Form-focus Instruction in Communication-based Approaches to Language Learning in Chinese as Foreign Language – a Preliminary Analysis based on the Italian Textbook “Dialogare in cinese” [Qian xi chuji hanyu jiaocai ruhe chuli gongneng yu jiegou de guanxi - yi Yidali Hanyu jiaocai "Hanyu jiaoji kouyu" wei li]

This paper explores the coverage and sequencing of Chinese language grammar forms and structures in a first year course textbook at the university level within the framework of communication-based approaches to language teaching/learning. Recent developments within the communicative approach have stressed the importance of form-focused instruction, that is the grammar instruction that takes place within communicative contexts. SLA research has offered support for the view that the focus on grammar structures (form-focused instruction) and corrective feedback provided within the context of a communicative program are more effective in promoting second language learning and help learners to achieve better results in the communicative process. If considered from the perspective of communication-based approaches to language learning, the first generations of Chinese textbooks have been strongly characterized by traditional approaches to language teaching, with a focus on formal instruction. Since the nineties the gradual spread of the communicative approach in the field of Chinese L2 teaching and the developments in Chinese L2 research have given rise to new materials organized according to a communicative-functional agenda. Moreover, the growing interest toward Chinese language learning in the world has called attention to the role of “diversification” of language materials according to the different linguistic and cultural backgrounds of the learners. At the base of the opposition between form-focused and meaning-focused lies the role assigned to grammar instruction within textbooks, particularly at the beginning stage of learning. Implied is the notion that in order to use a language, learners need first to learn the basic grammar structures in a simplified and controlled way. How this can fit the communicative curriculum in which focus is on meaning remains a controversial issue. This paper analyses the role of grammar in the Italian textbook “Dialogare in Cinese” in terms of three key aspects: 1. Coverage of grammatical forms; 2. Sequencing of grammatical forms; 3. Form-based practice activities. At the current state of the research we have restricted the analysis to the first volume of the complete set (i.e. two volumes set), corresponding to a first-year course in Chinese major at the college level. In order to determine the coverage and sequencing of grammatical forms, we have established an inventory referring to the frameworks outlined in (i) The New HSK Grammar outline and in (ii) The International Curriculum for Chinese Language Education. Besides, as a way to deepen the analysis of coverage and sequencing of grammar forms in “Dialogare in cinese” , we have compared them with those included in a second textbook, “Il Cinese per gli italiani”, which is a form-focused textbook.