Enhancing written language skills during the Year Abroad through online independent learning

This article focusses on the online independent language learning resource for the Year Abroad (YA) in Italy at the University of Leeds. The YA is an important component of most undergraduate degree programmes in Modern Languages. It increases linguistic proficiency and cultural awareness. During the last twenty years, there has been a growing body of research on L2 development of language learners Studying Abroad (SA), which focusses on the acquisition of speaking and listening skills and on intercultural competence, while the development of morpho-syntactic skills remain under researched. This article seeks to explore how Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) can allow tutors to support the development of written language skills in the SA context. This article evaluates an online resource designed to enhance written language skills during the YA. The outcomes of the initiative will be presented and possible future developments of the online resource will be discussed.