‘What if [your] boyfriend was a foreigner?’ Romance, gender, and second language learning in an edutainment context

Abstract

Language edutainment involves the utilization of various forms of technology in the teaching and learning of languages. One such form recently to have emerged is the ‘What if [your] boyfriend was a foreigner?’ iPhone app. This ‘iBoyfriend’ app is marketed to Japanese female learners as a tool for learning English conversation through the alluring context of romance with three virtual foreign boyfriends. In this paper we question the pedagogical value of the app and the cultural representations of women and the virtual boyfriends in the storylines. This form of language edutainment is predicated on problematic discourses of native speakers, foreign language learning, gender, and Japanese cultural identity. Finally, the app is shown to be indexical of the localized meanings with which English can be ascribed in particular cultural contexts.

Keywords:

• edutainment
• romance
• eikaiwa
• language desire
• akogare
• English in Japan