Use of Social Platforms for the Development of Intercultural Competence in the Process of Language Learning

Abstract

The digitalization of the educational space and the growth of social media platforms have changed the conditions in which the formation of foreign language and intercultural competence of students takes place. At the same time, higher education largely does not keep up with this shift, creating a contradiction between the real digital practices of young people and traditional approaches to language learning. The purpose of the article is determining the pedagogical validity and practical expediency of using social platforms as a tool for the formation of intercultural communicative competence. The theoretical basis of the study is the model of intercultural communicative competence by Byram (2020), the process concept of the Intercultural Communicative Competence by Deardorff (2020), the concept of the "third space" by Kramsch (1993), as well as theoretical analysis, comparative analysis, content analysis and theoretical modeling of pedagogical conditions. Social media has been established to function as an authentic intercultural space that provides immersion in the target language and culture. Five key pedagogical conditions for the effective use of platforms in language teaching have been identified: target orientation of tasks, selection of authentic content, reflective support, orientation to communicative practices of students and digital competence of the teacher. Forms of pedagogically organized intercultural interaction have shown the ability to form intercultural sensitivity even in conditions of physical isolation from the natural language environment.