Translation and foreign language teaching, a theoretical and practical point of view: the italian scenario

Abstract

In the course of the last century, translation employed as a tool for foreign language acquisition has suffered alternate fates. From being the approach, par excellence, employed in rote learning in the days of lexicogrammatical-translation methodology, it soon slipped into disuse (and disgrace) with the advent of progressive communicative educational theories. Though never wholly absent in actual classroom practice and always present in the work of some bold scholars, it has recently been rehabilitated on the wave of studies regarding the use of the learners’ own language within the classroom, against the theoretical backdrop of research in the field of cross-lingual teaching, translanguaging and intercomprehension; all activities which recognize the fundamental role of the interlinguistic and intercultural component in language learning. This paper focuses on the Italian scenario, it traces the role translation has played and currently plays in the Italian foreign language university curricula and outlines the many benefits which can derive from its inclusive use as a learning technique in the light of contemporary didactic methodologies.