WebQuest for the development of intercultural communicative competence of Italian second language learners

Developing intercultural communicative competence as part of language learning is fundamental for recognising and understanding other languages and cultures, enabling individuals to interact in the multilingual environment of contemporary society. The article presents the benefits of WebQuest for enhancing intercultural communicative competence of Italian second language learners from different socio-cultural and linguistic backgrounds at the University for Foreigners of Perugia. An inquiry-oriented activity presenting the topic of Italian cuisine was created with the Moodle platform: students were required to do research, evaluate information, summarise ideas and apply a critical point of view to complete collaborative tasks in the virtual learning environment. The methodology of Project-Based Learning was applied to stimulate students’ online interaction through intercultural confrontation. The results from the questionnaire and from the class dynamics observation reveal the participants’ increased engagement in the WebQuest activities, and as the consequence their better learning outcomes in an intercultural perspective.