ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics - Volume 173, Issue 2, 2022

Abstract

Korean pop culture is becoming more and more popular outside of Korea and Asia. This trend draws enormous attention to Korean culture, history, and of course, the language. Surveys show that more and more people are learning the language precisely because of their love for Korean pop culture. Such a tendency could not but affect how Korean is taught. In this article, I will look into how the syllabus, teaching methods, and materials used in the KFL classrooms have changed under the influence of Korean pop culture. Moreover, in order to identify if the use of materials related to pop culture can benefit students’ motivation and performance, I conducted an experiment with two groups of students, all starting their beginner-level course (three months). The results of the study showed how the use of such materials in the classroom can affect students’ motivation and attitude toward learning.

Abstract

Fandubbing, or dubbing made by fans of any audiovisual product, is a linguistically and technologically sophisticated enterprise enacted by many devoted fans. This study presents the case of Miree, a 24-year-old fandubber with more than 1 million subscribers on YouTube and more than 300 multilingual fandubbed songs. Using a qualitative-interpretive approach, we conducted an in-depth interview with Miree and analyzed her top 30 videos by views to reveal how Miree performed fandubbing, how she expressed her fan identity through fandubbing, and which were some of the implications of fandubbing for language learning. Results show that Miree realized both interlinguistic genuine fandubbing and intralinguistic parodic fandubbing, strategically adopting translanguaging to orchestrate a multimodal performance, engage her fanbase, and activate several informal language learning opportunities and contexts afforded by fandubbing.

Abstract

Previous studies have reported that the use of music-related activities (e.g. hand-clapping or songs) can help learners to acquire foreign languages. It remains unclear, however, whether music-based approaches help every learner equally or whether it is more beneficial for learners with a musical background, such as musical practice, musical abilities, or engagement in musical activities. In order to answer this question, we tested 80 French speakers whose musical background was evaluated using a questionnaire. They performed a word stress processing task in Dutch containing spoken stimuli, spoken stimuli with a beat, or sung stimuli. The results show that learners with some musical characteristics obtain higher scores than other learners and that the use of music in the task can favor learners with a musical background.

Abstract

There is currently little information about the kinds of foreign language pop music, songs and activities used by language learners in informal learning contexts. This systematic analysis provides an overview of research from 2010–2020 in an attempt to describe how foreign language learners find, listen to, and engage with pop songs from another country or culture and how this can lead to increased informal language learning, using qualitative observations and interview responses found in published articles to conduct thematic analysis using grounded theory. Thematic analysis resulted in six themes within the peer-reviewed qualitative journal articles, and we argue that more research is needed into learner perspectives and about how learners engage autonomously with L2 pop music in informal language learning.

Abstract

The Global Englishes Language Teaching (GELT) paradigm has recently emerged as a comprehensive approach that aims to bring together innovative pedagogical proposals. This paper argues that pop culture materials such as telecinematic representations can purposefully be integrated into innovative GELT-oriented classroom practices. The use of this material can assist teachers in the double task of (i) raising the learners’ critical awareness of sociolinguistic variation and problematizing the stereotypical image of monolithic English; (ii) shifting the focus of the ELT classroom from prescriptive grammar and standard English towards fostering the learners’ receptive and communicative skills. This is a conceptual paper that gives several broad suggestions as to how to adopt pop culture materials into innovative GELT-oriented classroom practice and mentions a select few examples of said telecinematic representations.

This article reviews Pop culture in language education: Theory, research, practice9780367365417