ABSTRACT
This paper documents a two-year project at the University of Rome III to get university students to make the fullest use of the CALL software available in the campus Language Center, by integrating it into multimedia ‘Learning Itineraries’ These itineraries lead students from the classroom to the audio lab, the video room, the reading room, the computer lab, then back into the classroom, and tell the students exactly what (and how) to study in each environment. This paper argues that the mix of environments mutually enhances and reinforces the didactic value of the various media. In particular, CALL software becomes more relevant when perceived as a chance to explore, in a controlled environment, language forms assimilated globally in the video or reading rooms. Even out-dated commercial CALL software or prototype programs prove useful if integrated into carefully planned itineraries. To substantiate these claims, this paper reports the results of an experiment with itineraries conducted in 1996–97, together with an in-depth survey of the students’ reactions to the CALL component. The survey illustrates the learning strategies the students adopted in tackling learning tasks in a multimedia environment and how they perceive the interplay between human, technological and textbook instruction.
