Southern Methodist University integrated Beyond Words into its Italian language program, giving students immersive speaking practice opportunities that complement traditional classroom instruction.
Southern Methodist University's Italian language program faced a common challenge in higher education: limited speaking practice time per student. With classes of 20+ students, individual conversation time rarely exceeded a few minutes per session.
Students could read and write Italian competently, but many lacked the confidence to hold a spontaneous conversation. Traditional pair work and role plays only partially addressed this gap, as students often felt self-conscious speaking in front of peers.
The department needed a scalable solution to give every student regular, meaningful speaking practice — ideally one that could be used both in the language lab and independently.
SMU's Italian department deployed Beyond Words as a complement to its existing curriculum. Students access realistic conversation scenarios — from ordering at a Roman café to navigating a job interview in Milan — and practice speaking with AI-powered feedback on pronunciation and fluency.
The platform is used in two ways: during dedicated lab sessions where the entire class practices simultaneously, and as independent homework where students can repeat scenarios at their own pace.
Instructors use the analytics dashboard to track individual progress, identify students who need additional support, and measure how speaking skills develop over the semester.
After one semester of integration, the results exceeded expectations. Students tripled their weekly speaking practice time, and the vast majority reported feeling significantly more confident in conversational Italian.
The combination of immersive scenarios and immediate AI feedback created a practice environment where students were willing to take risks and make mistakes — something that rarely happened in traditional classroom settings.
VIDEO TESTIMONIAL
Aria Cabot & Daniele Forlino
Southern Methodist University · United States
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