Conclusion.

Having been back in the UK for a considerable amount of time, it seems fitting to review my year abroad in terms of both language acquisition and as a year in general, to see if I have any nuggets of wisdom to share.

The main advice I would offer a prospective student would be to set a structured routine in regards to your own personal language revision. I achieved this for a number of moths at the very beginning of my mobility but, in part due to the disenchantment towards my situation, I gave up. This is my primary regret from my time abroad. The best revision tools, I found, were: listening to the radio (Italian pop songs are catchy as hell), reading plenty and often, watching my favorite shows with Italian subtitles and engaging with conversation as much as possible. This leads me nicely to the second most sage piece of advice I can offer, keep talking! Never stop. It's easy to suggest this with the wisdom of hindsight, but continually attempt to engage with the language. In supermarkets and lectures, in bars and shops, people will be willing to talk- you must engage them! Of course, the difficulty with this is not resorting to English. Some perseverance in this aspect will do your language acquisition no end of good.

Although my Italian has improved, predominantly with listening and reading, I feel my spoken Italian would be at a much higher standard if I had this foresight at the beginning of the year. As soon as I began to think critically about my learning again, the year was almost at a close. It really does pass by astonishingly quickly, so make the most of each and every opportunity that comes your way, but with a mind to continually be focused on language.

Lectures are your best friends. Attend them. Or at least make a great effort to attend as many as possible. This is more difficult than it sounds, as lectures are often not compulsory in Italy and the climate makes it desperately tempting to sit in the sun with a spritz. Have your spritz after lecture.
I now recognize that my lectures were an invaluable source of listening practice. Not only was I engaged with the language for up to two hours each lecture, I feel my vocabulary has expanded exponentially as a result of my attendance.

Somewhat controversially I would urge any prospective ERASMUS students to not worry too much about the exams. Yes, I sat most of mine in front of 50+ people. Yes, oftentimes they did not go as planned, and yes, sometimes the style of examination can seem unnervingly alien (one lecturer answered her phone whilst asking me a question, frequently changed the question she was asking and even offered questions that I could not answer up to the room). As long as you get something written in your libretto, you're good to go. Do your best, work hard and accept that sometimes things don't work out as planned. Have another spritz.

Most useful for my language revision has been Rubins (1981) cognitive strategies, in particular I made great effort in practice, memorization and monitoring. I found such strategies engaging and versatile. They are numerous ways in which one can practice learning grammar, without being hunched over a textbook for hours on end. Additionally, I would emphasis the use of Rubins social strategies in tandem with his cognitive strategies such a: asking questions to fellow, initiating conversations and engaging with as much media in the target language as possible. Such strategies have had greatest effect on my confidence in speaking. Although its still the element of my studies which I have greatest difficulties with, I feel in a much more competent position to continue into the final year of my degree, having employed such strategies to the best of my abilities.

In previous posts I have made heavy reference to the effect of emotion and anxiety on language learning as is an issue that greatly impacts my own learning. With reference to both Kagan and Tomkin. I would suggest perhaps speaking to someone about any anxiety related issues during your year abroad as I neglected to do this and I feel this had a huge impact, not only on my usually sunny disposition, but also on the way in which I thought about my studies. I feel, had I not wasted so much time allowing myself to wallow in misery, I would have been more proactive towards my Italian learning.


Although my writing has, at times, been less than cheery I must emphasis the positives of a year abroad, so any any potential readers aren't too disheartened at the prospect. Your language will progress, perhaps not to the extent you may wish, but there will be progression nonetheless. More so if you keep on top of revision and make the most of self-teaching practices. Furthermore, opportunities to travel, make friends and truly immerse yourself in another culture are endless. With this in mind, the year is open to innumerable possibilities for personal and linguistic furtherment.
Have another spritz.

Update 5 (June-July)

Exam month as perhaps been the worst of this whole experience. An experience that, as it comes to a close, I look back upon with varying levels of sadness.

It seems so obvious that academic success for an erasmus student depends far less on the amount of work put in, but rather the perspective that individual lecturers have of erasmus students in general.
For example, in the exam I put the most effort into, I got verbally berated and kicked out of.
For the exam that I was most certain I would fail miserably in, I managed to receive a relatively good mark. Italy!

As this year is ending, there is now the opportunity to look back on my overall progress, not only linguistically but with a view to how I felt about my time from a personal perspective.


Do I think I did enough? Well, yes and no.

The less than good;

I will never look back on my year abroad with the frantic excitement of my peers. For me, the experience has been darkened under a cloud of anxiety and depression that I feel I will carry for a long while yet. Adjusting to the culture was a problem of secondary importance, when primarily my mind was occupied with my inability to speak. Becoming mute at 21 years of age had never been in my plan, I feel though this experience I came closer to that than I would have ever expected. Furthermore, I have never been treated quite so unfairly by academic professionals than I have during my ten months abroad. This came as a huge shock and, for a while there, completely dissolved by slowly growing confidence. The insidious feeling of incompetence  has acted as a very powerful motivator for my language studies. My absolute refusal to rekindle such emotions is powering me through Italian revision like nothing else.
Surprisingly, perhaps, academic attainment is intertwined with my self worth in a very complicated way. The complete absence of this has left me searching for a sense of purpose, one which I am very excited to regain when term starts afresh.

The categorically good;

This experience has given me the gift of time.
I have visited numerous museums and art galleries, beaches and cultures. I've eaten some of the most amazing food, drank in open air piazzas and been fortunate to do this in the company of some truly remarkable people. I've traveled up and down Italy, with a jaunt to France and the Netherlands for good measure. I've spoken to a myriad of different people, learned about alien cultures and traditions and learnt some very valuable lessons about myself in the process (gin is not your friend, Cristina.)

Linguistically, I started strong. Attending CLI and holding miniature tandem parties. If I had been consistent with the level at which I applied myself at the beginning of the year I do believe I would be much more competent in this moment, now. Unfortunately, this did ebb off around the time my serious exam revision started. Which, in a way, was language revision in itself. The main part of my progression that was stifled during this period was speech. Something which I am evermore determined to tackle over summer.

I don't wish to summarize my time on anything other than a positive note:
I know I am in a much stronger position to tackle fourth year after having had this experience. I feel my listening comprehension has improved no end, with my writing not all that far behind it. The personal teaching and learning strategies that I have employed during my time will be invaluable in many different areas of my life. Self discipline is a valuable virtue to master, and I feel like this experience has taught me some valuable lessons about it.

Pisa, you have afforded me some amazing experiences. As a city, I love you most at night. You are so quiet in the small hours of morning, it's easy to forget how hectic you are in the day.
I will always have fond memories of my time with you, but only at night.

Update 4 (April – May)

My Easter break was wonderful. It's easy to melt into such a monotonous routine here that thoughts of friends and family become pushed aside. At the end of my week at home I categorically did not want to return to Pisa. Needs are such. So, I am back.

Exam season has well and truly descended over my small city this month, there is a hive of activity in the libraries and piazzas. Italian students seem so flippant, everything is relaxed and slow. Adapting my brain back into a study-focused pattern is no easy feat.

This week consists of all the revision for more exams than I feel are possible, given my capabilities. There would be one less but due to problems of the previous term one of my modules has been carried over. This does not fill me with enthusiasm.

So the next two months will consist of further revision. The likes of which I don't think I have ever subjugated my brain to before (given the ungodly amount of work I have done throughout my educational career up to this point, I feel this speaks volumes).

Exams which I have yet to take are: Linguistica Generale, Storia del costume e della moda, filologia medievale e umanistica and filosofia morale.

I'll keep you updated on this situation as, even writing this, I'm starting to feel ever so slightly ill.

I have recently discovered Carl James's Errors in Language learning and use, which has been informative to no end when thinking retrospectively to my own progression. In his text extensive elaboration is made into the description, definition and levels of error one makes when attempting to learn a language. Of paramount importance is the chapter 'Diagnosing' and 'Correcting'errors which was insightful, through the correction chapter in this text I have learnt: effective correction should aim to improve accuracy and it should achieve this in a staggered manner. It's of no use to me just to realize I am making an error. Or further, to realize my error, revise it and then avoid using that certain word/phrase/rule.
Two-stage correction theories have proved most useful to my language progression, and through these theories I have taken to assessing my own errors thusly:

1. Noticing my error (The composition stage): Paying close attention to my language use, specifically grammatical elements.
2. Reconstruction: Taking my flawed construction and focusing on the 'wrong' element in isolation. I try to notice patterns in my errors. If I can understand why this error has occurred, I can work solely on attempting to understand the original rule better.
3. Repetition and naturalization: This stage blends Rubin's theories with the ones from James text, I attempt to revise my error constantly until I no longer find myself making it. Practice, practice, practice!

So far this technique has been useful. Some grammatical errors that I have been frequently making are cropping up in my speech less and less. Although the amount of time that I spend speaking Itailan is something that I need to dedicated more thought to as over the last few months it has become lesser and lesser.

Update 3 (February- March)

It’s now my sixth month in Italy. Things have been hectic, but life is finally mellowing into a comprehensible rhythm.

Conversation is taking shape, slowly. In lieu of a suitable tandem situation, I have taken to holding discourses with other Erasmus students. Sometimes there is wine and pizza involved, this suits me very well. After intensive self-reflection I have found speaking in a relaxed environment among friends, without the pressure of self-censoring or the paranoia of the multiple mistakes I am prone to make, is one of the best ways to encourage myself to speak. This is not to suggest that the recurring mistakes that I make go unnoticed or unchallenged, to the contrary there is a shared understanding that in order to manipulate the situation in order to achieve the most useful results, we much all be vigilant in noticing and correcting recurring mistakes (through this we can continue with the pizza and wine somewhat legitimately).

Disenchantment can lead to various types of language fossilization and recently I have to admit, I have fallen out of love with Italy somewhat. I think perhaps this is on account of elements of culture with which I am less than comfortable with. In Italy many things that my anglicized brain would automatically class as rude, or at the very least as abrasive, are simply permissible. Perhaps I have a thicker skin to grow.

In order to continually motivate myself, I am taking full advantage of travel. Being in Tuscany is wonderful, furthermore, being located somewhere so central is promises great opportunities. Through this I have had to engage with various people, employ skillful and precise listening skills and engage some of the more complex systems of reading comprehension. All the while being able to explore new, exciting and vibrant cities such as; Milan, Genoa, Florence, Lucca and La Spezia. This has been invaluable and has offered a more hands-on approach to language, as there is only so much textbook grammar one can endure on sunny days.

Upon my research into second language acquisition I have found a number of fascinating sources that I feel adequately describe my feelings towards language learning. Anxiety. Kagan, 1989, phrases this most eloquently:

'One may feel anxious for just a moment, for an hour, or consistently for a week.'p.61

Only a week? I can't remember a time during this process where I haven't felt an almost crippling sense of anxiety. Furthermore, when we consider this theory in relation to Tomkin (x)

'..strong emotion can disrupt cognitive and physiological processes...'p.61

There becomes evidence for a cleat link between emotion and the rate of my language acquisition. 

Much of this months anxiety has been geared towards exams. I had heard horror stories from post-erasmus students about the examination style of Italy. Tales of terrible examinations in front of scores of students, cruel professors and administrative mishaps have been rife. Naturally, I was not feeling optimistic. 

Although I am becoming pretty expert at trivial conversations (anything surrounding food or wine, really) the idea of attempting to speak in an academic sense made me (makes me) break out in a rash.

For any prospective Erasmus students fretting about the looming threat of oral examinations, I have to say, they aren’t quite as monstrous as you might be expecting. (Or rather, this exam wasn't nearly as horrendous as my mind had convinced me it would be.)

For this exam I accessed notes on the university website, revised the entirety of my Dictaphone recordings and even bought a few books. All of which I think really has improved my reading capabilities and expanded my vocab somewhat. I found myself relying on many of Rubins (1981) cognitive language learning strategies throughout my revision such as: memorization in the form of vocabulary lists and constant, constant repetition and rehearsal of information (both through speech and reading)

 Although in the actual examination I think I spoke with the kind of proficiency a five year old would be thoroughly ashamed of, I passed! (just). Probably due to the intense kindness of my professoressa! 

Here's to hoping the coming months are less anxiety riddled! 

Update 2 (December-January)

The biggest challenge to learning a language abroad is immersion.

This becomes infinitely more difficult with my accent. The Italians instantly recognise me as English and I wistfully watch as my opportunity to practice the language flits away gaily. Not to say that I am not persevering; I am, I do and often! Despite my stubborn refute to reply in English, recently I seem to be engaging in more Anglo-Italian conversation than I feel comfortable in. It’s cyclical, unproductive and often leaves me with an undue sense of frustration.

Nonetheless, I am coming into my fourth month abroad and have linguistic progress (or lack thereof) to discuss. 

Much of what I have implemented for myself is taking fruition, albeit somewhat gruellingly. My language class has become an invaluable source, working as a refresher to concepts already familiar, revision for more complicated aspects of grammar and a comfortable transition environment for concepts that I am unfamiliar with.  An added bonus of this type of work is the invaluable sociolinguistic tit-bits I readily internalise, it’s beneficial to understand when an Italian is feeling less than polite. This is an example of incidental vocabulary learning as explained by Gass and Selinker in their 2008 text 'Second language Acquisition', the acuqisition of such vocabulary is meaning driven. Basically, my curiosity towards why that drunk Italian man keeps shouting that particular phrase motivated me to go off and understand it. My retention of such terminology has, so far, been longitudinal. I deeply suspect this is on account of it being interesting.

Beyond this, I have been intermittently reading La Repubblica as the language does not seem overwhelmingly complex. However, I say this as a person for whom listening comprehension still heavily relies on contextual cues and successful reading practice results in a gleaning of 40% of the text. But any practice is good practice and it is important not to become disheartened.

My Dictaphone is perhaps the most invaluable tool that in my artillery. This allows me to record and revise lectures and my leisure. The only downfall of this is proximity. I have to be pretty close to the front of the theatre in order to capture a clean recording. This increases my chances of being asked a question/spoken to/looked at or interacted with in general, in any way, by around 300%. The anxiety fights but the will to learn soldiers onwards. At least half of the time, anyway.

My speech-anxiety, however, still rages unchained. Slow and frequent conversations, accent practice and a stubbornness of will, should hopefully relax this tension in time.

One of the most striking progressions within linguistic achievement that I have noticed within myself is the ever-growing proficiency surrounding linguistic comprehension. Basically, I can eavesdrop with surprising success now. I can pick up vast amounts of conversation around me, a definite increase in comparison to a few short months ago. I attribute this to, along with attendance of lectures, copious audio-practice in the form of film. Specifically, my favourite films. In particular, a children’s film. The 2009 animation ‘UP’. As humiliating as this is to admit to an audience, as the dialogue is simplistic (and, admittedly, committed to memory) it was relatively easy to understand in full. (This also works with; Harry Potter, The Nightmare on Elm street franchise and The Lion King.)

Amusingly, after the above paragraph, I have yet to locate a stable tandem partner.

Update 1 (October- November)

It's been two months since my last post and roughly three months since I began living in Pisa. 

Figuring out the Italian education system has been a feat in itself. I can say with confidence that nothing has been straight forward within the sphere of university, I suspect my level of linguistic competence (or lack there-of) is in no small way a contributor to this. Despite each adversary along the way, I have successfully enrolled into classes!

I understand nothing.

Well, that's untrue.  I understand basic language, non-topic-specific lexis that I have come into contact with before. I'm sure this will ease with the diligent study of core texts. For the meantime I attend lectures, with my trusty dictaphone and a plethora of multicolored materials and attempt to glean as much as humanly possible of what the lecturer is saying. I rarely come away particularly confident with my understanding.  

  Its clear that the way I use language currently is social, so far my current language use exists between friends and in contexts of transaction. Within the social strategy of language learning (as described by Rubin, 1981) I often ask questions and seek clarification, imitate the speaker and rely heavily on contextual cues (or guessing), these are just an example of some of the strategies that Rubin identifies as social which I notice that I routinely use (along with exposure to Italian media such as Radio and TV).

Another way in which I am attempting to further my linguistic understanding is through the attendance of a language class (CLI) which is provided by the university. It's a relatively intimate group in which I have the opportunity to revise concepts that I am familiar with and engage, under the supervision of the professor, those aspects of language which I haven't quite grasped yet. ( I am so sorry Enza, Grammar continues to befuddle me).
   Throughout this course I have been able to employ alternative strategies of language learning, these diverge from the social strategies and focus more on my individual learning process. I am employing ''meta-cognitive'' strategies of language learning, which is described by O’Malley and Chamot’s (1990) as; 

“knowing about learning and controlling learning through 

planning (including advance organizers, directed attention, functional planning, selective attention and self-management), monitoring (checking, verifying, or correcting one’s comprehension or performance in the course of language task) and evaluating the learning activity (checking the outcomes of one’s own language learning against a standard after it has been completed)”

In the coming months I hope to secure a language tandem partner, in order to somewhat desensitize myself from my speech-anxiety, and to enrich my social group. I would also enjoy to build upon my written Italian through the writing tasks which required for  Reading and begin subscribing to newspapers and journals in order to advance my reading skills.  Wish me luck! 

A little (well...) introduction!

This blog is mainly to document my linguistic progress over the 10 months (or so) in which I will be studying as an ERASMUS student at the University of Pisa, making reference to relevant sources in order to explore and evaluate the many different facets and techniques involved in second language acquisition.

I intend to post semi-regularly, around once a month. A goal which I hope is not too ambitious.

Within my posts I aim to comprehensively document the trials and tribulations of someone attempting to learn and live in a foreign country (better yet, a foreign country in which I feel I have yet to acquire a sufficient level of language competence).

In order for the reader to understand the level of language  proficiency in which I am embarking on my year abroad with, I will provide some background of my Italian Learning so far;

I hail from an all Italian, Italian speaking family (for the most part- for example, my father speaks mainly in a Northern-Italian dialect, which greatly dissuaded him from sharing his language with me). I was surrounded by Italian as a child, however to my knowledge I never showed a great deal of interest in adopting the language as my own.
Throughout my adolescence I have attended countless Italian-teaching schemes, many of them geared towards gaining a GCSE qualification as the metaphorical ''carrot at the end of the stick'' - I have never completed any of them. In fact I held no type of linguistic qualification of any description before I somehow managed to secure a place at the University of Reading and have to this date completed two years of (somewhat intense and at times overwhelming) Italian studies.

Now, I find myself in my third year at University (a fact which I regularly have to remind myself is real) with the opportunity to spend a year studying in a beautiful country, with time to explore and to speak and to fully immerse myself in the culture.

Hopefully, this blog will reach others who feel that they are in a similar position to mine, conversely I would hope that my posts are an entertaining read for anyone who is interested in the process of language acquisition!


Parleremo presto!