The Pedagogic Value of Language Structures in one of Maria Edgeworth’s Stories for Children. A case-study.

The paper analyses the networks and paths which language structures and vocabulary create all along The Purple Jar (repetition of words and syntax structures creating a powerful and extensive semantic field, enumeration, repetition of formats/situations, skilful use of communicative expressions, etc.). Edgeworths’s language, so clear and simple, is also deep and complex in the use she makes of words and syntax, proving efficacious in facilitating Content Learning and in involving children into an emotional identification with the main character, thus fostering a peer-tutoring didactic interaction. For Italian Primary School students, the proceeding also facilitates the learning of English while allowing children to deal with authentic materials. Evidence is given through a case-study discussion.