[Webinar] Claiming the right to speak in the digital world: Identity, investment and power

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https://hkbu.zoom.us/j/97048259570

Meeting ID: 970 4825 9570

Perhaps the greatest paradox of the discourses of globalization and technology is that despite increased mobility and connectivity, new modes of control continue to emerge, concealed in metaphors of flow and convergence. As learners move across online and offline spaces, mechanisms of power operate in often invisible ways through human and non-human interactants, amplifying the voices of some while silencing others. Drawing on data from various studies I have conducted, I argue that as multilingual speakers of different social class positions negotiate their identities online, they can be positioned by others within shifting orders of indexicality (Blommaert, 2010). Gatekeepers of online cultures can determine the extent to which learners’ resources are valued, while the sociotechnical designs of these ideological spaces can program sociality in ways that exclude others. By developing an online communicative competence, a sens pratique (Bourdieu, 1986), learners can invest in online practices that enable them to assert their legitimate place in the digital world and claim the right to speak.

Ron Darvin is an Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics at the English Department of The Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research areas include identity and investment in language learning, digital literacies and critical pedagogy. He has published articles in journals such as Language Teaching, Annual Review of Applied Linguistics and TESOL Quarterly. He is a recipient of the 2017 LSP SIG Emerging Scholar Award of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and a co-recipient of the 2016 Award for Distinguished Research of the TESOL International Association.