Chapter I - Introduction - 1. Background to the study - 2. Purpose of the study - 3. Research questions - 4. Significance of the study - 5. Limitations of the study - 6. Summary - Chapter II: Literature review - 1. Models of language ability - 2.

Speaking ability - 3. Exploring academic Italian - 4. Topical knowledge - 5. Assessing speaking through scenario-based assessment - 6. Summary - Chapter III: Methodology - 1. Context of the study - 2. Study participants - 3. Instruments - 4.

Data collection procedures - 5. Data analysis procedures - 6. Summary - Chapter IV: Findings and discussion - 1. Analyses of the grammar knowledge task - 2. Topical knowledge tasks - 3. Speaking tasks - 4. The Italian SBA post-test experience survey - 5. The relationships between topical knowledge and speaking performance - 6.

Speaking performance and l2 proficiency level - 7. Summary - Chapter V: Conclusions - 1. Summary and interpretation of the results - 2. Implications - 3. Suggestions for future research - References - Appendix a - additional tables & figures - Appendix b - the Italian SBA post-test experience survey - Appendix c - Italian SBA rating scale.