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!