Bruno Moretti, University of Bern (UniBE) and Osservatorio linguistico della Svizzera Italiana (OLSI)
Sabine Christopher Guerra, Elena Pandolfi, Barbara Somenzi (OLSI)
Concluded at the end of 2013, the project "Italiano ricettivo" developed the teaching material Capito?, which is intended for use either in classroom settings or as self-study tools. The aim of Capito? is the development of receptive skills in Italian, allowing learners to gain access to the language and culture of the Ticino (and Graubünden). Concentrating on receptive multilingual skills advances a form of communication based on mutual ability to understand one another and taps into the principle of lifelong learning. Because good receptive skills enhance learners' potential to both establish transfers between related languages as well as to develop inference strategies, building receptive language skills brings about a speedy increase in learners' linguistic repertoires.
To cultivate receptive skills, the tool Capito? builds on a basic principle that has already been used in the programme Chunsch druus?, which was created to help people understand the Swiss German dialects. Alongside stressing common points in languages (leading to transfer processes), key profile words are learnt to enhance listening comprehension.
The textbook Capito? is directed toward French-speaking adults and adult speakers of German with a good grasp of French. French functions as a bridge to the Italian language.