In this study, the use of a popular mobile social networking platform (WeChat) is investigated for learning Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) in a beginners' course at an Australian university. Driven by practical considerations and major issues with previous literature, student engagement and authentic language used in a WeChat class group are…

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…

While social networking sites (SNSs) have attracted growing scholarly interest in uncovering L2 learners' participation within these sites, the impact of writing on SNSs upon students' writing performance and learner autonomy remains underexplored. This study reported on a college EFL writing course participated by two groups of Chinese first-year…

Studies have explored how second language (L2) learners engage with peer feedback in instructional contexts. However, how learners engage in self-initiated and self-directed feedback practices beyond the classroom in online spaces is largely unknown. Informed by an ecological perspective, an in-depth exploration of the dynamics and underpinning…

This study investigates the use of computer-mediated and mobile-mediated chat-based communication in an EFL course and seeks to explore differences between both modes of communication in order to better understand their potential to foster language development. Factors such as engagement, timing, participation, addressivity, speakership roles,…

While intercultural learning is a key goal of study abroad, it is often difficult to assess or even achieve. Recent models, such as linguistic landscapes (which looks at the language of public signs, including road signs, advertising billboards, street, and place names), can help students reflect on and make sense of their intercultural…

Profound changes in the literacy practices of young people in the early part of this century mean that many are encountering and using English in their personal lives while studying the language formally in school or university, potentially shaping their language development and attitudes. This article reports a research project which investigated…

Technology-enhanced collaborative writing for second language learning has been receiving accumulating attention from researchers and educators over years. However, there was a lack of updated review with foci on the types and effectiveness of technologies in collaborative writing. This study conducted a systematic and in-depth review of 34…

The present study aims to analyse the phatic exchanges performed by a class of nine intercultural Master's students during a collaborative assignment which demanded online discussion using English as a lingua franca (ELF). Prior studies on the use of phatic communication in computer-mediated communication have concentrated on social networking…

The advent of technology has made the Internet a fertile ground for much literacy learning to take place, and how to use the Internet discourse for language learning remains to be explored. The current study adopted a language-awareness approach to raise students' awareness of the forms and function of online language. A sample online comment…

The educational potential of mobile and social media technologies in combination is becoming increasingly salient with the advance of modern technology. However, there is a dearth in the research on educational use of mobile social media for language learning. This study adopted a qualitative single case study approach to investigate a language…

Over the years, educational institutions have increasingly integrated Web 2.0 platforms as support tools in the foreign language learning curriculum to facilitate learners' engagement with the foreign language, increase motivation, and enable them to socially and collaboratively interact with fellow learners online. While descriptive studies on…

Previous publications in applied linguistics concerning nonnative English speaker teachers have analyzed how native-speakerism associated ideologies engender discrimination and affect students' and teachers' sense of self-worth. This qualitative study examines how Colombian English pre-service teachers' telecollaboration with U.S. Spanish heritage…

This study investigated the effects of Facebook and Twitter on foreign language (Chinese) learners' written production in both short- (10 days) and long-term (50 days) pseudo-experimental settings. Adopting two concepts (i.e. symmetric vs. asymmetric) from matrix theory in social network analysis, we categorized Facebook as a symmetric social…

This paper reports on students' use of face-to-face synchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) for oral language learning. It describes a university English language class designed to prepare students for overseas study in which a Skype-based English conversation school was piloted. The study offers analysis of how students used the CMC…