A Web 2.0 kihívása az idegennyelv-oktatásban a nyelvhasználói készségek fejlesztése terén (The challenges offered by Web 2.0 tools in the improvement of L2 students’ communication skills).

This study aims to address the question of how Web 2.0 can be shaped along educational lines. Our analysis specifically focuses on what the educational potential of Web 2.0 can be as far as the improvement of L2 students’ communication skills are concerned, and on how education can be reimagined in the light of the new technologies. The outcomes of a semester-long telecollaborative partnership between Italian university students studying Hungarian and Hungarian learners of Italian are considered. The operational protocol of the initiative called Danubadria was based on the reciprocal dependence and mutual support and was characterized by a task-based approach and a wiki counseling platform, in which the eTandem partners and their foreign language teachers collaborated. Web 2.0 tools appear to strengthen fundamental aspects of L2 acquisition and of intercultural communicative competence that may be difficult to stimulate in students in traditional classroom environments. They may offer scholars a more participatory practice of learning in which individuals have increased opportunities to interact. While asserting the importance of learner autonomy, a major preoccupation in today’s educational climate, we claim that on-line collaboration allowed by the Internet cannot replace teachers’ contribution. The complexity of Web 2.0 brings along significant challenges and teachers should be positioned to play a crucial role in managing this experience.