Imparare il passato italiano in classe

The study examines the instructed acquisition of the aspectual distinctions between different past tenses of Italian verb system by 12 adult English native-speakers, advanced learners of Italian as L2. The analyses show how instructed learners acquire form-function associations and gradually become able to expand aspectual past morphology from most prototypical uses to the target-like uses, according with the literature of the Aspect Hypothesis, (Andersen & Shirai, 1994). The results are particularly relevant because they confirm the acquisitional pattern of not-instructed learners of Italian (Banfi & Bernini, 2003). An important role is found for instruction, in that learners understand and apply the rules explained by teachers, as emerged in the metalinguistic reflections of students.