Dr.in Zuzana Toth, MA

The acquisition of tense and aspect in L3 Italian

Supervision: Eva Vetter, Maria G. Lo Duca
Period: 2012–2018
Contact: zzn.toth@gmail.com

Previous studies on pedagogical concepts for managing multilingualism at South Tyrolean schools have focused on language education in one of the three endogenous ("old") linguistic groups: Italian, German or Ladin. These concepts are based mostly on traditional theories of bilingualism that do not take into account “new” multilingualism due to immigration. My PhD thesis aims to provide a timelier, more accurate framework for developing multilingual didactics in South Tyrolean schools to manage effectively the challenges of “old” and “new” multilingualism. Interviews with key educational actors as well as reviews of language policy and practice in more than 15 schools throughout South Tyrol will allow assessment of the current state of affairs and the elaboration of a grounded theory which may prove useful not only for increasing collaboration among key educational actors in South Tyrolean schools, but also for developing didactic policy of multilingualism in other linguistically diverse spheres of education.