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Article published In:
Computer-mediated communication in class: Fostering access to digital mediascapes
Edited by Stefania Maci and Marianna Lya Zummo
[Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts 10:1] 2024
► pp. 6–27

A genre-oriented analysis of TikTok instructional discourse

| University of Eastern Piedmont

This study intends to contribute to the analysis of digital instructional discourse in order to gain an insight into how the EFL classroom has in some sense shifted online in the hands of amateur experts (Tolson 2010; Bhatia 2018), who create an informal learning environment by drawing on their discursive competence, disciplinary knowledge and professional practice. By incorporating quantitative, qualitative, and case study data, this article considers the value of genre analysis in educational social media research. It focuses, particularly, on the rhetorical and lexico-grammatical features of a selection of TikTok video mini-lessons targeting Italian speakers of English as a foreign language. Analysis of the data reveals that digital language teaching discourse on TikTok is a structured event with recurrent rhetorical patterns and linguistic features for achieving both pedagogical and promotional communicative purposes. The research bears considerable relevance given the need for the analysis of transformation processes in instructional discourse amid the widespread use of information and communication technologies and the advance of online learning.

Keywords: genre analysis, digital instructional discourse, EFL, social media
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Discourse in educational settings
    • 2.1Research questions
  • 3.Data gathering and corpus-building process
  • 4.Methods
  • 5.Findings and discussion
    • 5.1Overview: Participants, themes, codes
    • 5.2Rhetorical structure
    • 5.3Meta-discoursal strategies
      • 5.3.1Engagement markers
      • 5.3.2Stance
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 9 February 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ttmc.00124.tom
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