An interactive video project for second language instruction is described. Using television news broadcasts, the educational software package can also be used for area or media studies. Prototypes have been developed for English and German instruction. The program is designed to support learner comprehension of authentic news broadcasts by encouraging learners to form hypotheses about the program and by activating situational, cultural knowledge (of format, content, or schemata) that may be otherwise unavailable to the second language learner. It exploits the predictability of the text format of news broadcasts. It provides two interconnected approaches to each news program, linear and structural, through which the user can proceed to gain comprehension of news items. The linear path gives a chronological view of the program, is topic- and theme-oriented, and allows for annotation and transcription. The structural view allows the user to select and mark the internal structure of the news item from either a schematic or a formatting perspective. Help facilities in the program that can be activated include dictionaries, background information, a databank of previously annotated material, and help specific to the program package. The software can be used for both linguistic and communicative exercises. (MSE)