-453. Koper, Slovenia: ABS-Center. ISBN 978-961-6277-17-4more
Research Interests:
Multimodal digital communication is the main theme of this conference meant to attract multidisciplinary research on a wide range of issues from teaching and learning to analysing multimodal digital data appearing in multiple... more
Multimodal digital communication is the main theme of this conference meant to attract multidisciplinary research on a wide range of issues from teaching and learning to analysing multimodal digital data appearing in multiple communication arenas.
Rome, Italy
University of “Tor Vergata”
20 – 22 June 2019
a-mode.eumade4ll.eu
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Keynote speakers:
Marina Bondi
Carey Jewitt
Rodney Jones
Gunther Kress and Jeff Bezemer
David Machin
Theo van Leeuwen
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A-MODE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE:
Elisabetta Adami – University of Leeds, UK
Cristina Arizzi – University of Messina, Italy
Styliani Karatza – National and Kapodistrian University of Athens,
Greece, and University of Leeds, UK
Ivana Marenzi – L3S Research Center, Leibniz University of Hannover, Germany
Ilaria Moschini – University of Florence, Italy
Sandra Petroni – University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’, Italy
Marc Rocca – Rocca Creative Thinking Limited, UK
Maria Grazia Sindoni – University of Messina, Italy
Rome, Italy
University of “Tor Vergata”
20 – 22 June 2019
a-mode.eumade4ll.eu
_________________________________________________
Keynote speakers:
Marina Bondi
Carey Jewitt
Rodney Jones
Gunther Kress and Jeff Bezemer
David Machin
Theo van Leeuwen
_________________________________________________
A-MODE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE:
Elisabetta Adami – University of Leeds, UK
Cristina Arizzi – University of Messina, Italy
Styliani Karatza – National and Kapodistrian University of Athens,
Greece, and University of Leeds, UK
Ivana Marenzi – L3S Research Center, Leibniz University of Hannover, Germany
Ilaria Moschini – University of Florence, Italy
Sandra Petroni – University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’, Italy
Marc Rocca – Rocca Creative Thinking Limited, UK
Maria Grazia Sindoni – University of Messina, Italy