“Come il linguista (in ognuno di noi) disinnesca le fake news”: un percorso didattico di avvicinamento alla Linguistica per le scuole secondarie di secondo grado

Faced with a fast, uncertain information landscape, the (meta)linguistically inexperienced user of social networks may struggle to recognize fake news and their manipulative discursive strategies. This can forestall critical thinking and responsible agency, something that could be improved by greater linguistic awareness. This contribution describes the structure and outcomes of a PCTO workshop with secondary school students, aiming at developing tex- tual analysis skills. Beginning with an investigation of students’ perception of Linguistics, each lesson included activities checking on the students’ metalinguistic skills; an introduc- tion to the discursive strategies found in fake news (amalgams, fallacies, pathemic effects, im- plicitness...); and cooperative learning-based group activities on the analysis of fake news and the design of effective communication. At the end of the workshop, the students reflected on how their ability to discriminate between true and false news has changed as well as their new perspective over language and Linguistics, confirming their perceived need of greater metalinguistic awareness.