Online Learning in the Italian Language Curriculum. The potential of Web 2.0 for the creative and efficient teaching of the Italian language in a university context: encouraging positive feelings and motivating students inside and outside of the classroom

This article looks at the use of Web 2.0 in Italian language teaching and its potential to provide creative teaching routes through the Internet and the digital world and additional strategies to motivate students. It details the effectiveness of some applications and game-based learning platforms as tools for reinforcing learning experiences, informed by the pedagogical approach of “doing with the language”, that strategically engage students with oriented oral and written tasks. The premise of this approach is that digital educational tools are particularly suitable for students who are digitally native. In a university context, language learning normally takes place during a few contact hours of formal teaching in class. It is, therefore, important to constantly motivate our learners to explore the language also outside the classroom. The latter may be achieved by giving them the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the possibilities of informal e-learning available on private and social internet spaces. The article presents some practical Web 2.0 scenarios that I have introduced in my courses and gives practical examples of how the students have benefited from them. Initial results show that the web fosters the creation of a virtual environment which is highly productive for personal language learning.