Mobile instant messaging: a bonanza for interlanguage pragmatics

Bethany Anne Aull

doi:10.15448/1984-4301.2019.4.33885

Abstract

While mobile communication technologies have been exploited for instructional second and foreign language (L2) research, authentic mobile instant messaging (MIM) interactions remain virtually unexamined. As a result, decidedly little is known about L2 users’ interlinguistic behavior in genuine MIM conversation. This type of communication may nevertheless be of interest to interlanguage pragmatics (ILP) research, particularly for what it may reveal about the intersection of cultures and electronically-mediated communities. This article traces the current state of related research and contemplates some preliminary conceptual and methodological considerations for future inquiries. It first reviews previous L1 and L2 studies involving mobile and instant messaging mediums. From among these, it notes two underexplored concepts which are relevant to ILP: namely, interculture and cultures-of-use. Respectively related to co-constructed culture and communities of practice, these aspects may shed light on and be illuminated by interlinguistic MIM interaction. Finally, the article looks to future investigations and, while not specifying analytical procedures, it recommends emic methods such as conversation analysis for examining these phenomena.

Highlights

Globalization has eventuated parallel flourishing in two fields of linguistic study: intercultural communication and electronically-mediated communication (EMC)
Because electronic mediums facilitate communication across languages and cultures, intercultural communication and EMC research often addresses overlapping issues, and such inquiries are of direct interest to interlanguage pragmatics
mobile instant messaging (MIM) is used here to refer to personal-messaging communication managed from tactile, internet-capable portable devices, typically smartphones

Summary

Introduction

Globalization has eventuated parallel flourishing in two fields of linguistic study: intercultural communication and electronically-mediated communication (EMC). The second field, EMC, covers a range of oral and written communication types, but gives attention to their mediation through technological platforms This area of inquiry includes its better-known precursor, computer-mediated communication (typically PC-to-PC interaction through web-based chat, e-mail, etc.), but extends to portable devices and mobile phones (e.g., SMS messaging and mobile apps). Because electronic mediums facilitate communication across languages and cultures, intercultural communication and EMC research often addresses overlapping issues, and such inquiries are of direct interest to interlanguage pragmatics. The following section reviews relevant research on mobile-mediated interlanguage use, highlighting thereafter the pressing need for non-instructional investigation. This much needed research implicates dynamic intercultural and multimodal aspects, as discussed in the third and fourth sections. The closing section consolidates these views and calls for further investigation

Literature review

Interculture

Cultures-of-use

Future analysis

Findings

Closing remarks