Exploring knowledge dissemination strategies in English and Italian newspaper articles for children: a focus on legal issues

The proliferation of specialised knowledge inevitably leads to a growing need for dissemination among non-experts or experts in other fields. The speed of knowledge development requires more efficient communicative tools, which should be able to reach an ever-expanding globalised audience. This suggests studying the strategies of disseminating expert knowledge to lay audiences. The case study proposed in this article focuses on addressees at a different stage of cognitive development: children. The aim is to analyse the strategies for successful transfer and effective dissemination of legal concepts in English and Italian online newspaper articles for children aged between 8 and 14. The adoption of cross-linguistic perspective will contribute to identify the main (dis-)similarities in the knowledge dissemination strategies used to promote a better understanding of legal terms and basic legal concepts when translating adult knowledge and expertise into comprehensible knowledge targeted at children.