Rosa Anna PRESTIGIACOMO
Ascolta
Department of Psychology, Educational Science and Human Movement, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze Edificio 15, Palermo, 90128, Italy.
e-Mail: rosaanna.prestigiacomo@you.unipa.it
Education
- LM-38 Lingue moderne e traduzione per le Relazioni Internazionali
Current Positions
PhD Student in Health Promotion and Cognitive Sciences
PhD project title and a short abstract
PhD project title
Be your eyes: the realization of an app for lexical-enactive acquisition of Spanish language for visually impaired students and its application in educational context.
Abstract
Digitalization has transformed practices in most sectors (Aguiar-Castillo et al., 2021).
In the educational context, information and communications technology (ICT) are costantly rising
(Abel et al., 2022; Mircea et al., 2021). In particular, the multifunctional approach of digital tools-from a multilingual perspective-has allowed it to make the digital world a place of inclusion in which to encourage foreign language learning for all types of learners.
Mclaughlin & Kamei-Hannan (2018) focus on a significant increase in the speed of reading of visually impaired subjects thanks to the use of digital equipment. However despite the considerable contribution of technologies in the acquisition of a second language, there is a lack of implementation of a linguistic application that can allow visually impaired students to acquire a specific aspect of the language: the lexical category.
Based on the theoretical principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) (CAST, 2018), the framework on which the application is proposed to be built rests on a path called "enactive-perceptive", which will relate context, circumstance and lexical categories connected to it in which the body is an integral part of language learning (Angel L6pez,2014, Gomez Paloma, 2016, Castellanos, 2023).
The primary objective of this research project is to build an application for learning a foreign language (Spanish) for visually impaired subjects. The design, planning, and implementation of the future application aim to deconstruct mental barriers to the concept of disability, establishing an axis in which the three core principles will be Neuroscience, Special Educational Needs, and Neurolinguistics from an inclusive perspective. At the heart of this process, training is planned
for teachers regarding the application to allow them to better deal with "inclusive" teaching.
By offering visually impaired students an "adequate" learning environment in which they are not relegated to receiving "facilitations," this will allow them to feel active and "autonomous" during their language learning process.
Supervisor: Prof.ssa Floriana Di Gesù
Main research areas of interest
Neurolinguistics, Neuroeducation, Inclusive Education, Spanish language learning
Researcher ID