Language Alternation in Online Forums: English Monolingual Normativity and Multilingual Practices

Abstract

Online discussion forums (ODFs), a type of computer-mediated communication (CMC), are sites of language use and multilingual practices where students communicate in web forum communities. There is limited research on the multilingual practices of students learning English for academic purposes (EAP) through ODFs. Drawing on discourse-centred online ethnography (DCOE) and discourse analysis, this article explores language alternation in one online university course. Students show agency by using languages in creative, multilingual ways when learning through technology. Although the course in question is an English language course, “semi-regulated” online discussion forums that allow language alternation and “networked” multilingualism promote peer and student-to-student interactions, resulting in fluid social relationships and challenging some of the norms of language education. Language alternation reveals the use of African languages and indexes both the expression of feelings and the cultural practices of these ODF communities. Universities are yet to implement multilingual online pedagogies that include the majority who do not speak English as a first language. Therefore, digital literacy and networked multilingualism are enabling multiple linguistic resources to challenge the “English-only” ideology.