Internet Resources and Second Language Acquisition: An Evaluation of Virtual Immersion

ABSTRACT This article presents the results of a two‐year study on the integration of Internet resources as a primary instructional tool in the teaching of Italian language classes at the University of Utah. All students studying Italian belonged to the virtual community of Italian speakers who communicate daily on various channels and mailing lists. The first section outlines the study and explains the premises on which it is based. Sections Two and Three describe the project design and data Collection methods used. Section Four reports the findings in quantitative and qualitative tables. The final two sections analyze the findings and discuss their implications with respect to our study, as well as future research.