Applied linguistics research has correlated perceptions of success in the L2 classroom with experiences of flourishing, authenticity, belonging, love, enjoyment, empathy, flow, and responsibility, punctuated by interpersonal exchanges (Prior 2019). This talk will present Italian L2 grammar and vocabulary exercises embedded in diverse authentic textual selections that function as generators of meaningful emotional engagement, as well as intercultural consciousness, and critical analysis, from Dacia Maraini’s whodunnit against femicide, Voci (1994), to film script excerpts of Ferzan Ozpetek’s love letter from the character Davide to his lover Simone, lost in the Holocaust, in La finestra di fronte (2003) and Marco Tullio Giordana’s twentieth-century family epic La meglio gioventù (2003), to philosophical pop songs by Elisa—Anche se non trovi le parole (2009)—and Pacifico—Verrà l’estate (2009)—as well as readings about the groundbreaking peripatetic Venetian designer of Spanish origin, Mariano Fortuny (1871 – 1949) and the heroic Sicilian anti-mafia photographer and activist, Letizia Battaglia (1935 – 2022).
Citation: Prior, Matthew T. 2019. "Elephants in the Room: An 'Affective Turn,' Or Just Feeling Our Way?" The Modern Language Journal 516-527.