TITLE:
Web 2.0, Language Learning and Intercultural Competence
AUTHORS:
Enrico Borello, Maria Cecilia Luise, Laura Pederzoli, Giulia Tardi
KEYWORDS:
Language Learning, Web 2.0, Intercultural Competence
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.3 No.2,
February
19,
2016
ABSTRACT: Whenever a new form of communication appears on the scene, it immediately
becomes the object of discussion. This has been going on since the first penny press edition in 1834, whereas
today discussions are carried out with reference to the Internet. The stability
with which mass-media have faced different criticism can be well understood
thanks to the functionalist analysis which considers the media as a social
system working within an external system made up of a set of cultural and
social conditions. In spite of its complexity, any set of repetitive actions
contribute to maintaining or to weakening the stability of the system. We can
say that globalization would not have been possible without the media and Web
2.0 may be of remarkable interest for its role in influencing cultural
identity. All the past technologies, from electric light to the airplane, took
a whole generation to gain ground among people, and Internet has not required
such a long time. The impossibility to
digest the new modalities of communication offered by the net creates the risk
of unexpected contamination. Geographical magazines often show pictures of
native Amazonians dressed in their traditional costumes while using
computers and mobile phones. Educational uses of Web 2.0 and mobile learning
tools have been rapidly expanded over the last few years and a great number of
projects have been planned for teaching languages. Mobile learning includes
many areas: handheld computers, MP3 players, notebooks and mobile phones. In
this paper we shall outline the methodology including selection of web tools,
task design, implementation and intercultural communication. The study carried
out at the University of Florence shows that learners develop their
communication competence while performing entertaining activities which enable
them to achieve the desired goals.