Pop linguistics in social media
Translanguaging and literacy edutainment
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 13061119 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Tong King Lee (0000-0002-8885-6887, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 67 |
| Pages | 100933-100933 |
| Publication date | 2025-08-25 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Discourse Context & Media (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2211-6958 • E-ISSN: 2211-6966 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.dcm.2025.100933 |
| OpenAlex | W4413496517 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 20 |
In the age of platformization, literacy has become a nexus of performance but also an object of commodification. Social media platforms feature an abundance of curated content on language-related themes, the upshot of which is the rise of an online industry around literacy edutainment. This article argues that language literacy edutainment in social media refashions multilingualism into a unique selling point; such edutainment creates playful translanguaging spaces that engender a “pop linguistics”, that is, a non-technical, user-friendly mode for learning about as well as co-creating languages. Using three examples of content creators who carve out for themselves a niche at the conjunction of English, Cantonese, and Mandarin across multiple platforms, the article demonstrates that the capacity of translanguaging to go between and beyond semiotic boundaries, as well as to transform lived experience, affords it a creative-critical potential and renders it amenable as a business concept, a pedagogical strategy, and a medium for articulating urban dialects. By proactively engaging in translanguaging at the confluence of platformization and postmultilingualism, a new generation of content creators are opening up pop linguistics as a counterpoint to conventional language literacy practices in legacy institutions
Applied linguistics · Clinical linguistics · Linguistics · Literacy · Media linguistics · Pedagogy · Sociology · Translanguaging · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Literacy, Media, and Education · Multilingual Education and Policy · Philosophy · Psychology
The Handbook of Language and Globalization
Platformisation
Refashioning linguistic expertise
Serious game-based learning and learning by making games
Gamification
Translanguaging
Translanguaging as a counterpoint to World Englishes
Television Dramatic Dialogue
Translanguaging as a Practical Theory of Language
Complexities of Chineseness
Voice, place and genre in popular song performance1
Soft power struggles
Staging language
First things first, I'm the realest
Moment Analysis and translanguaging space
Culture and Imperialism
Social Media and Trust in Scientific Expertise
Personal Branding and the Commodification of Reflexivity
| Citations per year | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Highly cited | No |