"Englishes" and Internationalisation in Italy: Teaching and Learning Challenges

The Italian university system began its campaign of internationalisation as a result of the Bologa Process in 1999. The University of Messina, a southern Italian university, has experienced a tremendous growth rate in its international student population upwards of 500% since the program started and continues today. This has puttremendous pressure on the Italian teaching staff who must teach in English to various linguistic populations of international students. An ongoing project was designed to catalogue the general differences in the English spoken by the students. The representative countries include Ethiopia, Pakistan, India, Iran, Afghanistan Kazkhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgistan and Tajikistan. This work reports the results of the main groups. Samples were analyzed according to grammar, syntax, and pronunciation, with additional obsrvations on pragmatic and cultural details. The results were used to develop a training packet for students, professors, administrators and staff.