Linguistic Norms and L2 Participation in Social Media

A Case Study

Authors

  • Ilona Vandergriff San Francisco State University

Keywords:

CMC, linguistic norms, participation, language ideologies

Abstract

Although social media appear to be welcoming spaces that enable easy access to target-language communities, second language (L2) participation is not necessarily full and equitable. Drawing on computer-mediated discourse analysis (Herring, 2007) and critical discourse analysis (Wodak & Meyer, 2009), this analysis of a discussion forum on the social media platform Reddit uses social positioning theory (Harré, 2012; see also Debray & Spencer-Oatey, 2019) to show how L2 errors are construed as obstacles to full participation. I argue that linguistic gatekeeping is linked to community norms that reproduce language ideologies, affirm the authority of the idealized native speaker, and position L2 participants as L2 learners rather than L2 users. When L2 users cannot participate fully in what seem to be welcoming spaces they may exclude themselves. At the same time, the data also provide compelling evidence that Reddit offers a new mode of inclusion for L2 users.

Author Biography

Ilona Vandergriff, San Francisco State University

Ilona Vandergriff is Professor of German at San Francisco State University. She holds a Ph.D. in German linguistics from UC Berkeley. Her main research interest is in discursive, practice-driven approaches to foreign and second-language use in technology-mediated environments that begin with what L2 users do when they connect with others online. She is the author of Second-language Discourse in the Digital World. Linguistic and social practices in and beyond the networked classroom (2016), a finalist for the 2019 American Association of Applied Linguistics AAAL Book Award.

Downloads

Published

2021-08-16

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 1 (2021): Critical multilingual approaches and questions

Section

Articles

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).