A multimedia framework for second language teaching in self-access environments

This paper presents an account of a self-access language teaching scheme operated at the University of Bologna during the last three years. The main goal of the D.I.A.P.A.S.O.N. (Distributed, Interactive, And Personalised Audio-visual Study Over Network) project is to teach English to university students up to intermediate level, by building a self-access environment freely available to learners. Some laboratories equipped with multimedia workstations, video stations, satellite receivers and specifically targeted courseware were set up and tested in one complete year of work. Here I will analyse some topics concerned with self-access language learning through CALL (Computer Aided Language Learning) and the complete structure of the DIAPASON courseware. Some data collected on a sample of students during the year are presented and an interpretation of the data suggested. The main result emerging from the data is that students are very busy and tend to spend only the minimum required time to study foreign languages, organising this activity in few short sessions during the week.