(Perspectives, a Journal of TESOL-Italy - Vol. XXI, No. 2/Vol. XXII, No. 1, Spring 1996)

Identifying learning styles, and relating them to teaching styles, can help improve the quality of communication in the classroom. This paper aims to discuss four main issues:
1. what are learning styles?
2. how can we get information about our students' styles?
3. how can this information be used by teachers and students?
4. should we accommodate personal styles or try to change them?

(Perspectives, a Journal of TESOL-Italy - Vol. XXV, No. 1-2, Spring-Fall 1999)

Reforming a curriculum can be a good opportunity to reconsider some "hidden" factors like learners' beliefs, values, attitudes - and motivation. This paper discusses the various subtle ways in which teachers and institutions can influence a student's willingness to learn, through the role of the feedback they give, the features of the tasks they set and the impact of individual beliefs.

(Perspectives, a Journal of TESOL-Italy - Vol. XX, No. 1 June 1994)

Strategic competence - solving communication problems despite inadequate command of the linguistic/sociocultural code - is an important feature of both L1 and L2 interaction. Teaching approaches will have to ensure that students consider authentic situations where strategies play a significant role; become aware of strategies through observation and discussion; and face problem-oriented, open-ended interactive tasks which require strategy use to negotiate meanings and intentions.

(Perspectives, a Journal of TESOL-Italy - Vol. XXIII, No. 2 Fall 1997)

Promoting autonomy means helping students find their own personal balance between dependence (on such factors as the teacher and the textbook) and self-regulation. If we become more aware of the degree to which we support and challenge learners in our  management of tasks and interaction, we can then better evaluate our teaching style, the activities we use, and our students' motivational profiles.

New technologies and individual differences: what impact can man-machine interaction have on cognitive styles and learning strategies?

An Italian version is available.

The “hidden curriculum”, made up of beliefs and attitudes about language and learning, ultimately affects the success of any educational reform. This paper tries to describe the nature of these beliefs, explain their role in teaching and learning, and suggest ways in which they can be investigated and monitored.

An Italian version is available.

Recent debates on curriculum change have tended to emphasize the end-product (competence) rather than the process which makes that product achievable. The idea of a language portfolio, put forward by the Council of Europe, is a good opportunity to develop a self-standing learning portfolio, evidence of  both students´ competence-in-progress and of their emerging personal profile as language learners.

Language awareness - learning awareness in a communicative approach: A key to learner independence

(Perspectives, a Joumal of TESOL-Italy - Volume XVIII, Number 2, December 1992)

Learner awareness refers to both the content of learning (i.e. the linguistic and cultural input) and to the process of learning (i.e. the cognitive and metacognitive strategies used by learners and their beliefs and attitudes towards language and learning). Raising students' awareness and integrating it into the EFL syllabus will be a necessary step towards learner (and teacher) independence.

Implementing language and cross-curricular portfolio projects:  Some pedagogical implications

(Perspectives, a Journal of TESOL-Italy - Vol. XXVII, No. 2, Spring 2001)

Implementing a portfolio project can be an example of promising innovation in learning, teaching and assessment if it prompts us and our students to set clear targets, set up, carry out and assess meaningful learning experiences, and build up and regularly update learner profiles.

Teaching the modular way?
A few notes on modularity in language teaching