Acquisition of receptive and productive vocabulary in the first cycle of education: the experience of Studiabolario in the schools of Valle D’Aosta

Abstract

This paper outlines the context and structure of the Studiabolario, an innovative open-access tool promoted by the “Centro di studi storico-letterari Natalino Sapegno”, designed to support the acquisition of both receptive and productive vocabulary in lower secondary education. The first part of the article reviews recent lexicographic production and observes that, although excellent, the dictionaries describing contemporary Italian vocabulary are often too complex and unappealing for students under the age of fourteen. This observation gave rise to the scientific and educational initiative behind the Studiabolario, whose origins and lexicographic structure are retraced and described in the second part of the article.