















































International Journal of Social and Educational Innovation (IJSEIro) 

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LEARNERS INDEPENDENCE MATCHING INDIVIDUAL STRATEGIES 

AND LEARNING STYLES THROUGH LANGUAGE ACTIVITIES 

ON THE INTERNET 

 

Aida GJINALI 

Department of Italian Language 

University of Tirana 

aida.gjinali@unitir.edu.al  

 

Sonila PIRI 

Department of Italian Language 

University of Tirana 

sonila.piri@unitir.edu.al  

 

 

Abstract 

Glotodidactics, based on the central role of the student, suggests that teacher select didactic 

concepts that lead to the improvement of knowledge of the language being studied. Observing 

students' behaviors enables the acquisition of cognitive competences about study skills, 

strategies and features in learning. Today, learners’ independence is given great importance in 

the teaching process. In order to achieve this objective, the instructor’s contribution is 

fundamental; the instructor must act to determine and develop, in cooperation with the student, 

the mechanisms and approaches, such as learning strategies, but also the selection of 

appropriate tools. The use of the Internet offers various alternatives for the acquisition of new 

linguistic inputs, respecting the peculiarities and personal strategies in learning. This study 

analyzes manners and objectives that can be achieved in the acquisition of the Italian language 

through activities developed on the Internet, matching individual strategies or characteristic 

features that are applied in learning a foreign language. 

 

Keywords: Learner independence, strategies, learning styles, internet, foreign language 

 

mailto:aida.gjinali@unitir.edu.al
mailto:sonila.piri@unitir.edu.al


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1. Introduction 

Glotodidactic language research has increasingly focused on the development of learner-

centered approaches, starting from the first definitions of student needs analysis to identify, 

according to specific needs: the contents, materials, and teaching techniques of a curriculum of 

second or foreign language. Thanks to the influence of science and studies on individual 

differences in learning, the scope of attention was then expanded to include the cognitive 

processes underlying learning: study skills, learning strategies and styles. The metacognitive 

aspect was then added to the cognitive aspect, to identify which are the most effective strategies 

for developing these skills. Therefore, the competence "learning to learn", which is one of the 

indispensable components of independence in learning and which finds its reason for existence 

even in the social, cultural, and economic changes of our time, is becoming more and more 

important. 

Other significant impulses in this sense come from the development of social-affective 

approaches and from constructivism. Both place the learner in the foreground, with their self-

determination in relation to their journey and objectives as well as responsibility for their 

learning. Social-affective approaches shift attention to the human aspect of the student in its 

entirety, that is, taking into account their cognitive, intellectual, physical, psychomotor, 

affective dimensions. Constructivism emphasizes the multi-perspective nature of knowledge 

perceived as an active construction that gains value by sharing meanings and uses technology 

as knowledge enhancers. Thus, the need that is most strongly imposed at the moment is that of 

an intentionally independent type of education.  

 

2. Literature Review 

2.1 Learner Independence  

The concept of independence is placed within a wider context that can be defined as "self-

education", i.e., a model of learning in which the student works, alone or together with others, 

without the direct control of the teacher. In this context, we can distinguish different forms of 

self-education, in which both the level of teacher intervention and the space for student self-

determination can vary (Mezzadri, 2003). 

The most extreme form is independence, since the student manages the entire learning process 

(Holec, 1981), seen as a circular process of searching, receiving, processing information, 

solving problems and decisions, self-evaluation of experience, leading to a new demand for 



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information. Therefore, autonomy means mastering metacognitive skills such as: identification 

of personal needs; setting goals based on needs; identification of the journey to be followed 

and the most appropriate strategies to be adopted to achieve these objectives, specifically: 

planning, control, evaluation of the learning activity. (Mariani, 1994) 

This is a slow and gradual learning process which should be properly supported and guided by 

the teacher. Therefore, in this context, not only the role of the student, who becomes the 

protagonist of his learning, (Mazzotta, 1996) but also that of the teacher, no longer a simple 

transmitter of knowledge, but a guide (Balboni, 2002) changes profoundly. Whether it is a real 

or virtual classroom, the teacher's task is to provide the necessary framework and, if possible, 

make it personalized, so that the student can build independence in learning in harmony with 

themselves and in harmony with a group, a community. (Mezzadri, 2003) 

What does it mean, more specifically, to be able to learn in a socio-cultural and professional 

context that requires flexibility, in a society characterized by rapid change and constant 

evolution? It is not enough to put the student at the center, nor to undo the affective filters to 

build independence, but what we think is a priority is to shift the focus of attention from 

products to processes that underlie them, to identify needs not as content, but as individual 

learning strategies and features. 

Therefore, the main goal of the teacher is to lead the student to awareness of their own way of 

learning: by exposing them to a variety of strategies and at the same time stimulating reflection 

on their strategic choices. Thus, they can be enabled to recognize and improve those that are 

best, adapt to their style, as well as experiment with alternative strategies typical of other styles, 

with the aim of optimizing all resources.  

 

2.2 The Internet and its role in independent learning 

Internet plays an active role in this process, being a necessary and efficient tool today to carry 

out language activities in the foreign language classroom. The Internet offers a wide range of 

activities, tools, and authentic materials for active foreign language learning. (Monti 2000; Piri 

& Gjinali, 2014). 

It is clear that the use of communication technologies for educational purposes undoubtedly 

has many advantages such as: 

- creation of learning environments in harmony with some indicators of neurolinguistics in 

relation to bimodality; 

- favoring an active and experimental approach in authentic contexts; 



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- creating a meaningful connection between related disciplines; 

- adding new linguistic inputs and establishing meaningful links between language and culture; 

- offering new opportunities for communication, interaction, intercultural exchanges; 

- encouraging collaborative work; 

- increasing motivation, related to the satisfaction of acquiring knowledge through "fun" or 

non-traditional activities. 

 

Some features of new technologies also seem to be particularly useful for developing 

independence in learning, such as: 

- applying a learner-centered approach; (Mariani, 2000) 

- promoting personalization of learning; 

- favoring flexible and "multi-perspective" approaches to knowledge; 

- providing opportunities for the development of cognitive and metacognitive skills, especially 

in relation to the processes of search, selection, reprocessing of information. 

 

However, it should not be underestimated that these advantages cannot be obtained 

automatically by the simple use of technologies, but only on the condition that such use is 

included in a clear and coherent methodological framework (Gramegna, 2015). In the absence 

of a reference base as well as appropriate strategies of Internet navigation, there is a slight risk 

of cognitive overload, disorientation, distraction (Fratter, 2004). Therefore, from a didactic 

point of view, it is essential that the teacher should provide the appropriate support, which 

directs, albeit flexibly, the processes of search, selection, reprocessing of information and 

which provides opportunities to reflect on these processes, to reach a greater awareness of 

oneself, of learning strategies, of personal cognitive uniqueness. This means that, alongside the 

so-called traditional strategies of decoding and understanding texts, it is necessary to develop 

simultaneous strategies of exploration and critical interpretation of network activities (Pool 

1997, Warschauer 1998, Warschauer and Healey 1998) cited by Mariani (2000) 

 

3. Methodology and instruments 

In order to work in the Italian language classroom with activities that contain elements of the 

culture and civilization of this language and at the same time developing students' awareness 

of their learning strategies and features, a didactic internet address  



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https:/ /digilander.libero.it/navigaroma/index.htm was created by two teachers for students 

with an advanced level of knowledge of the Italian language and it aims to promote the ability 

to independently manage learning through: 

- reflecting about individual cognitive styles and learning strategies to gain awareness, to 

improve and verify their effectiveness; 

- exploring alternative strategies for acquiring awareness about their potential and to optimize 

all possible resources; 

- building personalized learning journeys centered on the student. 

 

For this reason, the following cognitive and metacognitive objectives have been identified: 

Cognitive objectives: 

1) Exploring available materials, to understand its basic ideas. 

2) Working with the text: analytical understanding of the content and structure of the text 

(connection and ordering of information). 

3) Designing and developing a project: creating concept maps to group and connect knowledge 

between multiple texts, between new and previous knowledge. 

4) Creative reworking of knowledge, creating written texts. 

Metacognitive objectives: 

1) Planning 

• identifying individual needs in relation to students' goals and interests; 

• establishing the objectives, route and work methods, tools, materials and skills required by 

the task; 

2) Ongoing monitoring during the performance of the task 

3) Reflection and self-evaluation: 

• reflection on the strategies used and evaluation of their efficiency; 

• exploring alternative strategies and evaluating their efficiency; 

• reflection on the path taken and the results obtained; efficiency and quality assessment. 

 

As stated previously, the tool of choice for this is a web address. In it, a virtual trip to the city 

of Rome has been created. At the "crossroads" of the city, the student can choose one or more 

entry points, which correspond to eight thematic itineraries: "Ancient Rome", "Medieval 

Rome", "Renaissance Rome", "Baroque Rome", "Literature", "Cinema", "Music" and finally 



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"Cooking". Each item is provided with hypertext links and a precise reference website for 

further information. 

The student is invited to participate in a role-playing game in which they can choose to be one 

of the following characters: 

- journalist: must write a report about the city; 

- promoter: must organize a campaign to promote tourism in Rome; 

- part of a group working for the local tourism agency: together with other collaborators, creates 

a guidebook about the city; 

- part of the school committee organizing a trip to Rome: prepare the proposals to be submitted 

to the committee. 

Alone or in collaboration with others, the student must design and implement a general project 

aimed at producing written and illustrating material. 

For a more specific didactic process, several pages of the site present reading and writing 

activities, which refer to reflection pages on learning features and strategies (Reading, Writing, 

Planning, Self-Assessment). It is in this context that a metacognitive platform is offered: here 

the student can find questionnaires, guided journeys, proposals for activities, conceived as a 

support that can gradually lead to the development of independence through reflection and self-

evaluation of his learning processes. 

Starting from the desired path and following a personal network of connections, the student 

can navigate the site at different levels of detail: they can limit themself to exploring only texts 

or images; can carry out the proposed activities; can follow the whole path of reflection and 

self-evaluation. 

 

4. Analysis and discussions 

4.1 Implementation of learning strategies and features 

The goals described above relate to individual learning outcomes. First of all, through the 

analysis and reworking of the models mentioned above, two descriptive domains have been 

identified - sensory-perceptual modes and information processing modes - within which several 

features have been identified. However, the profile that we have tried to define in this way 

should not be considered as a rigid categorization: it is only about tendencies and not all of 

them are necessarily found in the same person, precisely because most of us have mixed 

characteristics. 

 



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Sensory-perceptual modes of the student (sensory channels with priority for learning purposes) 

(Mariani, 1996) 

1) visual - verbal: prefers linguistic codes; learns by reading written texts; taking notes; making 

lists, writing summaries; 

2) visual - non-verbal: prefers visual-spatial codes; learns by observing, exploring and/or 

creating pictures, drawings, graphs, tables, diagrams, networks; 

3) auditory: prefers to listen; learns through repetition out loud, speaking, listening, discussing; 

4) kinesthetic: prefers to carry out concrete activities; learns by having direct experience of 

things (research, interviews, laboratory experiments); 

 

Information processing methods (Mariani, 1996) 

1) global-intuitive (cerebral advantage with a tendency to the right): favors an overview and 

contextualized processing of information; evaluates a problem as a whole, tends to summarize; 

prefers rich data; works in a global, intuitive, non-linear way; follows less logical paths, which 

can nevertheless lead to original creative solutions; tends towards "divergent" thinking, i.e. 

starting from available information to generate a range of flexible solutions; solve problems 

through imagination and discovery; makes decisions based on feelings, while the work 

progresses; can go beyond "duty"; 

2) analytical-systematic (mainly left-brain dominance): favors details, breaks down the 

problem into parts, considering them separately; dislikes too much data that can create 

cognitive overload problems; proceeds analytically, logically, sequentially, linearly; has a 

systematic and orderly approach; above all, the development of logic and consistency, tends 

towards "convergent" thinking, that is, it solves problems based on available data, starting from 

which it can converge towards a single solution to the problem; makes fact-based decisions 

and carefully plans all stages of work in advance; needs a clear and organized structure in which 

information is built step by step; tends to stay within "task"; 

 

As a next step, targets were rated according to the degree of compatibility between the required 

strategies and the cognitive trait tendencies described above. The goal is to understand which 

features may be disfavored at different stages of the learning journey and therefore which types 

of students most need to be oriented towards alternative strategies, typical of other features, 

more functional to the features required by the task. 

 



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The objectives were set out as follows. 

Objective 1: Exploration of available material 

Features: The presentation of written and iconographic material can be adapted to different 

perceptual modes. The large number of resources available in the network requires the 

development of particularly effective information search and selection procedures: from this 

point of view, the global-intuitive style seems to be favored, as it favors an overview and is 

open to flexible solutions. Moreover, the intuitive and non-linear character of its typical 

procedures can facilitate search paths based on associative links: this fits very well with the 

network-like structure of information available on the Internet.  

Therefore, it seems appropriate that for the need of a more global approach, sensitize students 

with an analytical-systematic style, with a network-like and less sequential approach, with 

greater trust in intuition, with greater flexibility of approaches and solutions. 

Objective 2: Working with text: analytical understanding of text content and structure. 

Features: Techniques for highlighting key concepts and hierarchical information are varied 

and adapted to different sensory modalities: students who are keen on words can take notes, 

make lists, write short summaries, assign headings to paragraphs; those visuals can produce 

tables, diagrams, grids or use different colors for underlining. 

Understanding textual structure, identifying and giving a hierarchical structure to information, 

on the other hand, require logical and formalizing skills that favor the analytical-systematic 

style. Therefore, it is necessary to direct students with a global-intuitive style towards greater 

attention to details, logical connections, accuracy of analysis. 

 

Objectives 3: a) Design and development of a project b) Planning and control 

Although linguistic codes (such as lists of concepts or keywords, descriptions, numbered lists) 

cannot be ruled out by default, the most effective representations of knowledge are concept 

maps, which use visual-spatial codes: students can be exposed to this verbal meaning. The 

characteristic of active experience can also include students who have kinesthetic 

characteristics. 

The creation of conceptual maps can be achieved through different journeys such as global-

intuitive and analytical-systematic. However, it is a matter of reflecting, in particular, on the 

path followed and on the feature that underlies it, also with the aim of experimenting with 

different strategies typical of other features. In particular, the student with global-intuitive 

features should verify the logic of the connections made; on the other hand, the analytical-



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systematic student should be encouraged towards forms of divergent thought (to verify other 

hypotheses, to expand the network of connections). 

As for the ability to plan, it is one of the strengths of the analytical-systematic student, however 

even the global-intuitive student can use their ability to generate a range of possible solutions. 

Therefore, students with a global-intuitive style should be oriented towards more careful 

thinking and planning. Those with an analytical-systematic style may reflect on the benefits of 

greater flexibility. 

 

Objective 4: Creative reworking of knowledge 

The creative aspect of reprocessing can facilitate different sensory modalities: the student who 

prefers words will tend to produce written texts, the one who prefers visuals can also use 

pictures, drawings, graphic tools, etc. Since the path followed in the Internet address aims at 

the completion of a project, the student who prefers movement can appreciate the experimental 

character of this activity. 

Considering the freedom to decide on the way of working, no feature seems to be particularly 

favored; instead, it may be appropriate to encourage a more attentive approach to the 

mechanisms of textual coherence and cohesion in the global-intuitive student and greater 

creativity in the analytical-systematic student. 

 

5. Conclusion 

Taken as a whole, the project presented on this website seems to fit a variety of cognitive 

features. 

From a sensory-perceptual point of view, the multimedia component facilitates approaches 

based on different modalities, especially verbal and visual ones. Also, this project with active 

and experimental features is also suitable for students with a preference for movement. 

From the point of view of information processing methods, the global-intuitive style can be 

based more on the hypermedia component and the network-like structure of information; 

another strong point can be the flexibility of approaches and solutions, a necessary requirement 

not only to improve learning, but in general to respond convincingly to the needs presented by 

today's society. The student with analytical-systematic features is evaluated by all logical 

operations that are based on text analysis, design and planning. 

The task-oriented and problem-solving nature of the project activities proposed on this website, 

as well as the practical examples of strategies in well-oriented activities, can meet the needs 



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and inclinations of more pragmatic and action-oriented students. On the other hand, those who 

mainly prefer to observe typical patterns and procedures to build a general idea can find in the 

reflection pages theoretical guidance and general frames of reference that they may need before 

moving on to the operational part of the project. 

On a more general level, it can be observed that the structuring of the website respects the 

indications of neurolinguistics on the principles of bimodality. It also proposes an active and 

experiential approach to learning, that is, based on doing and reflecting on the activities that 

take place. This procedure also favors a flexible and multi-perspective approach to knowledge. 

Finally, a significant element is the link between linguistic-methodological reflection and the 

approach to Italian culture. 

 

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