This practical experience shows the introductory class to a single course on Antonio
Tabucchi, as part of a M.A. degree course in Italian (Literature and Translation Studies). The

course duration is six months. The class is based on one of Antonio Tabucchi’s short stories,
“Messaggio dalla penombra” (A. Tabucchi, “I volatili del Beato Angelico”, Sellerio 1987),
dealt with an integrated approach (Liddicoat, Scarino, 2013:4) that starts with a motivating
listening task, and gradually increases the students’ active participation, from a guided to a
completely autonomous and independent learning. The teacher’s role is that of facilitating the
students’ insight and eliciting their own guesses while listening and reading the short story.
The humanistic-affective approach used (Caon, 2006:3), favouring above all concentration
through a relaxing environment in the class, encourages students to express their hypotheses
and to exploit their own receptive abilities of the text; moreover, this approach stimulates the
students’ interest and involvement, turning a simple reading task into a lively dialogue with
the author.

KEY WORDS

Short story, listening, reading, dialogue, involvement, empathy.