Student engagement and authentic language use on WeChat for learning Chinese as a foreign language

Abstract

In this study, the use of a popular mobile social networking platform (WeChat) is investigated for learning Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) in a beginners’ course at an Australian university. Driven by practical considerations and major issues with previous literature, student engagement and authentic language used in a WeChat class group are investigated. Data was collected through weekly conversation episodes over a semester and from a student survey. Conversation episodes were analysed both quantitatively (by frequencies) and qualitatively (using a discourse approach). The study found that student engagement increased in frequency and complexity towards the end of the semester, and students used Chinese for various authentic purposes in the semi-formal context of class group chats. A microanalysis of transcripts illustrated how the use of Chinese in multilingual and multimodal practices achieved authentic social functions. However, individual differences were observed, and English was frequently used in chats. Recommendations are provided for scaffolding and for utilising different semiotic resources in dynamic group interactions.

Keywords:

• WeChat
• group chat
• chat history
• participation frequency
• authenticity
• multiliteracy
• multilingual practice
• computer-mediated discourse

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Figure 4. Number of episodes initiated by the teacher/students (WK = week).

Figure 5. Number of episodes for different purposes (WK = week).

Figure 6. Number of episodes involving different modes of Chinese (WK = week).

Notes on contributors

Dr. Peiru Tong is a lecturer in the Institute of Education Science, Wuhan University, China. She obtained her PhD from the Department of Chinese Studies, School of Languages and Cultures, the University of Sydney, Australia. Her current research interests are teaching Chinese as an additional language, technology-mediated language learning, intercultural education, and internationalisation of higher education. She was also a tutor and research assistant in the Department of Chinese Studies at the University of Sydney before working in Wuhan. She has been teaching Chinese as an additional language for many years.

Dr. Zhaohui Yin is an associate professor in the Institute of Education Sciences, Wuhan University, China. She is also the director of the Department of Educational Economics and Management of Wuhan University, the director of Educational Statistics and Management Society of Chinese Association for Applied Statistics, and the executive director of Educational Management Committee of Hubei Education Society. She was a visiting scholar in the Institute of Higher Education of the University of Georgia. Her research interests are administration of higher education, internationalisation of higher education, and comparative higher education.

Linda Tsung is Professor of Multilingual Education and Associate Dean in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, the University of Sydney. Her research expertise is on teaching Chinese as a second/foreign language, multilingualism, multilingual education and indigenous and minority education, topics on which she has published extensively. She has undertaken much research on the acquisition of Chinese, multilingualism and multilingual education in China, Hong Kong and Australia over many years.

Notes

1 The languages spoken by only one student as his/her L1 include French, Indonesian, German, Italian, Mongolian, Vietnamese, Burmese, Dari and Polish.

2 For instance, Herring and Androutsopoulos (2015) suggest that CMD research areas include six broad themes: classification of CMD, discourse structure, meaning, interaction management, social practice (including multilingual practice), and multimodal CMD. Due to space constraints, we cannot consider all levels of CMD and only focus on the most relevant.

3 In this and subsequent transcripts, each numbered item contains one WeChat message.

4 AR is the abbreviation of Augmented Reality. A typical camera app using AR is Faceu, which allows users to choose from a variety of stickers or add effects in real-time when taking selfies and videos.

5 M8 refers to ‘mate’.

6 Mode is used here instead of modality because Chinese characters and Pinyin are different modes (or forms) of Chinese. Pinyin is the romanisation of characters; hence, users undergo different mechanisms when comprehending or producing these two diverse modes. However, they are both considered textual modality vis-a-vis pictorial and aural modalities.