#BookTok’s Peer Pedagogies: Invitations to Learn About Books and Reading on TikTok

Abstract

This article extends the idea of media pedagogies to consider how TikTok provides a site of social learning about books and reading. It uses the concept of “peer pedagogies” to identify how the #BookTok hashtag is used to invite book and reading enthusiasts to take up learning positions. The article uses an exploratory approach to identify contrasting videos in which learning about books and reading is made available, and it undertakes an in-depth content and semiotic analysis of three videos to consider how learning is framed in different ways. The article is informed by Bernstein’s theorization of pedagogical classification and framing, which relates to how knowledge and skills are institutionally defined, and how knowledge is made available along a continuum of greater and less formality. This approach enables a consideration of the learning positions available to members of the #BookTok community as they engage with the videos. The article shows how #BookTok creators make deliberate creative and pedagogical choices to use TikTok’s affordances to share knowledge and skills as a form of public media pedagogy and service to the #BookTok community. In addition, it argues that the sharing of knowledge and skills between people who share a passion and interest in books and reading contributes to the videos’ popularity and success.