Web 2.0 and Second Language Learning

 

Since the beginning of civilisation both men and women have joined up with other human beings in order to form social groups or organisations according to their interests, needs and behavioural patterns in relation to certain standards and values that lead them to the achievement of a specific goal or objective. Until recently there were geographical borders that limited the spatial and temporal context in which social interaction took place. However with the development of ICTs, such boundaries have been erased. It has enabled many people around the world to know each other in a dynamic environment that promotes cultural exchange.

Under such conditions of human development, countless communicative exchanges that generate new ways to create, distribute, and manipulate information, emerge every day; processes that empower people to share their particular view or understanding of the world. Therefore, audio-visual and interactive media have allowed the re-conceptualization of cultural identity and civic participation. That is why teaching and learning processes need to be integrated with the digital tools that ICTs offer in order to bring about changes that improve educational system through communication of knowledge which is constructed by students and teachers when experiencing things and reflecting on them. In this regard, David de Ugarte says: “Information, technology, and creativity became increasingly important for production value.”

Thus, it can be said that the integration of ICT into classroom teaching involves the formation of human beings who are able to use their knowledge to create, either new or improved, products and services that assert their cultural identity and give meaning to those new ways of communication.

The events or conditions described above find their support in the development of a new digital society, the information society. Consequently, traditional educational paradigms have changed and there are new ways of carrying out teaching and learning processes. On this subject, UNESCO (2003) says:

By breaking through the constraints of space and time, ICTs can in principle allow learning anywhere and at any time, making them a supremely powerful lever for educational change. For many educational experts, new digital technologies are making a learning revolution possible by enabling children to become more active and independent learners through the newfound opportunities for collaborating on projects across frontiers and cultures, learning from one another, and accessing a wide range of information. In parallel, they are changing the role of the teacher, from that of an exclusive fount of knowledge to a guide helping students navigate through new information, inquire, make choices and solve problems. ICTs are also regarded as crucial to bringing about more democratic access to educational resources. (p. 27)

The goal of education, from this point of view, is not only to re-create, modify, distribute and manipulate facts and events that occur in reality but also to develop both basic thought processes (observation, attention, perception, imagination and creativity) and complex thought processes (conceptualization, comprehension, analysis, evaluation, synthesis, generalization, judgment, reasoning). In this way, students will be sure about how to interpret information and the way it fits into any cultural, economic, political and social context. As a result of those processes, students are able to transform information into resources in order to take effective action. Then we move from an information society to a knowledge society. In this connection, UNESCO (2014) states:

Societies whose citizens have high levels of skills and experience, and the capacity to absorb and use information to develop new products and services, are more likely to succeed in a world of increasing technological complexity. Knowledge Societies are better equipped to achieve the social equity, economic prosperity and environmental sustainability, which are the three core objectives of sustainable development and which also underpin the fulfilment of human rights. Knowledge is also of central importance for the sciences, and in social and cultural life, enriching human experience and contributing to intercultural dialogue and international harmony. (p. 18).

By knowledge is meant, according to Webster's Dictionary, "the fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association." When a student incorporates new information into his previously existing structures or schema (assimilation) he modifies an existing schema or creates new schemas to deal with a new object or situation (accommodation). Through these processes of adjusting these mental structures (schemata) to cope with the environment (adaptation), a student develops his skills and abilities to evaluate, use and share information. When talking about digital environment, it must be taken into account that knowledge transfer requires the development of skills needed for understanding which application or virtual network (formal or informal) can be used to preserve knowledge, making it available to other users in such a way as to facilitate the creation of new products or services geared towards innovation.

When teachers and students make those things happen to get successful outcomes, innovative processes are achieved and new capabilities are generated so as to be part of competitiveness, which, as an intellectual and theoretical concept is still incomplete. One of these skills is digital competence. According to, Redecker, Ala-Mutka, Bacigalupo, Ferrari and Punie (2009):

Digital competence does not only comprise practical computer skills, but “involves the confident and critical use of Information Society Technology (IST) for work, leisure and communication”. In particular, individuals should be enabled to use IST to support critical thinking, creativity, and innovation. They need to develop a critical and reflective attitude towards available information, a responsible use of the interactive media, and an interest in engaging in communities and networks for cultural, social and/or professional purposes. Furthermore, they should “be aware of issues around the validity and reliability of information available and of the legal and ethical principles involved in the interactive use of IST”. (p. 25)

Today it is easier for anyone to create, upload and share information with Web 2.0 technologies because people are more connected than ever. Therefore these new forms of communication and obtaining information help people to understand the importance of learning a foreign language; moreover it improves personal and professional skills. When teaching and learning a foreign language through the use of ICT, co-operative and collaborative procedures are developed in a very constructive atmosphere that is open to continuous changes because knowledge is viewed as a dynamic process in constant change. In this connection, Kumar and Tammelin (2008) states:

A second important benefit derived from the use of ICT in a language classroom is based on the opportunities it affords for cooperation and collaboration with one’s peers. Language teachers all over the world are introducing myriads of ICT-enhanced language learning projects, including simulations, between their students and groups in other countries, thus widening the language learning perspective into that of learning about the cultural context of the language being used. Previously, students or classes would write letters or later even e-mails to each other. Today, using ICT they can ‘skype’ or chat online, where they can not only write to each other in real-time, but also see each other and speak to each other online. Students are thus able to write, read, speak, listen, and react to a conversation using ICT as part of the language learning process. They are motivated to communicate and collaborate with peers to produce common products, for instance, wikis. (p. 5).

Then, when any human being manages adequate actions in order to access the necessary or relevant data, they are developing their specific skills so that they make sense of new information. In so doing, they become familiarised with the knowledge they gain through experience or association and develop intellectual capital. Pedagogical condition that is essential in any school. In other words, it means that when knowledge is communicated, students can well demonstrates the understanding of someone or something, such as facts or information and provides school with a competitive advantage over others.

When teaching and learning processes are supplied with adequate resources, collaborative learning processes are allowed. As a result of that, it is no longer about knowing what to learn and how to learn it but also to know where to find the necessary, relevant knowledge to learn. In this respect, Vittorio Midoro says:

In the knowledge society, literacy should take into account new needs and available technologies. Two new interrelated levels are built on the foundations of traditional literacy:

1) The capacity to operate in the world of digital documents, to tackle tasks and solve problems. As in a literate society, it is important to know how to read and write, but in the knowledge society it is also important to know how to produce and use digital documents.

2) The capacity to participate in the process of knowledge building. As in a literate society, it is important to be able to listen and speak but in the knowledge society it is also important to access, share and collaboratively produce knowledge. (p. 19)

It is in this context that it is developed the concept of web 2.0 as a social phenomenon that allows surfers of any virtual community use different applications and platforms to publish any content. However, people not only use these digital tools to publish contents but also to create virtual environments where they can interact digitally in order to let everybody make significant contributions that enrich their web browsing experience. So, when a teacher decides to use Web 2.0 applications in the classroom, it is not enough to use any of them (forums, microblogging, social networking, social bookmarking, social curation, wikis), he has to make students develop their digital competence to generate or publish content, to share it with other web users and to participate in a great digital conversation. It is for these reasons that Yun-Jo An and Kevin Williams (2010) say:

The new Web 2.0 culture encourages students to reuse and remix resources as well as create new knowledge. Students take an active role in learning, rather than passively receiving information from instructors. Web 2.0 has the potential to create more interactive and powerful learning environments in which learners become knowledge creators, producers, editors, and evaluators (Richardson, 2009). Downes (2005), who coined the term “e-learning 2.0,” described the evolution of online learning application from a “content-consumption tool, where learning is delivered,” to a “content-authoring tool, where learning is created.”

From this perspective, the use of digital tools in education constitutes a strategy that generates innovative processes; teaching and learning are reconceptualised in order to motivate students to generate changes and transform their environment, at all levels: personal, training or labour level. This has to happen, because students, as subjects who learn, are immerse in a material and symbolic culture. Many things they do carry symbolic meaning when looking for solutions to the problems they face every day as a result of their human development processes (biological, cognitive, moral, psychological, social). This is of great importance, because

Those who access Web 2.0 sites are not simply consumers (as they were of Web 1.0 sites), but they are prosumers (Ritzer, Dean, and Jurgenson 2012) of those sites, both producing and consuming the content… The prosumer is prominent on all the major sites (Facebook, Myspace, Wikipedia, Second Life, Flickr, eBay, Amazon), as well as blogs and many others aspects of the internet. Instead of simply and passively reading new stories written by others on Yahoo! or The New York Times website, more of us will be both creating blogs and reading, as well as commenting on, blogs written by others. Instead of merely watching videos created for the major TV networks, we will produce and watch the videos on Youtube. Rather than gazing at pictures produced by professional photographers, will download our on photos on Flickr while examining those downloaded by others. (Ritzer 2015: 92).

We can say that knowledge of new digital applications developed from the technological concept of Web 2.0 involves the development of digital skills so that all participants in the educational process, proactively and autonomously, learn to draw advantage of the extraordinary potential of Internet as a source of information, resources, teaching methods, collaboration and constant encouragement.

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De Ugarte, David. (n.d.). Emergence, Crisis, and Replacement of the Era of Decentralized Networks. Last accessed December 27, 2015, from http://p2pfoundation.net/Emergence,_Crisis,_and_Replacement_of_the_Era_of_Decentralized_Networks

Kumar, S. & Tammelin, M. (2008). Integrating ICT into Language Learning and Teaching - A Guide for European Institutions. Linz, Austria: Johannes Kepler Universität. Last accessed December 30, 2015, from https://www.academia.edu/235896/Kumar_S._and_Tammelin_M._2008_._Integrating_ICT_into_Language_Learning_and_Teaching_-_A_Guide_for_European_Institutions._Linz_Austria_Johannes_Kepler_Universit%C3%A4t

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UNESCO. (2003). Education in and for the Information Society. Last accessed December 27, 2015, from http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/file_download.php/60a203d894a4002ada6bc3e4232d6d5ceducation.pdf

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