Translanguaging and the globalization of YouTube:

Implications for informal language learning and learner development

(HK GRF-funded project RGC840211)

Phil Benson, Hong Kong Institute of EducationJALT LD-SIG 20th Anniversary Conference

23-24 November 2013

Background

• Autonomy – theoretical research• Language learning beyond the classroom –

data-based research– Narrative research on language learning histories– Second language identity and study abroad– Informal language learning through engagement

with popular culture and digital media

Background

• Autonomy – theoretical research• Language learning beyond the classroom –

data-based research– Narrative research on language learning histories– Second language identity and study abroad– Informal language learning through engagement

with popular culture and digital media (YouTube)

Terminology

• ‘entirely out-of-school noninstitutional realms of freely chosen digital engagement’ (Thorne, Black & Sykes, 2009)

• ‘independent CALL’, (Egbert, et al, 2011)• ‘naturalistic CALL’ (Benson & Chik, 2011)

Approaches to research

Longitudinal• Case study• Ethnographic / narrative• Tracking individuals using

and learning languages through engagement with popular culture and digital media

• Murray (2008), Black (2007), Chik (2012)

Cross-sectional• Document based• Content / discourse analysis• Surveying popular culture/

digital text corpora for evidence of individuals using and learning languages

• Lee and Barton(2012), Benson and Chik (2011)

Macro/microglobalization

Macroglobalization• Rapid, global growth of key

digital media services (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc)

• Convergence of popular culture and digital media

• Everything available everywhere

• Global circulation of language and culture

Microglobalization• Global interconnectedness

at the level of the individual• The impact of

macroglobalization on…• user behaviour/networks• multiauthored digital

media texts (e.g. a Facebook page, a YouTube page)

Macroglobalization - YouTube“…YouTube provides a forum for people to connect, inform, and inspire others across the globe…”

– More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month

– 70% of YouTube traffic comes from outside the US– YouTube is localized in 53 countries and across 61

languages– In 2011, YouTube had more than 1 trillion views or

around 140 views for every person on Earth

(YouTube, June 2013)

Microglobalization - YouTube

• Individuals communicating and producing text across geographical/linguistic borders

• YouTube pages as local multicultural and multilingual spaces

“multilingualism is not what individuals have and don’t have, but what the environment, as structured determinations and interactional emergence, enables and disables” (Blommaert, Collins and Slembrouck, 2005: 197)

Translanguaging

• Use of, or reference to, more than one language in a communicative event

• On YouTube evidenced in…– Translanguaging practices in videos– Translanguaging practices in communicative

interaction in comments

Asian singers singing in English

• East Asian singers singing in English – Utada Hikaru, Tata Young

• Translanguaging in video• Problematization of

language and culture in comments

• Emergence of comments as a multilingual, ‘Asian’ space

(Benson 2013)

Chinese song fansubbed in English• Beijing welcomes

you – Olympic song• Fansubbing• Discussion of…– Translation– Language forms– Language and culture– Teaching and

learning Benson & Chan (2010)

Upside down?

…or the right way up?A: lol he put it upside down 3:44

B: it's done by purposethe word is fu, which means good fortune /hapinesswhen we put it upside down, we say it'sfudaoand dao=upside downbut there is a homonym dao(another dao that sounds the same, though not written the same way and has a different meaning), that means to happen/to comeso fudao=fu upside down= fu to happen, to comeso the meaning of put it upside down is actually to want the good fortune to come into the house (we usually put the upside down fu on the main door)

Informal language learning in social media environments: a YouTube-based case study

• 10 groups of videos involving translingual practice• Research issues:– How evidence of informal learning and teaching can be

identified;– How contexts for learning are constructed on YouTube; – The nature of learning and teaching practices; – The features of YouTube discourse that may contribute to

learning.

Translanguaging in videos

• Chinese speaker speaking English (TV interview)• English speaker speaking Chinese• Chinese speaker teaching English• English speaker teaching Chinese• Chinese speaker singing in English• English speaker singing in Chinese• English speaker talking about Chinese culture• Chinese song fansubbed in English• Chinese speaker making a mistake in English• Chinese speaker interviewed in English with interpreter

Findings

• High proportion of comments on language and culture – 32% of total comments

• High proportion of interactional exchanges within comments – 45% of language/culture comments

• Interactional analysis shows evidence of pedagogy and uptake of learning– High proportion of inform/opine acts + uptake– High proportion of stance markers

Cantonese word of the week“Chok yeung”

Pedagogical exchange

A: Chock is a verb man - Chock Yeung is a term but we will never say why your face is so Chock IT CANNOT BE AN ADJ!!!!!! - otherwise IT will becomes 7 yeung but not chock yeung

cool! thanks for the insight. i just try to copy what I hear other kong kong'ers saying :D

act analysis

inform + expand

react + uptake + justify

Pedagogical exchanges

Hey dude, do you play Street Fighter? When you need to use special tactics and u have to press those buttons rapidly in a specific order, and that is "Chok 招”. - Chok Yeung makes you look better

cool! lots of people have been telling me that lately. thanks! :D

act analysis

alert + questioninform + expand

react + uptake + thank

Jay Chou – Fa Ru Xue (Hair Like Snow)

An example of complex teaching and learning interaction

A: Honestly can someone tell me the meaning of this song. The English subtitles is no help bc it makes no sense at all. Great video n music singing, but i am so confuse of the music video n the lyrics. =)B (replying to A): i think this song is represented of eternal love since then most of the lyrics talk about being with the personC (replying to B): well, going through all these comments helped a little. But thanks too. =)

A (replying to B): well, that explains a little. Thanks!D (replying to A): I'm not really sure but i think he's trying to say that he'll love her even if she turns old and her hair is white as snow. like eternal loveA (replying to D): Now that sounds a little better; it explains about her hair like snow. Lol Thanks

Cognitive stance marking

A: Honestly can someone tell me the meaning of this song. The English subtitles is no help bc it makes no sense at all. Great video n music singing, but i am so confuse of the music video n the lyrics. =)B (replying to A): i think this song is represented of eternal love since then most of the lyrics talk about being with the personC (replying to B): well, going through all these comments helped a little. But thanks too. =)

A (replying to B): well, that explains a little. Thanks!D (replying to A): I'm not really sure but i think he's trying to say that he'll love her even if she turns old and her hair is white as snow. like eternal loveA (replying to D): Now that sounds a little better; it explains about her hair like snow. Lol Thanks

The story of CarlosDouh

Thoughts

• The internet has opened up new opportunities for L2 learners to use and develop their L2 knowledge and skills– What are the underlying technological, social, cultural processes?– What processes of learning are involved?– How do we identify and measure learning?– What are the implications for the relationship between classroom

learning and learning beyond the classroom?

References• Benson, P. (2013). English and identity in East Asian Popular Music. Popular Music 32 (1), 23-

33.• Benson, P. and Chan, N. (2010). ‘TESOL after YouTube: Fansubbing and informal language

learning’. Taiwan Journal of TESOL, 7:2, 1–23. • Benson, P., Barkhuizen, G., Bodycott, P., and Brown, J. (2013). Second language identity in

narratives of study abroad. London: Palgrave.• Benson, P., and Chik, A. (2011). Towards a more naturalistic CALL: Video-gaming and

language learning. International Journal of Computer-assisted Language Learning. 1 (3), 1-13 (50%)

• Benson, P., and Nunan, D. (Eds.) (2004). Learners’ stories: Difference and diversity in language learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (50%)

• Benson, P., and Reinders, H. (Eds.) (2011). Beyond the language classroom. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. (50%)

• Black, R. W. (2007). Digital design: English language learners and reader reviews in online fiction. In M. Knobel and C. Lankshear (Eds.), A new literacies sampler (pp. 115-136). New York, NY: Peter Lang.

References• Blommaert, J., Collins, J. & Slembrouck, S. (2005). Spaces of Multilingualism. Language and

Communication, 25 (3): 197-216.• Chik, A. (2012). Digital gameplay for autonomous foreign language learning: Gamer’s and

language teachers’ perspectives. In H. Reinders (Ed.), Digital games in language learning and teaching (pp. 95 – 114). London: Palgrave Macmillan.

• Egbert, J., Akasha, O., Huff, L, & Lee, H. (2011). Moving forward: Anecdotes and evidence guiding the next generation of CALL. International Journal of Computer-assisted Language Learning and Teaching, 1(1), 1-15.

• Lee, C., and Barton, D. (2011). Constructing glocal identities through multilingual writing practices on Flickr.com. International Multilingual Research Journal, 1:1, 1-13.

• Murray, G. (2008). Pop culture and language learning: Learners’ stories informing EFL. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching 2(1), 2-17.

• Thorne, S. L., Black, R. W., & Sykes, J. L. (2009). Second language use, socialization, and learning in Internet interest communities and online gaming. The Modern Language Journal, 93(s), 802-821.