Volume 27 Number 2, February 2023 Special Issue: Semiotics in CALL Sociotechnical structures, materialist semiotics, and online language learning

Sociotechnical structures, materialist semiotics, and online language learning

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Feb. 13, 2023, 6:52 p.m.
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Feb. 13, 2023, 6:52 p.m.
bitstream:
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collection:
Volume 27 Number 2, February 2023 Special Issue: Semiotics in CALL
contributor.author:
Darvin, Ron
date.accessioned:
2023-02-10T23:23:18Z
date.available:
2023-02-10T23:23:18Z
date.issued:
2023-02-13
description.abstract:
Based on a study of the digital literacy practices of immigrant Filipino students in Vancouver, this paper focuses on how learners with unequal access to resources engage with different tools to locate information and find opportunities for language learning online. Data was collected through interviews and observations of participants as they used YouTube, Google Search, and Google Translate to decode unfamiliar words and find resources for learning. Framed through a materialist semiotic lens, this study examined how the students negotiated their resources on these platforms to achieve different intentions. Findings show that the way learners navigate these spaces can vary based on the devices they use (laptop vs. mobile phone), the user interface (browser vs. app), and the orientation they choose (landscape vs. portrait). The material dimensions of the screen determine the arrangement of semiotic forms, and varying configurations of devices, interfaces, and orientations shape the information made available to the learner and the digital literacy practices of scrolling, clicking, and shifting tabs. Recognizing how the online environment of a platform can shift across these layers of mediation, this paper conceptualizes the linguistic and semiotic forms that constitute design as sociotechnical structures which provide various learning affordances and constraints.
endingpage:
45
identifier.citation:
Darvin, R. (2023). Sociotechnical structures, materialist semiotics, and online language learning. Language Learning & Technology, 27(2), 28–45. https://hdl.handle.net/10125/73502
identifier.issn:
1094-3501
identifier.uri:
https://hdl.handle.net/10125/73502
number:
2
publicationname:
Language Learning & Technology
publisher:
University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center Center for Language & Technology
rights:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License
rights.uri:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
site_url:
/item/10125-73502/
startingpage:
28
subject:
Digital Literacy Materiality Semiotics Equity
title:
Sociotechnical structures, materialist semiotics, and online language learning
type:
Article
type.dcmi:
Text
volume:
27