Researching the benefits of integrating language and museum education on students’ linguistic, cognitive, affective, and intercultural development

According to Richards (2015), to fully understand the process of lan-guage learning we should consider what happens both inside and outside theclassroom. However, the way these two dimensions, that is the formal and infor-mal ones, interact to contribute to the development of learners’communicativecompetence still needs to be explored. In this context, several studies have dem-onstrated that museums can complement classroom instruction by providing stu-dents with the opportunity to engage in meaningful and enjoyable dialoguethrough and around objects. In fact, objects are said to trigger different memo-ries, associations, and emotions, boosting students’willingness to communicate inthe second or foreign language irrespective of their level of proficiency and socio-cultural background. Also, research shows that engaging with objects fosters bothstudents’intercultural awareness and socialization. Starting from an analysis ofthe aspects which characterize students’language learning experience in the mu-seum, the aim of the chapter is to discuss the benefits of the integration of lan-guage- and museum-based principles and approaches on students’linguistic,affective, cognitive, and intercultural development. This discussion will be basedon data collected by the MILE (Museums and Innovation in Language Education)research group of the University Ca’Foscari (Venice) during two projects imple-mented in collaboration with the local museums and schools.