Enhancing emotional reading skills through audiobooks: The case of German learners of Italian L2

• Valentina Schettino ^[1]
  1. [1] University of Salerno

     University of Salerno

     Fisciano, Italia

     
• Localización: EuroCALL 2025. Advancing CALL: New research agendas / Yazdan Choubsaz (dir. congr.), Paz Díez Arcón (dir. congr.), Ana Gimeno Sanz (dir. congr.), 2025, ISBN 978-84-1396-326-6, págs. 435-444
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
  • Texto Completo Libro
• Resumen

  • Prosody acquisition is improved when new technologies are used (Damiazzi, 2024). Computer- assisted didactic practice should thus significantly enhance the development of reading skills, with particular regard to prosody and the expression of emotions. However, CALL strategies in this area are lacking and need to be improved. This paper addresses this gap. Particular attention is devoted to expressive reading by German learners of Italian as a second language. In the first stage of the study, the reading skills of German native speakers learning Italian are evaluated through an empirical analysis of a corpus of oral readings (Schettino, 2015). Reading difficulties are analysed in relation to the CEFR fluency level of the speakers. The results show that emotional reading poses significant challenges for non-native speakers even at an advanced level. The most common errors can be linked to particular acoustic features. The second part of the study proposes specific CALL teaching strategies. Audiobooks are recommended as input material, alongside the use of the Praat software (Boersma & Weenink, 2012), which allows prosodic contours to be visualised, thereby improving learners' awareness and expertise. Audiobooks are considered ideal input material (Tusmagambet, 2020) as they convey recognisable emotions. Furthermore, learners can enhance their reading skills through repeated listening and visual evaluation of the relevant acoustic features.