Didactic Games in Teaching and Learning Italian as a Foreign Language

Abstract

Despite different definitions of play it is generally accepted that it encourages and supports an indi- vidual’s cognitive, social, emotional and motor development. Games adapted to study aims, the socalled didactic games, are used in the school sphere. These games differ from others in that they are not thought up by the pupils, but are adapted or made by the teachers, who adapt them in terms of contents and organisation to the study aims. Consequently, more and more teachers and authors of study books decide to include these teaching techniques in lessons. Didactic games also work great in foreign languages lessons, as they can be used to train receptive as well as productive abilities of the students. An additional potentially positive characteristic of didactic games is that they are not appropriate only for children but for youngsters and adults; therefore, for teaching and learning of foreign languages in upper secondary schools as well. The empirical part of this paper tries to shed a light on several aspects of didactic games used during Italian as a foreign language lessons in such schools and on how this teaching technique is accepted by learners.