Social networking: Developing intercultural competence and fostering autonomous learning

With the emergence of Web 2.0, the incorporation of internet-based social networking tools is becoming increasingly popular in the foreign language classes of today. This form of social interaction provides students with the opportunity to express and share their views with their peers, and to create profiles as well as online communities of common interests. Furthermore, through their engagement in online social networking, students develop relationships, build friendships and collaborate with others (Lomicka & Lord, 2009). Online social networking sites have enhanced the environment for language learning and have become a potential platform for internet-based cultural tasks in L2 classes. As a form of telecollaboration, social networking fosters online intercultural interaction between students of different countries with a view to developing intercultural competence. With this in mind, the present study aims to explore how students from two countries, namely, Spain and Mauritius, can develop intercultural competence through the use of the social networking platform Elgg as a telecollaborative learning context. It also discusses whether online social interaction can foster student learning autonomy.