Marinella Caruso | The University of Western Australia (original) (raw)
Papers by Marinella Caruso
L’italiano in Australia: lingua e cultura nell’attuale panorama dell’insegnamento dell’italiano / Italian in Australia. Perspectives and Trends in the Teaching of Language and Culture.
in J. Fornasiero et al. (eds), "Intersections in language policy and planning: establishing connections in languages and cultures", Springer, 2020
Adaptive and mobile learning technologies are leading innovation in personalized and blended lear... more Adaptive and mobile learning technologies are leading innovation in personalized and blended learning for language education at tertiary level. However, the growth of adaptive and mobile resources is not matched by sufficient research on their effective implementation in university language courses. In this chapter, we present a study conducted in Italian beginners units at the University of Western Australia in 2017 (credit-bearing undergraduate courses). These units were redesigned to integrate adaptive and mobile learning resources for automated and personalized language practice. We describe and discuss qualitative and quantitative data on students' engagement with the adaptive platform, their evaluation of skill practice on the platform, and the use of mobile devices to access the platform. Our results show that adaptive and mobile technologies have great potential to enhance the student learning experience, but also that, at present, various issues limit the implementation of these resources. We offer recommendations to address these issues.
Moderna språk , 2019
This article investigates how the disciplinary discourse on the contemporary state of foreign lan... more This article investigates how the disciplinary discourse on the contemporary state of foreign languages in universities hastily refers to these disciplines as being in 'crisis'. This practice is nearly as old as the Humanities itself, and has been employed periodically since at least the 1940s. Despite a period of increasing foreign language enrolment in the first decade of the twenty-first century in Australia, calls of 'crisis' came from across the languages sector. In tracing the use of the term 'crisis', we show how the sector has long been characterised by such alarmist terminology, even when reality suggests otherwise. The article traces this usage in the recent disciplinary discourse in foreign languages. A topical report of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, which shows increased language enrolment over the period 2002-11, leads one to believe that things at universities may not be as bad as first thought. This finding has implications for language enrolments not just in Australia, but around the world.
Adaptive and mobile learning technologies are leading innovation in personalized and blended lear... more Adaptive and mobile learning technologies are leading innovation in personalized and blended learning for language education at tertiary level. However, the growth of adaptive and mobile resources is not matched by sufficient research on their effective implementation in university language courses. In this paper, we present a study conducted in Italian beginner units at The University of Western Australia in 2017. These units were redesigned to integrate adaptive and mobile learning resources for automated and personalized language practice. We describe and discuss qualitative and quantitative data on students’ engagement with the adaptive platform, their evaluation of skill practice on the platform, and the use of mobile devices to access the platform. Our results show that adaptive and mobile technologies have great potential to enhance the student learning experience, but also that, at present, various issues limit the implementation of these resources. We offer recommendations to address these issues.
FULGOR, 2017
Questo contributo riporta i primi risultati di una ricerca in corso volta a verificare l'incidenz... more Questo contributo riporta i primi risultati di una ricerca in corso volta a verificare l'incidenza di due tempi perfettivi, il passato prossimo e il passato remoto, nell'italiano d'Australia parlato da immigrati italiani del secondo dopoguerra. Nel contesto australiano la presenza dell'inglese a contatto con l'italiano determina una ridistribuzione delle lingue del repertorio con conseguenze per il sistema linguistico dell'italiano. Attraverso l'analisi del passato prossimo e del passato remoto si vuole pertanto investigare la dinamica di possibili cambiamenti grammaticali in atto. Sebbene le tendenze d'uso di questi due tempi perfettivi siano state documentate per l'italiano in Italia, la concorrenza tra i due tempi in questione non è mai stata affrontata sistematicamente riguardo all'italiano all'estero. La presente ricerca esplora, nello specifico, la varietà meridionale di italiano, di parlanti calabresi e siciliani, varietà per la quale la letteratura sull'italiano in Italia ha confermato la vitalità del passato remoto (Bertinetto e Squartini 1996). I dati provengono da conversazioni condotte da due intervistatori, un parlante del nord e uno del sud. È risaputo che le caratteristiche dell'interlocutore incidono sul comportamento linguistico del parlante . In particolare, quindi, la ricerca si propone di esplorare la relazione tra alcune delle caratteristiche sociolinguistiche dell'interlocutore (la varietà geografica appunto) e la preferenza per uno o l'altro tempo perfettivo nella conversazione.
Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 2017
This article discusses the validity of the bonus for languages other than English (known as the L... more This article discusses the validity of the bonus for languages other than English (known as the Language Bonus) established in Australia to boost participation in language education. In subjecting this incentive plan to empirical investigation, we not only address a gap in the literature, but also continue the discussion on how to ensure that the efforts made by governments, schools, education agencies and teachers to support language study in schooling can have long-term success. Using data from a large-scale investigation, we consider the significance of the Language Bonus in influencing students' decision to study a language at school and at university. While this paper has a local focus - an English-speaking country in which language study is not compulsory - it engages with questions from the broader agenda of providing incentives for learning languages. It will be relevant especially for language policy in English speaking countries.
by Marinella Caruso, Anna Gadd Colombi and Simon Tebbit. This paper discusses the integratio... more by Marinella Caruso, Anna Gadd Colombi and Simon Tebbit.
This paper discusses the integration and effectiveness of blended learning for the development and assessment of listening skills in a second language. The development of oral abilities (listening and speaking) is one of the most challenging and neglected aspects of second language learning (Vandergrift & Goh 2012, Graham & Santos 2015). Listening comprehension work in particular is crucial in the early stages of second language acquisition, and, therefore, for ab-initio language students, for whom processing and decoding auditory input can be very challenging. In 2014 a set of online listening quizzes was created and integrated into two ab-initio Italian courses. The aim was to offer engaging, flexible listening comprehension practice and assessment, which would extend the students’ learning experience, stimulate their learning motivation and allow for a better use of face-to-face teaching in the classroom environment. Having conceptualised listening as a process rather than a product we designed tasks to teach learners how to listen, rather than merely test their comprehension. The validity of the quizzes as a means for the development of listening skills and as a tool for formative and summative assessment was subjected to systematic analysis via an online student survey. The large amount of data collected reveals that the quizzes were a key element in the development of listening skills and the delivery mode did not only meet the students’ learning needs but it was clearly preferred to in-class assessment.
Discussion about how to monitor and increase participation in languages study is gaining relevanc... more Discussion about how to monitor and increase participation in languages study is gaining relevance in the UK, the US and Australia across various sectors, but particularly in higher education. In recent times levels of enrolment in modern languages at universities around the world have been described in terms of 'crisis' or even 'permanent crisis'. In Australia, however, the introduction of a new course structure at the University of Western Australia, which established a three-year general Bachelor degree followed by professional degrees, has resulted in unprecedented levels of language enrolments. Using data from this university as a case in point, we provide substantial evidence to argue that language enrolments are directly related to overlooked issues of degree structure and flexibility, rather than to other factors.
![Research paper thumbnail of 2014. “New Courses 2012: the impact on enrolments in Italian at the University of Western Australia.” In C. Travis et al. (Eds), Practices and Policies: Current Research in Languages and Cultures Education. Sydney: Office for Learning and Teaching, pp.39-53. [with Josh Brown]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/36584716/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](This study explores the recent introduction of a new course structure at the University of Wester... more This study explores the recent introduction of a new course structure at the University of Western Australia (UWA), called 'New Courses' and the impact this structure has had on first and second year enrolments in Italian. After a brief discussion of the new degree structure in general, we consider some overall trends on how it has affected language enrolments at UWA, and then Italian in particular. Using data from enrolment numbers in past years and a survey we created, we show how a large percentage of students studying Italian at UWA are not from the Faculty of Arts, how this new degree structure has impacted on our student cohort and what implications this may have for pedagogy. The study concludes by offering some suggestions for further research and what implications this model may have for language teaching in universities around Australia.
![Research paper thumbnail of 2014. “Innovative translation. Dubbing films in Italian with iMovie.” In C. Travis et al. (Eds), Practices and Policies: Current Research in Languages and Cultures Education. Sydney: Office for Learning and Teaching, pp.507-518 [with Josh Brown]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/36584649/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](With the introduction of a new degree structure in 2012 at the University of Western Australia (U... more With the introduction of a new degree structure in 2012 at the University of Western Australia (UWA), the typical characteristics of students choosing to study Italian has changed significantly, with students from the Faculty of Science now accounting for the highest proportion of first year enrolments. This paper discusses the introduction of a multimedia project involving translation and dubbing in the first year advanced stream unit, not only as an innovation aimed at increasing motivation amongst students, but also as a way of meeting the learning styles of students who may have a 'problem-solving' orientation. Students were divided into groups and each group was assigned a five-minute film sequence that they had to translate and then dub into Italian using the program iMovie. The project was an integral part of the coursework and the only take-home assignment for the semester. The evaluation of the project shows that the application of technology to a translation task was a successful learning experience even when, as in this case, students were not familiar with the iMovie application.
![Research paper thumbnail of 2014. “New Courses 2012: the impact on enrolments in Italian at the University of Western Australia.” In C. Travis et al. (Eds), Practices and Policies: Current Research in Languages and Cultures Education. Sydney: Office for Learning and Teaching, pp.39-53. [with Marinella Caruso]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/36565617/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](This study explores the recent introduction of a new course structure at the University of Wester... more This study explores the recent introduction of a new course structure at the University of Western Australia (UWA), called 'New Courses' and the impact this structure has had on first and second year enrolments in Italian. After a brief discussion of the new degree structure in general, we consider some overall trends on how it has affected language enrolments at UWA, and then Italian in particular. Using data from enrolment numbers in past years and a survey we created, we show how a large percentage of students studying Italian at UWA are not from the Faculty of Arts, how this new degree structure has impacted on our student cohort and what implications this may have for pedagogy. The study concludes by offering some suggestions for further research and what implications this model may have for language teaching in universities around Australia.
Conference Presentations by Marinella Caruso
This study addresses the implementation of the flipped classroom approach in a Beginners Italian ... more This study addresses the implementation of the flipped classroom approach in a Beginners Italian language course at the University of Western Australia in 2019. The flipped classroom was designed around the specific needs of language education and the benefits of an inductive, student-centred approach. By moving some of the unit content outside of the physical attendance to lectures, the approach followed a cycle of: in-class preparatory discovery of the language contents; post-class/pre-class explicit delivery of contents (video-lessons); in-class interaction and practice; post-class reinforcement (online activities). Students watched instructional videos to prepare for in-class practice and carried out post-class activities as reinforcement and/or formative assessment. While adopting a highly flexible content delivery, this structure emphasised the student’s responsibility in completing pre-class activities to be able to engage in in-class interaction. The students’ experience was evaluated via an anonymous survey distributed at the end of the course. The survey addressed the areas of access, use, engagement and effectiveness with respect to the materials designed. It also elicited the students’ perceptions of the flipped approach in terms of the flexibility of content delivery and the accountability of the students’ own learning. The flipped approach was assessed as having many advantages over the traditional approach, however our analysis shows that for it to be effective it is crucial that students understand its underlying pedagogy.
There are a number of changes and challenges affecting language education at a tertiary level. Bl... more There are a number of changes and challenges affecting language education at a tertiary level. Blended and personalised learning are two of the main challenges. Data-driven technologies and mobile learning offer new tools to address them. While new digital tools have been recently developed, there is a lack of research on their effective implementation in university courses.
In this paper we present the results of a study conducted in Italian beginner units at The University of Western Australia in 2017. These units were redesigned to integrate the mobile and adaptive learning resources available through McGraw-Hill Connect, with the aim of providing students with automated, personalised exercises for language reinforcement; offering students a more regular and flexible way for autonomous practice; improving the quality of contact hours.
Besides evaluating the implementation of these resources in the units via a survey, we regularly monitored students' learning behaviours and engagement by analysing data collected from Connect. The results of our study show that adaptive and mobile technologies have a very positive impact on students’ learning, but they also raise questions on our capability to embrace the digital challenges that our universities encourage us to take.
Marinella Caruso, Anna Gadd and Simon Tebbit This paper explores the integration and effective... more Marinella Caruso, Anna Gadd and Simon Tebbit
This paper explores the integration and effectiveness of blended learning activities in Italian language courses at the University of Western Australia. These activities were specifically designed for the development of listening skills, as well as for assessment. The development of oral abilities (listening and speaking) is one of the most challenging and neglected aspects of second language learning. Aural work is particularly crucial for ab-initio language students. While some websites now offer materials for learners of Italian that include listening comprehension activities, these materials involving listening are not necessarily graded or linked to a specific syllabus.
In 2014 a set of online listening quizzes were created and integrated into two ab-initio Italian courses at the University of Western Australia. The aim was to offer engaging, flexible listening comprehension practice and assessment, which would impact on students’ progress by extending their learning experience, enhance their learning motivation and allow for a better use of face-to-face teaching in the classroom environment. At the end of their course students were invited to complete an online survey specifically designed to assess the validity of the quizzes in the development of listening skills and as tools for formative and summative assessment. The 90 surveys collected provide a large amount of data on how students approached and viewed the integration of online listening quizzes in their Italian course.
Books by Marinella Caruso
L’italiano in Australia: lingua e cultura nell’attuale panorama dell’insegnamento dell’italiano / Italian in Australia. Perspectives and Trends in the Teaching of Language and Culture.
in J. Fornasiero et al. (eds), "Intersections in language policy and planning: establishing connections in languages and cultures", Springer, 2020
Adaptive and mobile learning technologies are leading innovation in personalized and blended lear... more Adaptive and mobile learning technologies are leading innovation in personalized and blended learning for language education at tertiary level. However, the growth of adaptive and mobile resources is not matched by sufficient research on their effective implementation in university language courses. In this chapter, we present a study conducted in Italian beginners units at the University of Western Australia in 2017 (credit-bearing undergraduate courses). These units were redesigned to integrate adaptive and mobile learning resources for automated and personalized language practice. We describe and discuss qualitative and quantitative data on students' engagement with the adaptive platform, their evaluation of skill practice on the platform, and the use of mobile devices to access the platform. Our results show that adaptive and mobile technologies have great potential to enhance the student learning experience, but also that, at present, various issues limit the implementation of these resources. We offer recommendations to address these issues.
Moderna språk , 2019
This article investigates how the disciplinary discourse on the contemporary state of foreign lan... more This article investigates how the disciplinary discourse on the contemporary state of foreign languages in universities hastily refers to these disciplines as being in 'crisis'. This practice is nearly as old as the Humanities itself, and has been employed periodically since at least the 1940s. Despite a period of increasing foreign language enrolment in the first decade of the twenty-first century in Australia, calls of 'crisis' came from across the languages sector. In tracing the use of the term 'crisis', we show how the sector has long been characterised by such alarmist terminology, even when reality suggests otherwise. The article traces this usage in the recent disciplinary discourse in foreign languages. A topical report of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, which shows increased language enrolment over the period 2002-11, leads one to believe that things at universities may not be as bad as first thought. This finding has implications for language enrolments not just in Australia, but around the world.
Adaptive and mobile learning technologies are leading innovation in personalized and blended lear... more Adaptive and mobile learning technologies are leading innovation in personalized and blended learning for language education at tertiary level. However, the growth of adaptive and mobile resources is not matched by sufficient research on their effective implementation in university language courses. In this paper, we present a study conducted in Italian beginner units at The University of Western Australia in 2017. These units were redesigned to integrate adaptive and mobile learning resources for automated and personalized language practice. We describe and discuss qualitative and quantitative data on students’ engagement with the adaptive platform, their evaluation of skill practice on the platform, and the use of mobile devices to access the platform. Our results show that adaptive and mobile technologies have great potential to enhance the student learning experience, but also that, at present, various issues limit the implementation of these resources. We offer recommendations to address these issues.
FULGOR, 2017
Questo contributo riporta i primi risultati di una ricerca in corso volta a verificare l'incidenz... more Questo contributo riporta i primi risultati di una ricerca in corso volta a verificare l'incidenza di due tempi perfettivi, il passato prossimo e il passato remoto, nell'italiano d'Australia parlato da immigrati italiani del secondo dopoguerra. Nel contesto australiano la presenza dell'inglese a contatto con l'italiano determina una ridistribuzione delle lingue del repertorio con conseguenze per il sistema linguistico dell'italiano. Attraverso l'analisi del passato prossimo e del passato remoto si vuole pertanto investigare la dinamica di possibili cambiamenti grammaticali in atto. Sebbene le tendenze d'uso di questi due tempi perfettivi siano state documentate per l'italiano in Italia, la concorrenza tra i due tempi in questione non è mai stata affrontata sistematicamente riguardo all'italiano all'estero. La presente ricerca esplora, nello specifico, la varietà meridionale di italiano, di parlanti calabresi e siciliani, varietà per la quale la letteratura sull'italiano in Italia ha confermato la vitalità del passato remoto (Bertinetto e Squartini 1996). I dati provengono da conversazioni condotte da due intervistatori, un parlante del nord e uno del sud. È risaputo che le caratteristiche dell'interlocutore incidono sul comportamento linguistico del parlante . In particolare, quindi, la ricerca si propone di esplorare la relazione tra alcune delle caratteristiche sociolinguistiche dell'interlocutore (la varietà geografica appunto) e la preferenza per uno o l'altro tempo perfettivo nella conversazione.
Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 2017
This article discusses the validity of the bonus for languages other than English (known as the L... more This article discusses the validity of the bonus for languages other than English (known as the Language Bonus) established in Australia to boost participation in language education. In subjecting this incentive plan to empirical investigation, we not only address a gap in the literature, but also continue the discussion on how to ensure that the efforts made by governments, schools, education agencies and teachers to support language study in schooling can have long-term success. Using data from a large-scale investigation, we consider the significance of the Language Bonus in influencing students' decision to study a language at school and at university. While this paper has a local focus - an English-speaking country in which language study is not compulsory - it engages with questions from the broader agenda of providing incentives for learning languages. It will be relevant especially for language policy in English speaking countries.
by Marinella Caruso, Anna Gadd Colombi and Simon Tebbit. This paper discusses the integratio... more by Marinella Caruso, Anna Gadd Colombi and Simon Tebbit.
This paper discusses the integration and effectiveness of blended learning for the development and assessment of listening skills in a second language. The development of oral abilities (listening and speaking) is one of the most challenging and neglected aspects of second language learning (Vandergrift & Goh 2012, Graham & Santos 2015). Listening comprehension work in particular is crucial in the early stages of second language acquisition, and, therefore, for ab-initio language students, for whom processing and decoding auditory input can be very challenging. In 2014 a set of online listening quizzes was created and integrated into two ab-initio Italian courses. The aim was to offer engaging, flexible listening comprehension practice and assessment, which would extend the students’ learning experience, stimulate their learning motivation and allow for a better use of face-to-face teaching in the classroom environment. Having conceptualised listening as a process rather than a product we designed tasks to teach learners how to listen, rather than merely test their comprehension. The validity of the quizzes as a means for the development of listening skills and as a tool for formative and summative assessment was subjected to systematic analysis via an online student survey. The large amount of data collected reveals that the quizzes were a key element in the development of listening skills and the delivery mode did not only meet the students’ learning needs but it was clearly preferred to in-class assessment.
Discussion about how to monitor and increase participation in languages study is gaining relevanc... more Discussion about how to monitor and increase participation in languages study is gaining relevance in the UK, the US and Australia across various sectors, but particularly in higher education. In recent times levels of enrolment in modern languages at universities around the world have been described in terms of 'crisis' or even 'permanent crisis'. In Australia, however, the introduction of a new course structure at the University of Western Australia, which established a three-year general Bachelor degree followed by professional degrees, has resulted in unprecedented levels of language enrolments. Using data from this university as a case in point, we provide substantial evidence to argue that language enrolments are directly related to overlooked issues of degree structure and flexibility, rather than to other factors.
This study explores the recent introduction of a new course structure at the University of Wester... more This study explores the recent introduction of a new course structure at the University of Western Australia (UWA), called 'New Courses' and the impact this structure has had on first and second year enrolments in Italian. After a brief discussion of the new degree structure in general, we consider some overall trends on how it has affected language enrolments at UWA, and then Italian in particular. Using data from enrolment numbers in past years and a survey we created, we show how a large percentage of students studying Italian at UWA are not from the Faculty of Arts, how this new degree structure has impacted on our student cohort and what implications this may have for pedagogy. The study concludes by offering some suggestions for further research and what implications this model may have for language teaching in universities around Australia.
With the introduction of a new degree structure in 2012 at the University of Western Australia (U... more With the introduction of a new degree structure in 2012 at the University of Western Australia (UWA), the typical characteristics of students choosing to study Italian has changed significantly, with students from the Faculty of Science now accounting for the highest proportion of first year enrolments. This paper discusses the introduction of a multimedia project involving translation and dubbing in the first year advanced stream unit, not only as an innovation aimed at increasing motivation amongst students, but also as a way of meeting the learning styles of students who may have a 'problem-solving' orientation. Students were divided into groups and each group was assigned a five-minute film sequence that they had to translate and then dub into Italian using the program iMovie. The project was an integral part of the coursework and the only take-home assignment for the semester. The evaluation of the project shows that the application of technology to a translation task was a successful learning experience even when, as in this case, students were not familiar with the iMovie application.
This study explores the recent introduction of a new course structure at the University of Wester... more This study explores the recent introduction of a new course structure at the University of Western Australia (UWA), called 'New Courses' and the impact this structure has had on first and second year enrolments in Italian. After a brief discussion of the new degree structure in general, we consider some overall trends on how it has affected language enrolments at UWA, and then Italian in particular. Using data from enrolment numbers in past years and a survey we created, we show how a large percentage of students studying Italian at UWA are not from the Faculty of Arts, how this new degree structure has impacted on our student cohort and what implications this may have for pedagogy. The study concludes by offering some suggestions for further research and what implications this model may have for language teaching in universities around Australia.
This study addresses the implementation of the flipped classroom approach in a Beginners Italian ... more This study addresses the implementation of the flipped classroom approach in a Beginners Italian language course at the University of Western Australia in 2019. The flipped classroom was designed around the specific needs of language education and the benefits of an inductive, student-centred approach. By moving some of the unit content outside of the physical attendance to lectures, the approach followed a cycle of: in-class preparatory discovery of the language contents; post-class/pre-class explicit delivery of contents (video-lessons); in-class interaction and practice; post-class reinforcement (online activities). Students watched instructional videos to prepare for in-class practice and carried out post-class activities as reinforcement and/or formative assessment. While adopting a highly flexible content delivery, this structure emphasised the student’s responsibility in completing pre-class activities to be able to engage in in-class interaction. The students’ experience was evaluated via an anonymous survey distributed at the end of the course. The survey addressed the areas of access, use, engagement and effectiveness with respect to the materials designed. It also elicited the students’ perceptions of the flipped approach in terms of the flexibility of content delivery and the accountability of the students’ own learning. The flipped approach was assessed as having many advantages over the traditional approach, however our analysis shows that for it to be effective it is crucial that students understand its underlying pedagogy.
There are a number of changes and challenges affecting language education at a tertiary level. Bl... more There are a number of changes and challenges affecting language education at a tertiary level. Blended and personalised learning are two of the main challenges. Data-driven technologies and mobile learning offer new tools to address them. While new digital tools have been recently developed, there is a lack of research on their effective implementation in university courses.
In this paper we present the results of a study conducted in Italian beginner units at The University of Western Australia in 2017. These units were redesigned to integrate the mobile and adaptive learning resources available through McGraw-Hill Connect, with the aim of providing students with automated, personalised exercises for language reinforcement; offering students a more regular and flexible way for autonomous practice; improving the quality of contact hours.
Besides evaluating the implementation of these resources in the units via a survey, we regularly monitored students' learning behaviours and engagement by analysing data collected from Connect. The results of our study show that adaptive and mobile technologies have a very positive impact on students’ learning, but they also raise questions on our capability to embrace the digital challenges that our universities encourage us to take.
Marinella Caruso, Anna Gadd and Simon Tebbit This paper explores the integration and effective... more Marinella Caruso, Anna Gadd and Simon Tebbit
This paper explores the integration and effectiveness of blended learning activities in Italian language courses at the University of Western Australia. These activities were specifically designed for the development of listening skills, as well as for assessment. The development of oral abilities (listening and speaking) is one of the most challenging and neglected aspects of second language learning. Aural work is particularly crucial for ab-initio language students. While some websites now offer materials for learners of Italian that include listening comprehension activities, these materials involving listening are not necessarily graded or linked to a specific syllabus.
In 2014 a set of online listening quizzes were created and integrated into two ab-initio Italian courses at the University of Western Australia. The aim was to offer engaging, flexible listening comprehension practice and assessment, which would impact on students’ progress by extending their learning experience, enhance their learning motivation and allow for a better use of face-to-face teaching in the classroom environment. At the end of their course students were invited to complete an online survey specifically designed to assess the validity of the quizzes in the development of listening skills and as tools for formative and summative assessment. The 90 surveys collected provide a large amount of data on how students approached and viewed the integration of online listening quizzes in their Italian course.