Abstract

This paper reports on pilot studies of adolescents who have been studying Italian as a second language (L2), for at least one year, post-elementary (primary school). The study was conducted in Canada and Australia. The study focuses on the use if the Italian language abroad as a social dialect spoken by high school students, in certain social contexts in Canada and Australia. Students pursuing Italian courses as a second language (L2) in high schools in Canada and Australia were asked to complete a voluntary written survey. The data collected, once analysed, revealed a framework of patterns of adolescent communication, consisting of connotative and clique-coded language discourses. This framework was utilised to undertake a cross-cultural comparison on Italian adolescent discourse. The paper points out that it is essential for a teacher of Italian, as a second language (L2), to incorporate adolescent learning interest in considering the design of a specific learning syllabus. The paper concludes by acknowledging that Italian-Canadian and Italian-Australian adolescent speech reflects the types of observations suggested in the literature by researchers in North America, such as Danesi (2003a, 2003b) and Clivio and Danesi (2000), who are among the very few who have carried out cross-cultural comparisons. In Europe, too, researchers such as Cortelazzo (1994), De Paoli (1998) and Marcato (1994, 1997) all report similarities in a distinct and recongisable speech code developed by adolescents.