An ethnographic study of digital translanguaging and transcultural practices among Algerian ELF users

Abstract

This study examines the way Algerians enjoy ample possibilities of translingual communicative practices using ELF and other communicative resources made available to them by Facebook during digital intercultural communication. Those unprecedented forms of communication that they come up with communicate not only meaning but also the intricacies of constructing different and complex aspects of their cultural identities. Previous research tends to be unidimensional when treating the subject of language and identity. They either are restricted to one linguistic phenomenon (e.g., codeswitching) and relate it to identity or put exclusive emphasis on one specific type of cultural identity like ethnic or national identity. Therefore, this study is dedicated to exploring Algerians` multiple possibilities of constructing different cultural identities through the use of numerous communicative resources to communicate with people who come from different backgrounds in a private Facebook group.
Data collection was achieved through the implementation of purely qualitative ethnographic means which mainly include: (1) online observation and (2) ethnographic interviews and these were supplemented with fieldnotes and a research diary. Within the framework of observation, I took screenshots of posts and comments made by or to address my main Algerian participants in the Facebook group. Then, I conducted retrospective follow-up interviews to reflect on their communicative and cultural practices on the Facebook group. Both content and multimodal analysis approaches were used to analyse the data because this allows the researcher to conduct a microanalysis of each post and its corresponding comments and elaborating interviews. The findings provided empirical evidence about how my Algerian participants combine an ensemble of resources using ELF in its translingual form and how their repertoires have become trans-digitalised comprising of elements from both the online and offline arenas allowing them to create a translanguaging space par excellence in which they freely construct multiple aspects of their cultural identities. The findings further explain how my participants position themselves in different religious, linguistic, and national categories and move from essentialist perceptions of themselves and the world around them to signalling intercultural and transcultural awareness through relating to the local, liminal, and global scales. The study mainly found synergies between the fields of ELF, translanguaging and digital intercultural communication to contribute to our understanding of the trans-digital repertoire and space and broader issues concerning transculturality and global belongings.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Dounya Boumaza: orcid.org/0009-0004-7036-566X

ORCID for Will Baker: orcid.org/0000-0003-0533-2795

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