Internet Memes as Cultural Education Tools in L2 Teaching

Abstract

The paper considers Internet memes as cultural education tools in L2 teaching. Normally considered as humorous and highly entertaining items in social networking communication, Internet memes can also be used to acquire social and cultural awareness in the context of secondary education. Internet memes have certain similarities with lexis and text. These properties define the algorithm for working with the memes: text-like qualities of memes state the structure of the algorithm and lexis-like qualities are responsible for its variable part. It makes it possible to combine teaching methods traditionally applied to lexis and text to Internet memes in L2 with information technology tools (meme generator programs), which results in a complex of classroom activities aimed at using Internet memes as education tools. Given the cultural capital of the Internet memes, the authors believe the efficiency of the aforementioned activities in teaching L2 students language and culture.