Jenifer B. Vanek, Kendall King, Martha Bigelow Second Languages and Cultures Education, Curriculum and Instruction

MN English Learner Education Conference 2014

Social presence, identity and language learning with Somali newcomers on Facebook

Youth and social media

Transnational youth in our region

Minnesota is home to one of the largest Somali communities in in the U.S.; upwards of 50,000.

Research aims

to identify how English-learning adolescents utilize social media to engage in social, academic, identity and language work

to identify ways that educators might include in-class use of social media analysis to achieve multiple language and (critical) literacy learning aims.

Summer workshop

● One-week at a local high school (charter)

● Critical examination of social media (ELA/ESL goals)

Overarching Essential Questions: How do we use social media to express ourselves?

What do our posts say about us?

CURRICULUM OVERVIEW

Day 1How can we critically analyze and interpret social media?(Analysis of posts using questions: What do you see? What does it mean?, Defining what is social media. Introduce yourself on our FB page.)

Day 2Who am I online? What is the meaning of my name? Why do you use social media? Who do you use social media with?(Analysis of screen shots of students’ social media tools.)

CURRICULUM OVERVIEW (cont’)

Day 3What does your profile page say about you?(Description and analysis of FB profile page, including text and images.)

Day 4What language do you use on FB and other social media? Why?(Description and analysis of social media use.)

Day 5Student presentations

Social Media Curriculum Unit: Examples of WIDA Outcomes

ELD Standard 1: English language learners communicate for social and instructional purposes within the school setting.

ELD Standard 2: English language learners communicate information, ideas and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of language arts.

LISTENING AND READINGLevel 1: Single statements or questions; An idea within words, phrases, or chunks of languageLevel 2: Multiple related simple sentences; An idea with detailsLevel 3: Discourse with a series of extended sentences; Related ideas

SPEAKING AND WRITINGLevel 1: Words, phrases, or chunks of language; Single words used to represent ideasLevel 2: Phrases or short sentences; Emerging expression of ideasLevel 3: Short and some expanded sentences with emerging complexity; Expanded expression of one idea or emerging expression of mulitple related ideas

“Production and Distribution of Writing”

● Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

● Use a writing process to develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, drafting, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.

● Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.

English Language Arts Standards: Examples of College and Career

Readiness Anchor Standards for Writing

“Social presence”“degree of salience of the other person in the interaction and the consequent salience of the interpersonal relationships” (Short, Williams, and Christie, 1976).

"the ability of participants in the Community of Inquiry to project their personal characteristics into the community, thereby presenting themselves to the other participants as ‘real people’” (Garrison et al., 2000, p. 89).

Social presence matters for

▪ student satisfaction▪ development of a community of learners▪ perceived learning (Lowenthal, 2009)

Social presence matters for

▪ student satisfaction▪ development of a community of learners▪ perceived learning (Lowenthal, 2009)

but it is also contextual / variable!

Identity - "subdivided, inconsistent, and temporary"(Ngo, 2012, extending Bhabba, 1994)

Discourse and identity assertionsvan Leeuwen (2008)

Discourse is a sense-making frame

“socially constructed way of knowing and understanding some aspect of reality which can be drawn upon when that aspect of reality has to be represented... (p. 144).

To understand why the youth posted what they did is to begin to understand their perceptions of their lived experience in the world.

Modality & “Truth”“Modality is the social semiotic approach to the question of truth. It relates both to issues of representation - fact versus fiction, reality versus fantasy, real versus artificial, authentic versus fake - and to questions of social interaction, because the question of truth is also a social question…”

(van Leeuwen, 2005, p. 160)

Strategic social presence construction

Research questions

1. How do students construct their social presence while participating in the summer workshop?

2. How do students’ construction of social presence shift over the course of the one-week workshop?

3. What potential learning opportunities for youth are provided through this work?

Data analysis● Observations of

class interactions and student presentations

● Interviews

● FB postsIdentity

claimsMechanisms

Overview of participation (identity claims)Social presence was crafted by type of participation and by identity fronting

Coding addressed identities projected in the FB group

➔ Gendered➔ Political➔ Religious➔ Linguistic➔ Academic➔ Ethnicity➔ Homeland (Global/local)

After finding an identity claim, we asked: was it actual or fictionalized/aspirational

Description of Focal Participants

Sir Kobe The glue - make others feel present

Safiyo Virtual unveiling - Participation revealed a shifting representation of religious identity

Amaal Social media super user - Invested in building social presence elsewhere

Beautiful Bella Identities reflecting tension

Overview of participation(mechanisms)

Social presence crafted by the type of participation and by identity fronting

After defining the type of participation we asked: Does this post show ambivalence or affirmation of FB?

Types of participation by focal participants

Three themes

● ‘authentic’ and self-obscuring● global and local● devout and ‘playful’

Strong social presence via hybridity

Theme 1Being “authentic” via new identities

Sir Kobe’s profile pictureFictionalized representation Sir Kobe

‘my car’

Representations of self in FB profile

Safiyo - Identity shift?

Virtual unveilingS - I don’t show my pic.. you know what she said to me [pointing to the volunteer]? You

can sendis your pictures your friends. I say a right here. I feel a little a little afraid to my picture.

J - So you feel afraid about posting this right now?S - No the picture the picture sendis to your friends….J So do you want to take this picture off right now?S - No no it’s ok.J - You’re ok?S - You see it’s ok here but ….J - Because it’s a small secret group, you’re ok?S - Yes. J - Yeah nobody else will see it. S - Yeah.. someone.. [inaud] [Now Safiyo attracts the attention of another student to show what she has posted. I can make out: “Look! Look!” (1:58)

Theme 2 Global and Local

Theme 2 Being local and global

▪ 5000 friends around the world▪ Profile name anonymized but tied to tribe▪ Never uses English - only Somali

Theme 3 Gendered representations of Self

Bella Beautiful

A devout and ‘sexy’ social presence

Theme 3 Gendered representations of Self

Theme 3 Gendered representations of Self

Dream bed

Social presence, identity, and community cohesion

Ambivalence"I never join groups except this group because I don't like many groups because they talk to much and post...”

Under “works at”: “why do you care , stalker :)”.

Highly styled names and use of photos

We liked it to put it on our page because it describes the beautiful of friendship.We thought that this will describe us because we don't like to put our pictures on the Facebook or author social media.

Affirmation of the community

Prayer for Palestine invite

Continued use

Implications for...scholarshipauthenticitysocial presence

practicesupporting identity choicescultivating social presence

Thank you to CEHD’s Dean’s Office and James (ESL teacher)!