Social Media Support and the Need of Counselling From Experts in Autonomous Language Learning

Abstract

Autonomous language learning is a hot topic in the scientific community as the omnipresence of ICT has increased its importance since the ‘90s. This chapter discusses the role of social media to increase learners' autonomy in 21st century society, and how it problematizes the situations in which learners are completely autonomous (e.g., language learning through free-access websites). The autonomous learner needs to develop certain skills connected to digital competence, learning how to learn, motivation, responsibility, and perseverance. For this purpose, a SWOT analysis has been carried out to help the authors clarify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, which derived from ICT, impact on language learners' autonomy. In this light, the research project PRY 208/17 aims at fostering autonomous language learning by using technology. The initial results bore out that specific abilities on autonomous learning, and personality traits benefit highly from language expert counselling and coaching, which have proved to improve the results.