Abstract

Online participatory cultures (e.g. social media) present a number of opportunities and challenges for language learners. Learners can collaborate with like-minded peers in online affinity spaces or get crowd-sourced information from the locals of a target culture, but they also run the risk of getting lost in the overwhelming amount of noise and disruption in these ‘wild’ environments. This proliferation of user-generated content requires new forms of information literacy, so that everyone has equal access and ability to participate in modern social environments. English language learners (ELLs) may require extra training in using English-based social media effectively, but to date little research has examined this area. This study investigated the characteristics and trends of ELLs' use of social media, how language abilities and previous social media experience affect ELLs' perceptions of anonymous user-generated content in an online discussion website (Reddit), and the strategies learners use to overcome the challenges they encounter in these online environments. The results indicate the importance of adding a sociocultural pragmatics component into the framework of social media literacy and were used to inform recommendations for future social media training programs.

摘要

在线参与文化（例如社交媒体）为语言学习者带来了许多机遇和挑战。学习者可以在在线亲和空间中与志同道合的同龄人合作，或者从目标文化的当地人那里获得众包信息，但他们也有可能在这些“野外”环境中迷失在大量的噪音和干扰中。用户生成内容的激增需要新形式的信息素养，这样每个人都有平等的机会和能力参与现代社会环境。英语学习者 (ELL) 可能需要接受额外培训才能有效使用基于英语的社交媒体，但迄今为止，很少有研究探讨这一领域。本研究调查了英语学习者使用社交媒体的特点和趋势，语言能力和以前的社交媒体经验如何影响 ELL 对在线讨论网站 (Reddit) 中匿名用户生成内容的看法，以及学习者用来克服他们在这些在线环境中遇到的挑战的策略。结果表明将社会文化语用学成分添加到社交媒体素养框架中的重要性，并用于为未来的社交媒体培训计划提供建议。