Social Media for Informal Minority Language Learning: Exploring Welsh Learners' Practices

Autor/in	Jones, Ann
Titel	Social Media for Informal Minority Language Learning: Exploring Welsh Learners' Practices
Quelle	In: Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2015 (2015) 1, Artikel 7 (9 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1365-893X
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Welsh; Informal Education; Learning Strategies; Social Networks; Language Minorities; English; Bilingualism; Adults; Language Usage; Interviews; Surveys; Internet; Web 2.0 Technologies; Second Language Learning; Case Studies; Electronic Publishing; Web Sites; Communities of Practice; United Kingdom; United Kingdom (Wales) + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Walisisch; Informelle Bildung; Nichtformale Bildung; Learning methode; Learning techniques; Lernmethode; Lernstrategie; Social network; Soziales Netzwerk; Sprachminderheit; English language; Englisch; Bilingualismus; Sprachgebrauch; Interviewing; Interviewtechnik; Survey; Umfrage; Befragung; Zweitsprachenerwerb; Case study; Fallstudie; Case Study; Elektronisches Publizieren; Web-Design; Community; Großbritannien
Abstract	Conole and Alevizou's social media typology (Conole and Alevizou, 2010) includes amongst its ten categories: media sharing; conversational arenas and chat; social networking and blogging. These are all media with which language learners are increasingly engaging (Lamy and Zourou, 2013). Social networking tools, in particular, which encourage informal, social communication have been identified as suitable for supporting language learning and their use is growing quickly. This paper reviews research on using social media for informal language learning. It will then discuss a small qualitative case study of Welsh learners' practices in using such resources. Welsh is a minority UK language spoken by around a fifth of the population of Wales. Unlike a majority language there is no need for English speakers in Wales to learn Welsh in order to communicate with Welsh speakers as all UK Welsh speakers are bilingual. Nevertheless there is great interest among adults in Wales and from Welsh families across the UK in learning Welsh. However there are two particular challenges: the small numbers of speakers (around 611,000), and their very uneven distribution. These two factors make it difficult for learners outside Welsh speaking "hotspots" to hear and practice Welsh. Social media has the potential to support Welsh language learning by providing resources wherever the learner is (particularly if they live in a non-Welsh speaking area or outside Wales completely) and by supporting web-based learning communities. The study reported here is concerned with the extent to which this potential is being exploited in practice. It employed interviews and a small survey to study the practices of learners at all stages of their language learning. It was found that learners used social media widely but those at different stages used social media somewhat differently, with beginners browsing to make contacts and gather information, listening to the language and watching Welsh programmes via the internet whilst some advanced learners set up practice groups, lead sub-communities and source and provide resources both on- and off-line. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University. Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK. e-mail: jime@open.ac.uk; Web site: http://jime.open.ac.uk
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01