Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

2009

Journal / Book Title

The next generation: Social networking and online collaboration in foreign language learning

Abstract

Second language acquisition (SLA) research has explored the significance of computer-mediated communication (CMC) in educational models for second language (L2) pedagogy. Recently, the proliferation of Web 2.0 technologies has become the focus of many teachers and researchers who study the impact of Web 2.0 innovations on L2 teaching and learning. The majority of students enrolled in language courses in postsecondary institutions, too, are “digital natives”—a generation of “‘native speakers’ of the digital language of computers, video games and the Internet”(Prensky, 2001, p. 1)—who desire obtaining information in new ways. Web 2.0 provides the core for an internet experience that is focused on the user: its principles and practices foster active participation that, in turn, harnesses a collective intelligence (O’Reilly, 2005). This interactive and dynamic nature of the web creates new opportunities for language teaching and learning because of four key features: it is participatory, authentic, immediate, and it engages the community. These characteristics parallel those of the L2 acquisition process and make Web 2.0 a promising language-learning tool (for numerous examples of how technology can be best employed in the L2 curriculum to enhance and enrich the learner’s contact with the L2, see Blake, 2008).

Book Publisher

Calico

Journal ISSN / Book ISBN

0989120848, 9780989120845

Book Editor(s)

Lara Lomicka, Gillian Lordd

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