Introduction

This chapter is an introduction to the volume and looks at the way the Internet, in particular Web 2.0 has led to a change in the way in which knowledge is created and shared. Starting from examples such as the role played by social media in Barack Obama’s 2008 election campaign for the US presidency or in the organization and reporting of the protests after the 2009 elections in Iran, the authors then seek to define what Web 2.0 actually is: does it refer to technology or philosophy? Tools or practices? Is it a publishing revolution or a social one? In this chapter they conceptualise Web 2.0 from the language educator's standpoint, looking at the new tools and the types of communication and activities they facilitate and promote. They look at how not only the tools, but concepts and ideologies behind Web 2.0 can be used to promote deep learning of language, intercultural competence and awareness and online literacies. The authors introduce the concept of Telecollaboration 2.0, around which the book is organised, which comprises foreign language education, intercultural communicative compentence and online literacies. The authors look at the concept of intercultural communicative competence and how it has been developed in Europe and in the US both within and outside of foreign language education policy, particularly in the wake of 9/11. They then look at new literacies and Web 2.0. As well as increasing the different modes in which learners can communicate, exchange, compare and contrast information, 2.0 tools facilitate the collaborative construction of knowledge in the form of what can be seen as new cultural practices or artifacts such as blogs, wikis and virtual worlds, to name just a few. Telecollaboration 2.0 provides a complex context for language education as it involves the simultaneous use and development of language skills, intercultural communicative competence and new online literacies which, in many ways overlap one another in their operational, cultural and critical dimensions. But this complexity reflects the increasingly complex, connected, global society in which learners do and will have to operate. The chapter then continues with an outline of the structure of the volume, which is subdivided into four sections: New Trends and Environments in Telecollaboration; Language Learner 2.0: New Skills and Competences; Language Educator 2.0: New Skills and Competences; Case Studies, with examples spanning South America, Australia, US, Japan, Middle East and Europe. The authors provide a brief commentary on each of the contributions.