Le lingue dei segni nel Volume Complementare e l'insegnamento della LIS nelle Università italiane

Italian Sign Language (LIS) has been studied by researchers for over forty years and has been taught in its own right in Italian universities for more than twenty years. In particular, at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and at the University of Catania, LIS can be chosen as a language of specialization on a par with the other languages on offer. LIS teaching can now benefit from the recent publication of the CEFR - Companion Volume (Council of Europe, 2020), an innovative and inclusive handbook as, compared to the 2001 version, it includes linguistic competence in sign languages. In this regard, there are three main innovations: i) the inclusion of neutral expressions in terms of communication modality (e.g. “the speaker/signer”), ii) the recognition of the functional equivalence between video recordings and written texts, and iii) an entire chapter dedicated to language-specific descriptors of sign languages (organized into linguistic, sociolinguistic, and pragmatic skills). This paper discusses the application of these descriptors to the specific case of LIS teaching by tracing paths in didactic planning and providing examples of training interventions. The impact of the Companion Volume on LIS courses in Italian universities will have positive effects not only on the teaching itself but also, more generally, on the training of deaf and hearing professionals who work with LIS and deaf people.