The rapid digitization of communication in the last decade, especially in social networking spaces, has contributed to radical changes in the virtual language environment in Sri Lanka. It has not only reshaped the way individuals communicate, but has also fueled the emergence of new linguistic trends that reflect the dynamic nature of language in…

The contexts of social and political polarization are generating new forms of communication that affect the digital public sphere. In these environments, different social and political actors contribute to extreme their positions, using bots to create spaces for social distancing where hate speech and incivility have a place, a phenomenon that…

Social media platforms like "Twitter" are venues for 24/7 political discussion -- including deliberation, everyday banter, and bickering. For youth, these platforms offer new opportunities and risks for participation, and suggest corresponding implications for civic education. This qualitative, exploratory study examines how 15 civic…

The purpose of this paper is to describe the influence of political knowledge on the political behavior of highly educated Muslim society in addressing political issues. This research used cohort-based quantitative method through data collection, interviews, and documentation. To collect information from respondents, this research used…

Researchers have indicated that the widespread adoption of digital technologies has changed the way we interact with each other and distinguishes digital natives from their older counterparts. Since young people are actively engaged in participatory cultures, this study aims to explore the linkages of aspects of literacy and principles of…

This study examines the language practices of Chinese visiting scholars on WeChat and explores the representational meanings of their translanguaging practices. An ethnographic approach combining with systematic observation, WeChat screenshot data and interviews with Chinese visiting scholars is adopted to get hold of the richness of situated…

This qualitative multicase analysis investigated the role of "educational niceness" and "neutrality" (e.g., Baptiste, 2008; Bissonnette, 2016) in preservice English teacher feedback on sociopolitical issues in student writing. As part of the field experiences for several ELA methods courses at two universities, one urban and…

How do readers who are able to post responses on a political blog ("interactive readers") differ in their navigation and comprehension from "noninteractive" readers who are not empowered to post? In this study, a nonpartisan political blog was populated with news content about the then-upcoming 2012 U.S. presidential election.…

This study examines the uptake of multiple interactive features on news sites. It looks at the thematic composition of the most clicked, most e-mailed, and most commented stories during periods of heightened and routine political activity. Results show that (a) during the former period, the most commented stories were more likely to be focused on…

This column addresses the importance of acknowledging the knowledge-making practice of Chicana bloggers. The author argues the online practices of Chicanas can be used to determine ways to develop 21st-century literacies of students, especially students of color. The author presents findings from a case study of three Chicana bloggers that reveal…

Digital technology is able to modify deep-rooted views (Martin & Vallance, 2008) and facilitate identity articulation (Bers, 2001). During adolescence young people are developing their personal identity framed through the context of family, friends and cultural and religious inheritance. The complex dynamics between…

Community psychology theorists underline the importance of promoting sociopolitical empowerment, but few studies have been conducted on the evaluation of the efficacy of empowering programs among university students. The authors report two studies: the first, with 216 psychology majors, compared the efficacy of face-to-face and online community…

Indicates that political debates on computer bulletin boards (primarily USENET) are characterized by aggressiveness, angry assertion, insult, and the attempt to humiliate opponents; but that they also display a high degree of formal regularity and are robust exercises in free speech, virtuosic in argument and language, and rare opportunities for…

Twenty-four participants designed projects for a local community network related to a political issue. Results showed politically active respondents did not directly transfer their level of activism from real world to the digital. People with little Internet experience needed training and experience online before they discussed more active forms…

This study focuses on alternative ways of thinking about the experiences of two cohorts of high school students participating in separate political simulations, one about peace negotiations in the Middle East (the Arab-Israeli Conflict simulation, or AIC), and one focusing on domestic American policy issues (the Conflix Project, or Conflix). Both…