Volume 30 Number 1, 2026 Critical semiotic awareness in virtual exchange using digital cultural artefacts

Critical semiotic awareness in virtual exchange using digital cultural artefacts

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access-status:
open.access
bitstream:
[['https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstreams/faa2d999-e589-422e-8d30-b262a489351d/download', 'V30N1 Almjiwl and Satar Final.pdf']]
bitstream_txt:
[]
collection:
Volume 30 Number 1, 2026
contributor.author:
Almijiwl, Wala Satar, Müge
date.accessioned:
2026-03-09T01:12:52Z
date.available:
2026-03-09T01:12:52Z
date.copyright:
2026
date.issued:
2026-03-09
description.abstract:
Virtual Exchange (VE) is a technology-enabled, people-to-people interaction (EVOLVE, n.d.). It can facilitate the digital-intercultural turn in language education, where multiliteracies is an important pedagogical goal. One key focus of multiliteracies is developing critical semiotic awareness (CSA) through reflections on relations between forms and meanings in contexts of use (Kern, 2015). Despite emerging research on how to foster semiotic awareness in the physical classroom (Lim et al., 2022), our understanding of how language learners construct CSA in VE remains limited. To address this gap, a qualitative case study was designed involving one pair of volunteer higher education language learners in the UK and Saudi Arabia (KSA). Data were collected over a six-week multiliteracies-informed VE, where participants engaged with digital cultural artefacts via videoconferencing. Synchronous video-mediated interactions were analysed using social semiotics. This involved a two-step analysis of: (1) the representation of signifiers on the artefacts participants talked about and (2) how the signifier’s meaning potentials were taken up and/or extended. Findings demonstrated participants’ evaluation of signs as they constructed meanings beyond what is available on the artefacts. We discuss the role of multiliteracies training, digital cultural artefacts, and VE interaction (intercultural communication) in the construction of CSA.
endingpage:
21
format.extent:
21
identifier.citation:
Almijiwl, W., & Satar, M. (2026). Critical semiotic awareness in virtual exchange using digital cultural artefacts. Language Learning & Technology, 30(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.64152/10125/73670
identifier.doi:
https://doi.org/10.64152/10125/73670
identifier.issn:
1094-3501
identifier.uri:
https://hdl.handle.net/10125/73670
language:
eng
number:
1
publicationname:
Language Learning & Technology
publisher:
University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center Center for Language & Technology
rights.license:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License
rights.uri:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
site_url:
/item/10125-73670/
startingpage:
1
subject:
multiliteracies-informed VE, digital cultural artefacts, social semiotics, critical semiotic awareness
title:
Critical semiotic awareness in virtual exchange using digital cultural artefacts
type:
Article Text
volume:
30