A genre-oriented analysis of TikTok instructional discourse

Abstract

This study intends to contribute to the analysis of digital instructional discourse in order to gain an insight into how the EFL classroom has in some sense shifted online in the hands of amateur experts (Tolson 2010; Bhatia 2018), who create an informal learning environment by drawing on their discursive competence, disciplinary knowledge and professional practice. By incorporating quantitative, qualitative, and case study data, this article considers the value of genre analysis in educational social media research. It focuses, particularly, on the rhetorical and lexico-grammatical features of a selection of TikTok video mini-lessons targeting Italian speakers of English as a foreign language. Analysis of the data reveals that digital language teaching discourse on TikTok is a structured event with recurrent rhetorical patterns and linguistic features for achieving both pedagogical and promotional communicative purposes. The research bears considerable relevance given the need for the analysis of transformation processes in instructional discourse amid the widespread use of information and communication technologies and the advance of online learning.