‘I would rather say fighting ㅋㅋ’: discursive analysis of Korean-English language exchange students’ text messages

Abstract

This ethnographic case study has focused on language use in texting out of institutional contexts between voluntary language partners. Within the translanguaging and digital literacies framework, we explored how two pairs of Korean-English language partners practice translanguaging in texting in order to construct their multilingual identities. Their text messages were collected over one year and analyzed using discourse analysis to investigate their co-construction of multilingual repertoires in texting influenced by shared discourses, experiences, and interactional histories in digital spaces and in-person interactions. Our findings present that texting creates a translanguaging space where the learners collaboratively construct their linguistic and cultural repertoires and engage with the broader semiotic options and diverse social discourses. They adopted various strategies of translanguaging to negotiate culturally appropriate language use. This study urges an in-depth understanding of the complex interplay of language use, identities, and social interactions in digital spaces and a reconsideration of multilingual competence and metalinguistic knowledge among language learners in diverse contexts.

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