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Abstract
Since their emergence in 2005, Web 2.0 technologies have been advanced as potentially transformative in the area of education in general and foreign language learning in particular. Web 2.0 technologies are presenting new opportunities for developing diverse online learning environments and enhancing interactivity, participation and feedback between students, their peer groups and teachers. This article examines one of the most significant Web 2.0 tools, Social Networking Sites (SNS), and focuses on Livemocha, an example of an online community specifically aimed at encouraging collaboration between foreign language learners. Results from the ethnographic approach adopted in the paper indicate that: (a) SNSs can be used by language learners to explore new relationships rather than merely maintain existing ones and that (b) longitudinal studies are required to achieve a better understanding of the complex processes of mediation involved in online community formation and maintenance.
Keywords: Social Networking Sites - SNS - Livemocha - Web 2.0 - language learning - community
Introduction
A major research study published in December 2008 on the use of digital technologies by adults from 16 industrialised nations suggests that "on average [they] spend a third of their leisure time online, belong to two social networking sites and have regular contact with 16 people who they have 'virtually' met on the internet" (TNS 2008: 2). While most European countries and the USA hovered around the 30% average, Asia's digital natives (Prensky 2001) far exceeded it, with China, Korea and Japan registering at the 40% mark due to their cultural fascination with blogs, Social Networking Sites (SNS), online gaming and virtual worlds. In Asia in particular, the widespread availability of 3G telephony has made access to these new applications via portable handheld devices all the more significant. The popularity of SNSs such as Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn demonstrate the addictive appeal of online and virtual communities across generations and cultures, particularly their attraction to teenagers, housewives, students and a new group of recently enfranchised elderly digital immigrants (TNS 2008). Facebook, for example, reputedly has more than 175 million international users, a claim that, if true, would make it the sixth largest country in the world. By 2007, over 22,000 commercial organizations had a presence on Facebook and it regularly attracts over 20 million...