This paper aims to show how teachers’ communication within the Italian educational context can influence learning by motivating or demotivating students, or causing negative emotions or favouring positive ones. This work considers: a. the studies on Krashen’s affective filter hypothesis and the Rosenthal effect; b. teacher’s humour and the teacher-child relationship; c. the importance of emotions in learning processes; d. the way speech acts work; e. how the brain receives information; f. the structures and the regularities of language. These topics are connected, as spoken communication in teaching involves people in their emotions, cognition, and speech or non-verbal acts. Through a questionnaire sent to 101 university students all over Italy, this pilot study will attempt to examine how Italian teachers communicate and the effect of teachers’ communication on students’ learning process.