Italian via email: From an online project of learning and teaching towards the development of a multi‐cultural discourse community

This paper seeks to illustrate how the use of Internet resources (specifically email and the Web) can affect and enhance language learning and cultural understanding, modify the learning environment, reduce the barriers which time, space and societal differences may create, be a source of motivation, and redefine the role of teachers and learners. Although it is based on an on‐going project, it already provides practical evidence of some advantages email and Internet resources can bring to the language learner and to the teacher. A detailed evaluation of the language outcomes is under way, but incomplete at the time of writing. This paper is nevertheless more concerned with other variables of language learning and teaching which the author considers fundamental to reach a successful degree of language use