Primary language teacher education in Italy: refining syllabus design by listening to learners' voices.

Decisions concerning syllabus design are generally based on considerations linked with the level of competence which is to be attained by the end of the course itself. The Common European Framework of Reference is one of the many yardsticks against which language competence can be measured. However, the guidelines it provides may need further qualifications, especially when dealing with foreign-language primary school teaching. This paper sets out to examine how the opinions of a group of primary school teachers who have been trained to become English teachers can be exploited for the purpose of refining the design of the syllabus of further training courses.