The study addresses the research gap of how being a speaker of a Slavic language influences the ability to convey tempo-aspectual meanings in Romance languages by examining personal and impersonal narratives delivered in written and spoken mode by learners of L3 Spanish and L3 Italian with L1 Slovak and L2 English. Narratives are analysed…

This study examines the extent to which the motivation of university students of Italian in Melbourne (Australia) is influenced by the visibility of a local Italian community. The research relies on data collected by open-ended questions and two Likert items from a survey study (n?=?74) as well as in-depth interviews (n?=?5). The findings show…

Collaboration among students in the course of learning plays an important role in developing communication skills. In particular, it helps for team building and brainstorming on solutions of complex problems. While an effective group organization is critical for the success of such collaborative learning, many instructors would make arbitrary…

The aim of the Regional Dossier series is to provide concise descriptions of regional or minority languages in education, mainly in Europe but also in other parts of the world. Friulian is a Romance language, traditionally recognised as part of the Rhaeto-Romance sub-family. It is spoken in Friûl (in Friulian)/Friuli (in Italian), a territory…

Research indicates that students frequently struggle to apply their knowledge of organic compounds' structural theory to understand the concepts related to resonance and learn to use curved arrows to write resonance structures. Educators have developed educational tools and methodologies to aid students in overcoming their learning difficulties.…

The present paper investigates the acquisition of L3 Polish by L1 Italian university students of L2 Russian. The participants had never studied the L3 prior to the experiment, but took a meta-linguistically explicit course in Slavic Linguistics focussing on Polish/Russian contrastive grammar. The main research question is whether or not the…

The State-Trait Cheerfulness Inventory--Trait Version (STCI-T60) measures the temperamental basis of sense of humor involving theoretically derived personality dispositions of cheerfulness, seriousness, and bad mood. The reliability and validity of the newly developed STCI-T60 Italian version were assessed in a sample of Italian speakers (N =…

This paper reports on the rationale for the implementation of a pilot project using a scenario-based Virtual Reality (VR) resource, originally developed by Health Sciences at Coventry University and now being repurposed for Italian language learning as a collaborative project with Modern Languages and Linguistics at the University of Southampton.…

This study explores the effectiveness of podcasting as an approach to project-based and experiential learning implemented in an intermediate Italian studies unit at an Australian university. In the project, students are asked to write and record a podcast script on a topic related to their experience as university students or to events concerning…

This case study explores the cognitive and emotional development of a university student using the schema of a complete orienting basis of action (SCOBA) in her learning of Italian as a foreign language. The article follows Marie, a 19-year-old undergraduate student, as she used a SCOBA that illustrated the concept of Genre and Register in…

Post-communicative methodologies nowadays provide instructors with multiple curricular models to reimagine their syllabi, design creative assignments, and prepare their lessons. Yet, challenging topics are still often avoided, fearing students' limited language proficiency. Conversely, compelling content--carefully presented and pedagogically…

International students, especially those studying in English language institutes at universities in the United States, often struggle to create connections with local students and the host community. Learners of non-English languages also struggle to find opportunities to practice languages that are uncommon in the surrounding community. This…

MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) are currently in favour as a mechanism for 'delivering education' on a massive scale, including language education. However, when viewed as a new educational 'technology', they have arguably not yet reached the stage of normalisation (Bax, 2003) at which they might be most productive. This paper examines the…

The construct of psychological flow bridges several areas of second language learning interest, including motivation, investment, self-efficacy, and autonomy. Flow, characterized by intense focus on an enjoyable activity that is at once challenging and accessible, creates conditions that have been linked to learning. Research interest in flow has…

Despite empirical evidence from research showing that the use of text-picture combination is beneficial for second language (L2) learning, little is known about the effectiveness of reading comic books for incidental vocabulary acquisition. This study investigated the effects of engaging with comic books on incidental learning of L2 Italian…