1 New opportunities for languages learning through 21st century knowledge- building communities Shirley O’Neill Abstract This chapter explores how language learning pedagogies are changing as a result of new technologies and opportunities for international collaboration, and glocal community engagement in the facilitation of purposeful conversations that respond to mutual needs. It explores various initiatives that have emerged as a result of creating connections to fulfil the need for more authentic languages learning spaces (O’Neill 2015; Yardley 2008). These initiatives show how practices have responded to opportunities afforded by digital communication technologies and social networking, providing for both international language-exchange and more localised community involvement in using English, as well as facilitating students’ use of their home languages and cultures. The way such approaches are able to build participants’ capacity, encourage authentic and deeper languages learning (Tochon 2014), add value to educational experiences—as well as sustain student engagement—is described and discussed. The potential of these approaches is further explored through the lens of knowledge-building communities (Bindé 2005) and the importance of student voice and agency, and intercultural literacy for the reshaping of languages policy, curriculum and practice. A model of operation is advanced and explored in terms of language learning being at the forefront of a modern responsive and innovative education system that acknowledges our globalised world and diverse multilingual contexts (Spring 2015). Keywords: Authentic language learning, intercultural literacy, knowledge-building communities, languages education, languages education policy, multilingual societies Introduction Societal change has occurred at an increasingly rapid rate since the industrial revolution. This shift from agrarianism laid the groundwork for mass print communication, faster transport and automisation from which the ‘information age’ has emerged (King 2011; Toffler 1980). This change is unparalleled in the way discoveries and inventions have dramatically impacted at so many levels to spawn a transformation into the ‘new world’ of the 21st century. With Western epistemologies at the forefront of what has become a knowledge economy, there has been a heightened reliance on the ability to effectively communicate and critically dialogue within the context of globalisation. In advancing this concept, Bindé (2005), in his report to the Organisation for Economic Co- operation and Development (OECD), notes how the creation of contemporary knowledge-building communities rely on collaborative, social–capacity building practices. He specifies these depend on ‘lines of reflection and action for making communication and information serve the transmission of knowledge, [which is] a diffusion one would want set fast in time and wide in space’ (p. 6). Essentially, the ability of communities to participate places ‘languages education’ and being ‘literate’ uppermost on the glocal educational agenda. This demands a paradigm shift away from the traditional piecemeal way of there being a multiplicity of