Using Social Media to Support Language Maintenance: An Account of Minority Language Speakers’ Experiences

Date
2014-12
Authors
Moreira, Marcelle Dos Santo Reid
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Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina
Abstract

This narrative inquiry study explores the social media experiences of two minority language speakers who have lived in an English speaking country. More specifically, it aims at gaining a better understanding of their experiences on social networking sites and of the ways these experiences have supported the maintenance of their languages. The data comes from dialogue with the participants, who told their stories and wrote reflections about their lives. As a narrative inquirer, my experiences as a minority language speaker and a social media user were also included. Findings from this study provide a sense of the uniqueness of the participants’ and my experiences in using social media. For this reason, they were organized into four broad themes: experiences of ‘me’ (the self in social media); experiences of ‘us’ (from personal to social experiences with social media); experiences of place‘S’ (traveling through social media); and experiences of continuity (looking backward and forward). With respect of how these experiences support language maintenance, the study revealed three major insights: 1) making a conscious choice to use our languages is a first step, 2) content creation and sharing are ways we support the maintenance of our languages, and 3) engaging in communities of interest increases opportunities to use our languages and participate in political discussion and activism. The research also concluded that social media is a powerful tool to connect minority language speakers with different aspects of their lives and who they are. The thesis ends with a Freire-inspired reflection, where the learnings from the study are discussed and recommendations for further research are made. Keywords: social media, minority languages, language maintenance, community, power, consciousness

Description
A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Education in Curriculum & Instruction, University of Regina. vi, 131 p.
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