Textual connectors from a language educational perspective: considerations and proposals

Abstract

This paper examines the role actually assigned to textual linguistics in the teaching of Italian by means of analyzing some recent school grammars. The study is based on the conviction that working with the notion of linking word or connectors can only be useful if the pupils are able to adopt a textual perspective. It proposes two classification models and connects the reflection on the connectors to stylistic, syntactic and interpunctual aspects and to the peculiar uses of connectors in sectorial languages.