Social Media and Language Learning: Using TikTok and Instagram

by Yeong-Ju Lee

Overview

This book explores creative uses of social media for informal language learning. It focuses on the underexplored area of how informal language learning adapts to technological innovations in two multimodal media-sharing platforms: TikTok and Instagram.

Drawing on ecological perspectives of language learning and spatial understandings of digital technology and learning, the research reported in this book unpacks how social media technologies are used for language learning. It presents insights from a dual-level qualitative methodological design: a comparative study of public online data of social media posts collected from TikTok and Instagram, and a multiple case study based on ethnographic narrative data gathered from participants’ journal entries, stimulated recall interviews, and social media posts. This book reveals the dynamic landscape of digital language learning that is being integrated into learners’ everyday lives through multimodal content creation and networking.

This book enriches readers’ understanding of social media’s role in language learning, and offers pedagogical strategies for teachers to integrate newer technologies and multimodal materials into language classrooms to enhance students’ learning experiences.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781040426111
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	08/05/2025
Series:	Routledge Research in Language Education
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	100
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Yeong-Ju Lee obtained her PhD from the Department of Linguistics at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. She teaches courses in Applied Linguistics, TESOL, and Literacy. Her research interests include digital language learning and teaching, especially on social media and AI. She is the Chief Investigator of the Teaching Development Grant project on AI and literacy at the Australian Centre for the Advancement of Literacy at Australian Catholic University, and the Data Horizon Grant project on a customised AI chatbot for language learning at the Data Horizon Research Centre at Macquarie University.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction 2. Informal Language Learning through Social Media: Theories and Empirical Studies 3. Language Learning Affordances of Visual and Multimodal Social Networking: A Comparative Study of Online Data of Social Media Posts on Instagram and TikTok 4. Language Learning Experiences with Everyday Social Media Uses: A Multiple Case Study on Ethnographic Data of Users’ Narratives 5. Conclusion