Using the Community of Inquiry framework to analyze emojis as an emerging language in an online educational experience via WhatsApp

Autores/as

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-460X202238252396

Palabras clave:

Community of Inquiry, Emoji usage, Mobile Learning, WhatsApp.

Resumen

With the ever-growing interest in WhatsApp as a social space to accommodate pedagogical initiatives, the role of emojis as an emergent Internet language in this social space needs to be better understood as mobile technologies have been integrated in education. With that in mind, this paper reports a study that employed an embedded correlational mixed methods design, and aimed to identify: the emojis used to support cognitive, teaching, and social presences in a teacher education course via WhatsApp; participants’ attitudes regarding the use of emojis, and their age and gender relation to this use. The data generated from the interactions of the teachers via WhatsApp were analyzed and discussed based on Garrison et al.’s (1999) Community of Inquiry Model. This conceptual framework identifies crucial elements for successful online educational experiences and assumes learning occurs through the interaction of three core elements: social, cognitive and teaching presences. The findings show that emojis can effectively be used to support teaching, cognitive, and social presences. The high frequency of emojis seem to be both culturally situated and gender related.

Biografía del autor/a

Junia Braga, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Belo Horizonte, MG

Junia de Carvalho Fidelis Braga holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics, with emphasis on Language and Technology, from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). Junia is a professor of English and Applied Linguistics at the same institution. The tenets of her research are complexity theory, communities of practice, autonomy, Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) as well mobile learning.

Glenda Gunter, University of Central Florida Orlando, FL

Dr. Glenda Gunter is Program Facilitator for the Educational Technology and eLearning programs at the University of Central Florida. She is nationally and internationally recognized as an authority on technology integration in PK-20 classrooms. She has coauthored many books and published extensively on the subject. She specializes in online and blended learning, instructional design, digital media technologies, curriculum design, mobile learning, curriculum technology integration, digital narratives, and differentiated instructional interventions. Dr. Gunter publishes and presents nationally and internationally on these critical issues for all levels of education and training.

Jennifer Reeves, Nova Southeastern University Fort Lauderdale, FL

Dr Jennifer Reeves is the Director of Dissertation Support Services and an Associate Professor at the Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice (FCE & SCJ) at Nova Southeastern University. Dr Reeves received her PhD in Educational Psychology, with emphases in Sport Psychology, Counseling Psychology, and Statistics and Measurement, from Florida State University. Dr Reeves specializes in developing strategies to support doctoral students and teaches research and statistics courses. Her research interests include instructional technology, distance education, mobile learning, and attention and performance. She regularly presents at national conferences and recently had two articles accepted for publication, Online professional development embedded with mobile learning: An examination of teachers’ attitudes, engagement, and dispositions in the British Journal of Educational Technology; and Mobile learning in Pre-kindergarten: Using student feedback to inform practice in the Journal of Educational Technology & Society.

Marcos Racilan, Federal Center for Technological Education of Minas Gerais Belo Horizonte, MG

PhD in Language Studies.

EFL professor in undergraduate courses, and in Vocational and Technological Education.

Department of Language and Technology.

Citas

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Publicado

2023-09-09

Cómo citar

Braga, J., Gunter, G., Reeves, J., & Racilan, M. (2023). Using the Community of Inquiry framework to analyze emojis as an emerging language in an online educational experience via WhatsApp. DELTA: Documentação E Estudos Em Linguística Teórica E Aplicada, 38(2). https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-460X202238252396

Número

Vol. 38 Núm. 2 (2022): Número Regular

Sección

Articulos