Imparare guardando, insegnare mostrando. Peculiarità e limiti nella didattica di una lingua non vocale e non scritta

Over the last few years, Italian sign language courses have attracted a wide- spread and growing interest from hearing learners who, while not familiar with deaf- ness, are choosing, more and more, to embrace this language and culture, out of mere curiosity or for professional purposes. Three issues will be discussed in this paper, set out in three paragraphs, which in the author’s opinion are some of the most compelling in the teaching and learning of LIS as a second language. The issues under discussion are 1) the repercussions that the absence of a writing system has on the teaching and learning of a language; 2) the metalinguistic awareness and consciousness in a not yet standardized language; 3) the approaches, methods and materials that are best suited to the teaching of a sign language.