Avanti! (Italian)

Informed by second-language acquisition research and supported by cutting-edge digital tools, the complete Avanti! program creates a dynamic learning environment that fosters communication and motivates students to succeed. With Connect and LearnSmart, Avanti's learning platform gives instructors maximum flexibility to structure the learning experience inside and outside the classroom. Avanti! is known for its focus on the most critical language for communication, its active presentation of vocabulary and grammar, systematic review and recycling, and inclusion of real-world culture. With Avanti!, students not only learn Italian- they develop a deep appreciation for Italian culture.

The Avanti! program is built around the following principles:

Focused Approach / Flexible Content: Avanti! responds to instructors’ concerns that most programs attempt to cover too much material in the first year. Informed by second-language acquisition research, this introductory course reflects a reasonable expectation for the amount of material that most beginning learners can acquire in one year of classroom instruction. The Strutture sections include the core structures that are necessary for meaningful communication at the elementary level. Additional structures are either presented “for recognition only” or appear in Per saperne di piu with associatedinductive presentations and activities in Connect, giving instructors maximum flexibility to teach the grammar they want to teach. The Connect platform includes an assignment builder feature that allows instructors to fully customize the course content to meet the needs of their particular students. Instructors may choose to assign all or some of the textbook and workbook activities as well as some or all of the grammar points presented in Per saperne di più, based on their course goals and the course delivery method: face-to-face, hybrid, or online. A major highlight of the fourth edition is the addition of 25 engaging Grammar Tutorial Videos that present key grammar points with related practice activities.

Communicative Competence: Avanti!satisfies students’ desire to communicate in everyday situations from the very beginning through a guided and gradual process of acquisition. In the Strategie di comunicazione videos that open each chapter, students see and hear Italians of all ages and backgrounds using high-frequency, practical expressions that students can immediately begin using. The Lessico sections have been revised to include the most up-to-date high-frequency vocabulary in use today. The Strutture sections guide students from working with Italian at the word- and sentence-level until they arrive at the final section of each chapter, Cultura, where they engage in listening, reading, writing, and speaking activities at the discourse level. Outside of class, Connect provides voice tools such as Blackboard Instant Messaging for partnered speaking practice and the Voice Board for posting voice recordings to an asynchronous voicemail thread. With Avanti! students are always well supported in their practice inside and outside of the classroom, building their communicative competence and their confidence.

Cultural Competence: Avanti! provides a meaningful and extensive exploration of Italy’s rich and unique culture. In addition to the Strategie di comunicazione videos and the Grammatica dal vivo videos that feature contemporary language as it is spoken today, the Il blog di… videos showcase four different regions of Italy. Brief readings and interactive cultural activities also promote an understanding of cultural products, practices, and perspectives throughout the program. All chapters end with reading, listening, speaking and writing activities that explore cultural topics in furtherdepth. New to the fourth edition is a feature called Scopriamo le belle arti! Based on the fine art chapter opener, the Lingua e Arte activities integrate both language review and art appreciation. Finally, each chapter now alternates between film and song activities, newly titled Scopriamo il cinema! and Scopriamo la musica!

Recycling vocabulary and structures for maximum exposure is a key feature of Avanti. Every fourth chapter provides practice of four previously taught grammar points, which are then followed by a related topic. Chapter 16 contains only review grammar sections, providing students with additional practicewith challenging structures. The Lingua e Arte activities that close each chapter integrate both language review and culture. With LearnSmart, our adaptive learning tool, students can practice key vocabulary and grammatical points outside of class. This proven systemhelps students identify what they don’t know and provides them with the optimal learning path to help them learn those concepts. LearnSmart also identifies the concepts students are most likely to forget and encourages periodic review to ensure that they retain what they have learned. In the fourth edition, LearnSmart now includes modules for all the grammar and vocabulary covered in Avanti, including updated high-frequency vocabulary. By assigning both Connect activities and the LearnSmart vocabulary and grammar modules, instructors can ensure that students are optimally prepared for in-class communication.

Janice M. Aski is Professor and Director of the Italian language program at The Ohio State University. She specializes in world language pedagogy and historical Italian/Romance linguistics. Her research in world language pedagogy has focused on topics such as L2 testing, reading, grammar practice activities, and hybrid vs. in-person instruction. She now focuses on the incorporation of intercultural competence training in elementary language courses and how this training provides new messaging to support world language study. Her publications in historical Italian/Romance linguistics focus on the social, pragmatic, and cognitive aspects of phonological and morphosyntactic change.


Diane Musumeci is Associate Professor Emerita of Italian and SLATE (Second-Language Acquisition and Teacher Education) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. During her academic career, her teaching, research, and publications focused on the acquisition of Italian as a second language, content-based instruction, and the history of second-language teaching. She enjoys conserving and sharing several acres of woods with her family and an assortment of wildlife.