La tecnologia al servizio di una nuova didattica della scrittura: un percorso interattivo in italiano come lingua straniera

Abstract

This paper illustrates the theoretical basis, methodological conception, and innovative instructional design of an e-learning support for the development of writing skills of Italian as foreign language university students (University of Warwick, Great Britain). Designed and developed with a solid SLA (Second Language Acquisition) theoretical basis, the computer-based writing support encompasses and integrates the cognitive, social and instructional dimensions, regarded as crucial factors to create a socio-cognitive condition where language tutors and students participate in a “writing community”.
Through real collaboration between language teaching and research, it also represents an innovative attempt to bring research and practice closer, with the view of contributing to the investigation of the potential of technology to enhance language learning, in particular the development of writing skills in Italian as foreign language in academic settings. By refl ecting the current considerable interest in the technological application area of writing research and with the pedagogical objective to represent a challenge for traditional writing instruction, the design philosophy aims particularly to contribute to the development of the new but fast-developing research of synchronous and asynchronous electronic communication