The Internet's (New) Usage Problems

English Today ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 18-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hielke Vriesendorp

In the previous issue of English Today, Lukač (2016) discusses the increasingly important role of online language authorities for users of the internet who are looking for usage advice. However, prescriptivism also reaches these users when they are not actively looking for it. They encounter advice in newsfeeds in different social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, and some of them join online groups to discuss usage problems. The standard language ideology seems to have established itself firmly on these new platforms, adapting itself in the process. Articles on usage shared on social media are almost without exception in the form of lists with eye-catching ‘clickbaity’ titles (e.g. ‘7 Grammar Mistakes That Make You Look Dumb’), and their most important topics differ strongly from those of traditional prescriptivism.

2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (5) ◽  
pp. 649-669 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Lindemann ◽  
Katherine Moran

AbstractThis study investigates how the descriptor ‘broken English’ is used to construct speakers as nonnative within standard language ideology. In-depth analysis of examples found through WebCorp, used to search US websites, and the Corpus of Contemporary American English found that the term was largely used to refer to comprehensible English identified as nonnative. Users of such English were constructed as Other, usually highly negatively. The rarer cases of more positive descriptions referred to encounters outside English-speaking countries, consistent with monolingualist ideology, and when used for a more distantly superior person, made them more attractive through greater apparent accessibility. Four mechanisms are discussed by which use of the term naturalizes ideologies. Crucially, its ambiguity promotes slippage between ‘neutral’ and negative uses, allowing any English identified as nonnative to be characterized as ‘broken’, slipping into ‘not English’, with such descriptions treated as an acceptable way to identify nonnative speakers as public menace. (Standard language ideology, ideology of nativeness, monolingualist ideology, Othering, corpus-informed research)*


Author(s):  
Lena Nadarevic ◽  
Rolf Reber ◽  
Anne Josephine Helmecke ◽  
Dilara Köse

Abstract To better understand the spread of fake news in the Internet age, it is important to uncover the variables that influence the perceived truth of information. Although previous research identified several reliable predictors of truth judgments—such as source credibility, repeated information exposure, and presentation format—little is known about their simultaneous effects. In a series of four experiments, we investigated how the abovementioned factors jointly affect the perceived truth of statements (Experiments 1 and 2) and simulated social media postings (Experiments 3 and 4). Experiment 1 explored the role of source credibility (high vs. low vs. no source information) and presentation format (with vs. without a picture). In Experiments 2 and 3, we additionally manipulated repeated exposure (yes vs. no). Finally, Experiment 4 examined the role of source credibility (high vs. low) and type of repetition (congruent vs. incongruent vs. no repetition) in further detail. In sum, we found no effect of presentation format on truth judgments, but strong, additive effects of source credibility and repetition. Truth judgments were higher for information presented by credible sources than non-credible sources and information without sources. Moreover, congruent (i.e., verbatim) repetition increased perceived truth whereas semantically incongruent repetition decreased perceived truth, irrespectively of the source. Our findings show that people do not rely on a single judgment cue when evaluating a statement’s truth but take source credibility and their meta-cognitive feelings into account.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-74
Author(s):  
Franciska Krings ◽  
Irina Gioaba ◽  
Michèle Kaufmann ◽  
Sabine Sczesny ◽  
Leslie Zebrowitz

Abstract. The use of social networking sites such as LinkedIn in recruitment is ubiquitous. This practice may hold risks for older job seekers. Not having grown up using the internet and having learned how to use social media only in middle adulthood may render them less versed in online self-presentation than younger job seekers. Results of this research show some differences and many similarities between younger and older job seekers' impression management on their LinkedIn profiles. Nevertheless, independent of their impression management efforts, older job seekers received fewer job offers than younger job seekers. Only using a profile photo with a younger appearance reduced this bias. Implications for the role of job seeker age in online impression management and recruitment are discussed.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyeseung Jeong ◽  
Stephanie Lindemann ◽  
Julia Forsberg

English phonetics and phonology often focus on improving learners’ pronunciation. However, phonological processing is ‘a two-way street’ involving both speaker and listener. Thus, pronunciation instruction in this globalized time needs to be complemented with ways to help listeners understand a wide range of accents, thereby challenging the native speakerism and standard language ideology of more traditional English teaching. In this paper, we share our experiences of promoting listener abilities in university courses in Sweden and the US, two very different teaching contexts. In Sweden, Jeong takes a truly phonetic approach, starting from students’ own pronunciations rather than a ‘standard’ model, and focuses on ability to comprehend diverse accents. In the US, Lindemann uses native-speaking students’ complaints about supposedly incomprehensible instructors, not as justification for further training of instructors who are already proficient English users, but as an opportunity to offer listener training to the students. Put together, these experiences provide a basis for reflection on the teaching of L2 phonetics and pronunciation in other languages such as Swedish, and the benefits of shifting some of the focus from speaker to listener in order to begin to overcome native speakerism and standard language ideology.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Lucek

The current paper aims to address how one English-medium school functions from the different perspectives within the school: the principal, student/teacher classroom interaction and the students. This approach allows us to see the power differential of the different stakeholders in a school and how iconisation, fractal recursivity, and erasure affect teenagers in Dublin. This paper presents interview data with a principal and the students in a secondary school. Taking a qualitative approach to these data, I show that standard language ideology is linked with economic disadvantage. The school principal’s approach to identifying, problematising and seeking to eliminate certain types of nonstandard language in the school reflects a standard language ideology and is consistent with a raciolinguistic approach to linguistic discrimination. The data suggest that the students themselves take a more nuanced approach.


Author(s):  
Charlie E. Cabotaje ◽  
Erwin A. Alampay

Increased access and the convenience of participation to and through the internet encourage connectivity among citizens. These new and enhanced connections are no longer dependent on real-life, face-to-face interactions, and are less restricted by the boundaries of time and space (Frissen, 2005). In this chapter, two cases from the Philippines are documented and assessed in order to look at online citizen engagement. The first case looks at how people participate in promoting tourism in the Philippines through social media. The second case involves their use of social media for disaster response. Previous studies on ICTs and participation in the Philippines have looked at the role of intermediaries (see Alampay, 2002). Since then, the role of social media, in particular that of Facebook and Twitter, has grown dramatically and at times completely circumvents traditional notions of intermediation. The role of Facebook, in particular, will be highlighted in this chapter, and the authors will analyze its effectiveness, vis-à-vis traditional government channels for communication and delivery of similar services. By looking at these two cases and assessing the abovementioned aspects, it is hoped that the use of social media can be seen as an integral part of e-governance especially in engaging citizens to participate in local and national governance.


Author(s):  
Verónica Baena

This chapter provides a better understanding of the impact that the Internet and mobile sports marketing are having on a business's ability to achieve customer engagement. To achieve this goal, the case of Real Madrid football team is analyzed, as it is calculated to have over 200 million supporters worldwide. Information about Real Madrid was gathered from September 2012 to March 2013 by repeatedly browsing the team's Website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and apps. Data from interviews of Real Madrid's marketing department published in business press and posts was also compiled. Additionally, a focus group was conducted to discuss the customer engagement of Real Madrid's fans. The findings offer new opportunities to get customer engagement. They also highlight the important role of social media to gain insight about the fans.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document