{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/108547"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/108547","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Investment in and use of English: a case study of Egyptian Twitter users","abstract":"The rise of popularity in Social Network Platforms has led language researchers to explore the effectiveness of Social Network Sites (SNS) in providing learners with opportunities for language practice and learning. In the literature, there has been a consensus towards the usefulness of SNS tools in language learning and practice (Reinhardt, 2019). On the other hand, coined in the 90s by Bonny Norton, investment has been a growing concept in SLA. Investment in L2 learning has been demonstrated through qualitative studies exploring the intersection of socio-economic factors and language learning in different contexts. To refine the notion of investment to better accommodate the constant changes of globalization and digital platforms, Darvin and Norton (2015) developed a model of investment to encompass ideology, capital, and identity, emphasizing the role of these aspects in affording learners with ways to position themselves in their communities. While most of the literature explores investment in L2 learning in ESL contexts, studies on investment in EFL contexts are limited. The present qualitative study explores four Egyptian Twitter users’ use of English to better position themselves and express their identities on Twitter. Approximately 3000 tweets are gathered from Twitter and coded in relation to the topics they tweet about and the language they tweet in. After coding the tweets, interviews were conducted with the participants to further triangulate the data exploring their experiences in relation to the topics they tweet about and the languages they tweet in. Results show that while Arabic is their native language, using English has afforded them a different identity, one that offers opportunities for self-expression and acceptance of change and other cultures. The implication of this study highlights how the L2 can afford learners opportunities to position themselves inside and outside the language classroom, which may affect their investment in their L2.","abstract_html":"The rise of popularity in Social Network Platforms has led language researchers to explore the effectiveness of Social Network Sites (SNS) in providing learners with opportunities for language practice and learning. In the literature, there has been a consensus towards the usefulness of SNS tools in language learning and practice (Reinhardt, 2019). On the other hand, coined in the 90s by Bonny Norton, investment has been a growing concept in SLA. Investment in L2 learning has been demonstrated through qualitative studies exploring the intersection of socio-economic factors and language learning in different contexts. To refine the notion of investment to better accommodate the constant changes of globalization and digital platforms, Darvin and Norton (2015) developed a model of investment to encompass ideology, capital, and identity, emphasizing the role of these aspects in affording learners with ways to position themselves in their communities. While most of the literature explores investment in L2 learning in ESL contexts, studies on investment in EFL contexts are limited. The present qualitative study explores four Egyptian Twitter users’ use of English to better position themselves and express their identities on Twitter. Approximately 3000 tweets are gathered from Twitter and coded in relation to the topics they tweet about and the language they tweet in. After coding the tweets, interviews were conducted with the participants to further triangulate the data exploring their experiences in relation to the topics they tweet about and the languages they tweet in. Results show that while Arabic is their native language, using English has afforded them a different identity, one that offers opportunities for self-expression and acceptance of change and other cultures. The implication of this study highlights how the L2 can afford learners opportunities to position themselves inside and outside the language classroom, which may affect their investment in their L2.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Mohamed, Mai Mohamed Mohamed"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"M.A.","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Teaching of English Sec Lang","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Sadler, Randall W","Yan, Xun"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2020,"date_issued":"2020-10-07T21:00:12Z","date_published":"2020-10-07T21:00:12Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:48Z","subjects":["English as a Foreign Language","Identity and Investment","Twitter"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2020 Mai Mohamed"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/108547","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Sadler, Randall W","Yan, Xun"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Mohamed, Mai Mohamed Mohamed"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2020-10-07T21:00:12Z","2020-07-24","2020-08"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text","Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Teaching of English Sec Lang"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.A."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["English as a Foreign Language","Identity and Investment","Twitter"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2020 Mai Mohamed"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/108547"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["The rise of popularity in Social Network Platforms has led language researchers to explore the effectiveness of Social Network Sites (SNS) in providing learners with opportunities for language practice and learning. In the literature, there has been a consensus towards the usefulness of SNS tools in language learning and practice (Reinhardt, 2019). On the other hand, coined in the 90s by Bonny Norton, investment has been a growing concept in SLA. Investment in L2 learning has been demonstrated through qualitative studies exploring the intersection of socio-economic factors and language learning in different contexts. To refine the notion of investment to better accommodate the constant changes of globalization and digital platforms, Darvin and Norton (2015) developed a model of investment to encompass ideology, capital, and identity, emphasizing the role of these aspects in affording learners with ways to position themselves in their communities. While most of the literature explores investment in L2 learning in ESL contexts, studies on investment in EFL contexts are limited. The present qualitative study explores four Egyptian Twitter users’ use of English to better position themselves and express their identities on Twitter. Approximately 3000 tweets are gathered from Twitter and coded in relation to the topics they tweet about and the language they tweet in. After coding the tweets, interviews were conducted with the participants to further triangulate the data exploring their experiences in relation to the topics they tweet about and the languages they tweet in. Results show that while Arabic is their native language, using English has afforded them a different identity, one that offers opportunities for self-expression and acceptance of change and other cultures. The implication of this study highlights how the L2 can afford learners opportunities to position themselves inside and outside the language classroom, which may affect their investment in their L2.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2020-10-02 without embargo terms","The student, Mai Mohamed, accepted the attached license on 2020-07-24 at 16:19.","The student, Mai Mohamed, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2020-07-24 at 16:20.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2020-07-24 at 16:42.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #15745 on 2020-10-02 at 15:15:31","Made available in DSpace on 2020-10-07T21:00:12Z (GMT). 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On the other hand, coined in the 90s by Bonny Norton, investment has been a growing concept in SLA. Investment in L2 learning has been demonstrated through qualitative studies exploring the intersection of socio-economic factors and language learning in different contexts. To refine the notion of investment to better accommodate the constant changes of globalization and digital platforms, Darvin and Norton (2015) developed a model of investment to encompass ideology, capital, and identity, emphasizing the role of these aspects in affording learners with ways to position themselves in their communities. While most of the literature explores investment in L2 learning in ESL contexts, studies on investment in EFL contexts are limited. The present qualitative study explores four Egyptian Twitter users’ use of English to better position themselves and express their identities on Twitter. Approximately 3000 tweets are gathered from Twitter and coded in relation to the topics they tweet about and the language they tweet in. After coding the tweets, interviews were conducted with the participants to further triangulate the data exploring their experiences in relation to the topics they tweet about and the languages they tweet in. Results show that while Arabic is their native language, using English has afforded them a different identity, one that offers opportunities for self-expression and acceptance of change and other cultures. The implication of this study highlights how the L2 can afford learners opportunities to position themselves inside and outside the language classroom, which may affect their investment in their L2.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2020-10-02 without embargo terms","The student, Mai Mohamed, accepted the attached license on 2020-07-24 at 16:19.","The student, Mai Mohamed, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2020-07-24 at 16:20.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2020-07-24 at 16:42.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #15745 on 2020-10-02 at 15:15:31","Made available in DSpace on 2020-10-07T21:00:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 MOHAMED-THESIS-2020.pdf: 1529459 bytes, checksum: 2713fb892f75e1c2a3c6079957652ce4 (MD5) LICENSE.txt: 4208 bytes, checksum: 630ab8c0f6c7512e74379f4b28520c0f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2020-07-24"],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/108547"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2020 Mai Mohamed"],"dc:subject":["English as a Foreign Language","Identity and Investment","Twitter"],"dc:title":["Investment in and use of English: a case study of Egyptian Twitter users"],"dc:type":["text","Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Teaching of English Sec Lang"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["M.A."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:48Z"}