"Online Communities For Informal Language Learning: Exploring the Possibilities for Members of the Creators Co-Space"
Dissertation Title: Online Communities For Informal Language Learning: Exploring the Possibilities for Members of the Creators Co-Space
Dissertation Committee: Dr. Jill Castek (Chair), Dr. Beatrice Dupuy, Dr. Emily Hellmich
Abstract: There are numerous language websites, communities, and social apps online that focus explicitly on language learning. However, many times they are created in ways that mimic many of the aspects of language learning seen in formal environments. For example, specific controlled hierarchical organization of tasks and reliance on grammar explanations and subsequent exercises. In informal spaces where language learning is not explicit, learners can make their own decisions, make their own conclusions on what is valuable or meaningful for themselves, and learn vocabulary, expressions, and grammar as part of communication. Research on this type of learning in informal spaces is understudied. This study looked at language learning as the product of social interaction and participation in varied digital, creative activities that emerge within an online community. These activities are situated in a whole dynamic system that develops over time, which has subsystems that are constantly evolving and changing (Sockett & Toffoli, 2019). My study did not look at a snapshot of moments in an existing community or a single interaction in it, or the participation of learners in a formal environment who are required to participate in a community. Instead, this study looked at learners from different backgrounds and interests in a space where different elements interrelate in a system. It is a new online community that aimed to provide a better understanding of learning in the wild. Through the lenses of Critical Relationality (Olivares & Tucker-Raymond 2020) and the Echological Approach (Kramsch, C., & Steffensen, S. V. (2008), my study was centered on the creation of an online community that is a learner-centered creative space where incidental language learning may occur. This research had important implications that could be carried over into formal language learning environments.
Using exploratory methods, this research examined the development of an online community as it initially formed, came together, and grew. The community was composed of people with different purposes for interacting who were moved to participate in discussions and activities based on their interests, which were constantly evolving. The study examined the members' experiences, motivations, behaviors, and decisions made, and emerging opportunities for learning in this community. This included their dynamic participation and interaction with others with the goal of language learning. The study examined the learning outcomes from the perspectives of learners who had various participation profiles: The Power, the Motivated, the Curious, and the Attentive. More specifically, the study analyzed the characteristics of an online space -- specifically how people co-construct the space, self-organize, and communicate within the space, and consequently how the affordances within an online environment shape communication and are shaped by online participation. This research sheds light on ways that an informal community develops, evolves, and thrives in the wild, including what motivates active participation. Findings from this study would have implications for online interactions in formal learning contexts which may include opportunities for self-directed or collaborative work that encourages incidental language learning.
Keywords: online community, informal learning, incidental language learning, Ecological Approach, Critical Relationality, global, interaction, communication, multimodality, creativity.
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