At CEFR level A1 the socio-communicative tasks envisaged are predominantly
related to the resort to oral skills. Theoretically speaking, new students even when
unable to write and read in their language/s of origin and/or in the target language,
could thus directly join an A1 group without risking to find themselves in an
irredeemably disadvantaged situation when compared to their literate classmates.
Yet in current teaching practices and materials, because of the way spoken activities
are generally presented (i.e. mostly by means of dialogues, samples, and exercises in
written form), they are likely to find serious difficulties in starting from an A1 group
and normally end up in pre-A1 courses. The present contribution argues that digital
technologies could represent a way out from this apparently unsolvable paradox.
