The targeted use of the informal register on a social networking site by foreign-language learners evaluated through linguistic analysis and perceived-context appropriateness
type: CreativeWork
description: In today’s society, complex issues relating to socio-cultural integration are a key concern for policy makers, with far-reaching implications for domestic and foreign-language policies. In an increasingly globalized world, English continues to be used by many people from diverse linguistic, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds, who need to communicate daily. The use of the informal register is crucial for developing successful professional and personal relationships, yet it has not received sufficient attention from foreign-language teachers, researchers and policy makers. This exploratory study addressed this research gap through the deployment of a multi-layered study, which focussed on the instruction and perception of the informal register. It is the product of a research project spanning almost five years in which it employed a one-group pretest-posttest intervention. In the intervention study, referred to as Stage One, 15 advanced foreign-language learners completed study materials comprising of listening, reading, writing and ‘speaking’ activities over a period of five weeks. The ‘speaking’ activities were undertaken using asynchronous chat on the social networking site. In addition to a linguistic assessment of the intervention, a practical evaluation was undertaken in Stage Two by speakers of English who rated Stage One posts based upon their context appropriateness. The results of the study indicate that students not only used the informal register with more frequency, but utilized a wider variety of register features and furthermore used these with greater appropriateness. Students considered instruction in the informal-register features to be beneficial. Analysis of the findings illustrated that context-perceived appropriateness is linked to characteristics of English speakers such as personal preference and knowledge of Spanish, and not to the linguistic features identified in the posts. The implications of this study for practice, theory, policy and method…
abstract: In today’s society, complex issues relating to socio-cultural integration are a key concern for policy makers, with far-reaching implications for domestic and foreign-language policies. In an increasingly globalized world, English continues to be used by many people from diverse linguistic, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds, who need to communicate daily. The use of the informal register is crucial for developing successful professional and personal relationships, yet it has not received sufficient attention from foreign-language teachers, researchers and policy makers. This exploratory study addressed this research gap through the deployment of a multi-layered study, which focussed on the instruction and perception of the informal register. It is the product of a research project spanning almost five years in which it employed a one-group pretest-posttest intervention. In the intervention study, referred to as Stage One, 15 advanced foreign-language learners completed study materials comprising of listening, reading, writing and ‘speaking’ activities over a period of five weeks. The ‘speaking’ activities were undertaken using asynchronous chat on the social networking site. In addition to a linguistic assessment of the intervention, a practical evaluation was undertaken in Stage Two by speakers of English who rated Stage One posts based upon their context appropriateness. The results of the study indicate that students not only used the informal register with more frequency, but utilized a wider variety of register features and furthermore used these with greater appropriateness. Students considered instruction in the informal-register features to be beneficial. Analysis of the findings illustrated that context-perceived appropriateness is linked to characteristics of English speakers such as personal preference and knowledge of Spanish, and not to the linguistic features identified in the posts. The implications of this study for practice, theory, policy and method…
author: Toetenel, Lisette
language: en
date published: 2018
date modified: 2026-07-24T03:42:55Z
provider: Oxford Brookes University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Oxford Brookes University

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.24384/60x7-jb66