Ce qui suit est une dissertation (en anglais) au sujet d'Italia 2000, progriciel destiné aux étudiants d'italien de niveau moyen et avancé. Italia, prétendra-t-on, se distingue des autres logiciels du genre par son emploi de la vidéo numérique; ses douze 'unités d'études' se basent sur des reportages télévisés en Italie pendant les années quatre-vingt-dix, permettant aux utilisateurs d'entendre et d'imiter des voix, des modulations authentiques, au lieu de devoir se contenter des scénarios 'artificiels' - et artificiellement simples. Les questions abordées ne se relèvent pas de la convention scolaire non plus, la thérapie chevaline et l'ostéoporose figurant parmi les nombreux thèmes à considérer au cours du programme.

En ce qui concerne la subdivision du texte, j'ai suivi l'ordre (plus exactement, l'hiérarchie) établi par les auteurs du progriciel même, c'est-à-dire, d'abord le CD-ROM, source des clips; ensuite la disquette, sorte de 'cahier' d'exercices supplémentaires; enfin le site web, résumé du tout et fichier de liens. L'introduction fait un bref compte rendu des buts et méthodes pédagogiques d'Italia, son recours à l'ordinateur comme 'outil', et comme professeur.

Italia 2000 consists of twelve self-contained learning units. Each one is based around a reportage-style video clip, taken from the Italian television channels RAI and Teleneta and covering such apparently diverse subjects as Mantuan cuisine, equine 'therapy' and the art of window-dressing. Thematically, however, the emphasis is very much on youth; of the ten or so 'areas for debate' identified by the authors, four relate directly to adolescent and student experience, whilst the sections 'Dalla città al Europa' and 'Esperienze al feminile' show that experience as paramount. Pedagogically, the package oscillates between two modes: computer as tutor, insofar as the software serves, to quote Mark Warschauer, to deliver 'instructional materials to the student' (grammatical drills, comprehension tests, lists of synonyms) and computer as tool - in this instance, computer as film-projector.

It is in the latter mode that Italia 2000 differs most sharply from more conventional C.A.L.L. material. Digital video files, which allow for so-called 'random access' at any point, encourage the student to analyze authentic instances of spoken Italian in close and, if necessary, repetitious detail. They permit flexible subtitling, assisting in the acquisition of new terminology, and can be run in much closer conjunction with the exercise in hand than an audio- or video- cassette recording. The brevity of the clips, moreover, ensures that intermediate and even advanced learners who are unused to rapid native speech will be introduced to it in a non-intimidating, controlled fashion. Italia 2000, as Gavin Burnage points out in his notes on the video software, is 'open and relaxed' in feel.

The initial screen provides links to the twelve units and presents the navigation tools to be used throughout the programme (next, previous, etc,) as well as Aiuto: a 'help' button which calls up advice, contraindicatively, in English. Once embarked upon a particular unit, the user may proceed sequentially via a simple scrolling system, or select options from the sub-menu. A reminder of the current location appears at the foot of every page, and the clean, functional, layout means that the screen is rarely 'busy', never difficult to read. Text is white or yellow, the font is Comic Sans Serif, and the background is navy blue with a grey frame. The small surface area devoted to video playback lets film and language work co-exist comfortably on the monitor; and though the visual quality of the clips may at times be mediocre, they are always intelligible.

Four to five exercises accompany each extract. Some of these are grammatical in nature, exploring, say, the use of relative pronouns within the televised dialogue. Others aim to expand vocabulary, asking the student to transcribe either synonyms or antonyms for specified terms and phrases. Still others test comprehension: at a basic level, by providing blanks in a passage to be filled out, or requesting answers to questions of the 'name?' and 'date?' genre; at a higher level, by presenting a series of jumbled film-segments to be reassembled in the correct order. Dialogo sections give the language-learner an opportunity to emulate the Italians interviewed on film, recording his or her own responses to queries about the given topic: a 'procedure', in Burnage's words, which 'mimics a classroom exercise in which pairs of students practise speaking by asking each other set questions'. The advantage of the computerized version, he writes, is that 'native speaker responses are available for comparison'. The disadvantage, one might counter, is that there is no 'teacher' present, no mechanism for offering feedback on pronunciation, fluency or grammar.

Like the C.D., the software on floppy disk uses the reports originally broadcast on Italian television as the basis for a range of exercises assessing students' grammar, vocabulary and comprehension. Unlike the C.D., which operates non-punitively, straightforwardly revealing the right answer on demand, it offers hints as to how incorrect replies might be amended and tracks progress via a point-scoring system. And unlike the C.D., the floppy disk contains a full transcript of each video file, as well as an Italian-language 'help' function. In a sense, then, the 'parallel' units provided here represent a valuable addition to the audio-visual components of the Italia 2000 package, reinforcing lexical lessons and allowing the recorded footage to be analyzed in greater textual depth.

Where the software falls short, however, is in its presentation. The neat colour scheme of the C.D. is supplanted by an unappealing combination of pink and green, and what would, there, be merely a blank input space is marked, on the floppy, by an amateurish-looking row of question marks. The simple scrolling technique is replaced by a cumbersome series of boxes. In order to type in an answer, the user has to open a second window, which not only clutters up the screen and slows the computer, but also obscures the original text-box - and hence the question. There is, furthermore, no way to return to the first window, or to move on to subsequent questions, without exiting the entire exercise. Students are likely to spend as much time pondering the vicissitudes of the programme as the language and culture it promotes.

After the floppy disk, the Italia 2000 web site constitutes something of a refreshing change. It is easy to navigate, and the minimalist design and navy line drawings echo the neat style of the C.D., although the use of frames may hamper older browsers. The open access pages furnish a handy introduction to both the project and the software, including a detailed description of the 'learning objectives' and 'linguistic features' highlighted in each module, available in either English or Italian. The password-protected pages enable the user to gauge the contents of the package with remarkable accuracy, linking to film extracts and mirroring the kind of self-paced, self-directed, activity that characterizes Italia 2000 in its off-line incarnation. My sole reservation is that the list of external links appears a little cursory. Should the student wish to pursue the lines of social and/or critical inquiry suggested by the video clips, they are will find little more to help them, at www.italia-2000.com, than the addresses of the major Italian newspapers, together with a couple of commercial sites.

Perhaps, indeed, this is one area in which Italia 2000 as a whole might be improved. The computer serves the student, at times, 'as tutor', at others 'as tool', but its potential as stimulus has arguably been under-exploited throughout. The unit entitled 'Esperienze al feminile', for example, could have been used as a spring-board for a far broader exploration of women's experience within modern Italy than a single (regionalized) investigation into military service permits. The unit, 'I giovani e gli studi' tells us nothing about higher education and raises few points for discussion beyond contemporary trends in beachwear In the absence of supplementary documentation - magazine clippings, polemics, sociological data and so on - the 'enhance[d] cultural understanding' promised by the package's authors seems limited at best.