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Research and Publications

Research and Publications

Since its foundation SIS Intercultural Study Abroad has fully committed itself to the use of service-learning for all its students after attending a conference in South Dakota (2005) sponsored by the International Partnership for Service-Learning and Leadership. From the general observation of the high level of language acquisition and intercultural sensitivity developed by students participating in service-learning in the years from 2005-2008, the SIS faculty developed an instructional approach entitled Full-immersion: Culture, Content, Service (FICCS) with the goal of achieving quality student learning outcomes. In 2008 SIS faculty expanded this to include the Reflective Intercultural Assessment Model (RICA) to measure the unique competence resulting from the use of the FICCS instructional approach: Reflective Intercultural Competence (RIC). In 2011 the FICCS instructional approach was tested and implemented in two other institutions in the European context, hence becoming the EUFICCS methodology thanks to a grant from the European Union Lifelong Learning Program. Recently the SIS teaching curriculum has been enriched by the integration of the Council of Europe’s model of Competences for Democratic Culture that was applied to all EUFICCS components and which has brought about a series of updates to the RICA model.

Below is a list of the main publications of SIS faculty and the conferences where SIS faculty have actively participated.  

  1. Bella Owona J. M., Bracci L. and Nash E. J. (2013), “Community Engagement through International Service-Learning: How a Foreign Student can Become a Social Actor in the Host Society”, The International Journal of Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement, 22, 1, 195-215.
  2. Bella Owona J. M., Biagi F., Bracci L., Cellai E. and Filippone A. (2014), Guidelines to the use of the EUFICCS methodology for second language acquisition, Cantagalli, Siena.
  3. Bella Owona J. M., Biagi F., Bracci L., Cellai E. and Filippone A. (2014), La metodologia EUFICCS. Manuale formativo per l’insegnante, Cantagalli, Siena.
  4. Bella Owona J. M., Biagi F., Bracci L., Cellai E. and Filippone A. (2014), Corso in immigrazione, mobilità e nuove emigrazioni: il caso Italiano. Guida Docente, e-book, ISBN: 978-88-940490-4-6
  5. Bella Owona J. M., Biagi F., Bracci L., Cellai E. and Filippone A. (2014), Corso in immigrazione, mobilità e nuove emigrazioni: il caso Italiano. Libro per lo studente, e-book, codice ISBN 978-88-940490-6-0
  6. Biagi F. (2014), “Alla ricerca dell’identità”, Ozok-Winiarska Z. (ed.), Teksty Kultury w Edukacji Polonistycznej i Refleksji Badawczej, pp. 121-133, Wydawnictwo, Kielce.
  7. Biagi F., Bracci L., Filippone A. (2007), “Studente Attore Sociale”, Bollettino ILSA, n. V, pp. 20-23.
  8. Biagi F., Bracci L., Filippone A. (2008), “Il metodo FICCS: Full-Immersion, Culture, Content, Service”, Bollettino ITALS, n. VI, www.univeit/italslab/.
  9. Biagi F., Bracci L., Filippone A. (2009), “Come insegnare italiano agli studenti universitari? Esperienze di FICCS”, La DITALS risponde, n. VI, Guerra, Perugia, pp. 33-36.
  10. Biagi F., Bolognesi M., Bracci L., Filippone A. (2011), L’italiano in servizio, Cantagalli, Siena.
  11. Biagi F., Bracci L., Ruiz-Coll J. C and Bella Owona J. M. (2012), “Reflective Intercultural Competence (RIC) and its assessment: the RICA Model”, Nash E.J, Brown N.C. and Bracci L., (eds.), Intercultural Horizons – Best Practices in Intercultural Competence Development, pp. 61-82, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle upon Tyne.
  12. Bracci L., Filippone A. (2010) (a cura di), L’educazione riflessiva interculturale, Carocci, Roma.
  13. Biagi F., Bracci L. (2020), Reflective Intercultural Education for Democratic Culture and Engaged Citizens, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle upon Tyne.
  14. Biagi F., Bracci L., Sacco M., Viviani A. (2021), “Intercultural Competence and Social Inclusion”, in Training Package for University Students – TOGETHER Project, available at https://together.pixel-online.org/TP_module02.php
  15. Biagi F., Bracci L., Filippone A., Manchester M. M. (2022), “Tappe pioniere del service-learning internazionale a Siena”, in Pedagogika XXV, 4. https://www.pedagogia.it/blog/2022/02/28/tappe-pioniere-del-service-learning-internazionale-a-siena/
  16. Biagi F., Bracci L., Giorgi A. (2021), Sviluppo delle competenze per una cultura democratica nell’era digitale – Documento strategico (Council of Europe, June 2021), Verticalprint, Siena.
  17. Biagi F., Bracci L. (2021), Democratic competences via digital channel (Council of Europe, October 2021) , Verticalprint, Siena.
  18. Biagi F., Bracci L. (2021), Le competenze democratiche attraverso il canale digitale (Council of Europe, October 2021), Verticalprint, Siena.
  19. Biagi F., Bracci L., Giorgi A., Grazi I. (2021), Corso di formazione sulle competenze democratiche: come formare i cittadini del futuro (Consiglio d’Europa, Ottobre 2021), Verticalprint, Siena.
  20. Biagi F., Bracci L., Thaler I. S. (2022), “Digital citizenship education in foreign language learning: missing interrelations between the RFCDC and DCE frameworks and drafting assessment descriptors”, in ICC Journal 4 (2), Oct. 2022, pp. 9-27 Available at www.icc-languages.eu/ICCjournal
  21. Biagi F., Bracci L. (2022), “A Democratic Reflective Syllabus in a Second Language Acquisition context: in-person, digital and hybrid experiences”, in Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research (IJLTR) 10(3), Oct.2022, pp. 43-60. Available at https://civilica.com/doc/1525496/
  22. Bracci L., Biagi F., Simoes A.R. & Senos S. (2023), DiCE.Lang Handbook – A guide for teachers to digital citizenship education and foreign language learning, UA editora. DOI: https://doi.org/10.48528/55ez-e636
  23. Biagi F., Bracci L., Cellai E. (2018), “Reflective Intercultural Education and Democratic Competences”, Viviani A. (ed.), Global Citizenship Education, Multiculturalism and Social Inclusion in Europe: The Findings of the Project I Have Rights, pp. 349-368, Ius Gentium Conimbrigae, Coimbra.
  • Intercultural Horizons Conference (Organized and by SIS): 
    • Siena (2011, 2013),
    • New York (with State University of New York) (2012, 2014),
    • Cagliari (2015),
    • Rijeka (with University of Rijeka) (2017)
  • International Association for Research in Service-Learning and Community Engagement (IARSLCE): 
    • Indianapolis, (2010)
    • Baltimore (2012)
    • Bologna (2016) (co-sponsored by SIS)
    • Albuquerque (2019)
  • Association of American College and University Programs in Italy (AACUPI):  Various in Prato, Firenze, Roma, Padova, from February 2011 to present
  • European Urban Research Association (EURA), Enschede, NL (2013)
  • Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U):  Network for Academic Renewal Conference, Minneapolis (2014)
  • Third International Conference on Second Language Pedagogies, Toronto (2014)
  • European Association of International Education, Praga (2014)
  • IEREST project  “Teaching the intercultural in contexts of student mobility”, Bologna, (2014)