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Chapter 16
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-5463-9.ch016
ABSTRACT
Technology-enhanced language learning has broadened the horizons of collaboration in the L2 class-
room. At the same time, it has brought the cultural component closer, enriching the overall picture for
students when learning a foreign language. This highlights the need for students to develop solid cross-
cultural skills regarding the meaning negotiation processes underlying the discursive practices of their
respective L2 communities. Only by acknowledging the referential, semiological nature of language and
understanding cultural practices in situated terms may students be truly socialized in their L2. This study
explores the perception of students regarding wiki-based collaborative writing as a resource in the L2
classroom while paying special attention to the treatment of culture specifc elements that may hinder
efective cross-cultural communication in their L2.
INTRODUCTION
The way literacy is understood in contemporary settings, following the rapid introduction of ever-
changing information and communication technologies, requires particular awareness of the new types
of discourses and social practices that shape and justify the introduction of TELL in the L2 classroom
(Chun, Smith, & Kern, 2016; Leu et al., 2014). Indeed, as Lam (2000) argues, foreign language education
has to do with the development of linguistic skills as much as it does with the progressive socialisation
of L2 learners into given discursive communities. These discursive communities, far from being self-
existing, are constrained by institutional, social and economic power structures, rendering an overall
dynamic, panta rhei model. Therefore, L2 learners, when exposed to such complexity in their foreign
language, need to be reminded at all times of “the process by which meaning is produced, circulated,
Collaborative Writing 2.0:
Socializing Critical, Cross-
Cultural Agents Through Online,
Project-Based Methodology
Robert Martínez-Carrasco
Universitat Jaume I, Spain