Teaching Language, Promoting Social Justice A Dialogic Approach to Using Social Media

• Published in: CALICO journal Vol. 36; no. 1; pp. 1 - 18
• Main Author: Anwaruddin, Sardar M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: San Marcos Equinox Publishing Ltd 01-01-2019
• Subjects: Barriers; Computer Assisted Instruction; Computer assisted language learning; Computers; Critical Thinking; Democracy; Dialogs (Language); Digital media; Language of Instruction; Language Teachers; Language teaching methods; Medium of instruction; Political Attitudes; Scaffolding; Scaffolding (Teaching Technique); Second Language Instruction; Second Language Learning; Social Attitudes; Social Justice; Social Media; Social networks; Teacher Educators; Teachers; Teaching; Teaching Methods; Technological Advancement
• ISSN: 0742-7778; 2056-9017; 2056-9017
• DOI: 10.1558/cj.35208

The article is concerned with teaching language by utilizing social media from a social justice perspective. It makes an argument for taking a dialogic approach to pedagogy based on serendipity and contingent scaffolding. The article is inspired by a small but growing body of literature known as Critical Computer-Assisted Language Learning. First, I provide a brief introduction to Computer-Assisted Language Learning, and its recent turn toward a critical approach. Then, I discuss social media, and what “social” means when it precedes the word “media.” Next, I describe how social media are being used in language education, and why the dominant methods of use may not prepare language learners as justice-oriented democratic citizens. A key barrier I identify in this regard is media users’ increasing ability to filter what they want to see and hear. To re-think the pedagogical uses of social media, I draw from Mikhail Bakhtin’s works and propose a dialogic approach, which may be helpful for language teachers and teacher educators.