Teaching Italian as a second language through digital storytelling: Students’ perceptions towards izi.TRAVEL

Abstract

The use of technology-enhanced language learning, representing an urgent issue due to the Covid-19 pandemic, has also been promoted by many studies in second language acquisition. Nevertheless, research in this field is only partially developed for the teaching of Italian as a second language (L2) within the university context and for investigating students’ perceptions. This article presents an action research project on the use of izi.TRAVEL, a website housing more than 15,000 audio guides for touring various sites in cities around the world. The aim of the study is to contribute to developing didactic practices relative to Italian as an L2 through digital storytelling, in order to raise and foster students’ linguistic and digital skills. Participants were a small group of students studying Italian as an L2 as part of a master’s program at an Italian university. Data were collected through a questionnaire, a focus group, and students’ multimodal artifacts. Results show the positive impact of project participation on students’ attitudes and perceived learning outcomes, as well as improvements in linguistic, cultural, environmental, and digital competences.