New media for Multilingualism Practice and Research Questions

New media for Multilingualism: Practice and Research Questions 5 th EUNo. M symposium Cor van der Meer Barcelona, 15 May, 2012

Overview • Fryslân • Mercator • Research • Social media in Fryslân

News • “Icelandic is poorly prepared for progress in information technology” • “The Galician government will promote the Galician language on the internet” • “Digital communication is an enormous enrichment for language acquisition” • “Kids get stressed because they ‘need’ to check their ‘mobile’ every minute”

Mercator Research Centre • Activities: • Research • Publications • Newsletters • Regional Dossiers • Expert databases • Network of Schools • Conferences & seminars

Conferences 2012 • June 20 – 23: International Conference on Language and Social Psychology (ICLASP 13) Leeuwarden, Fryslân • November: Joint European Expert Seminar with the Basque ministry for education and research

• Mercator Research Centre - “lead partner” 4 Partner institutes: • Aberystwyth – University of Wales • Barcelona – Ciemen • Budapest – Hungarian Academy of Sciences • Eskilstuna (Sweden) – Mälardalen University • Since 1987

Twitter & Facebook

Where to find Fryslân Visit Chinese delegation, November 2010

Language situation Fryslân Approximately 600. 000 inhabitants

Frisian Language Command • 54 % Mother tongue • 94 % Understanding • 74 % Speaking • 65 % Reading • 26 % Writing

Linguistic Vitality • • Allard and Landry (1978) Giles and Bourhis (from 1982 onwards) UNESCO vitality index (1993, 9 factors) UNESCO atlas (2009) • Euromosaic (7 factors)

UNESCO’S LANGUAGE VITALITY INDEX

Research questions • Language choice for communication on social media: – When (frequency) – How (technology) – With whom (social network) – Why (individual attitude) • Language proficiency • Language quality

Possible effects • Language awareness raising in younger age groups than traditional methods • Communication outside peer group • Increase of writing skills (percentage of self reported language command) • Improvement of the image of the language

Tri-lingual education

Social Media

Frisian Twitter Day

Safe sex campaign in Frisian

E-learning of Frisian • Edufrysk, E-learning tool developed in Friesland – For learning Frisian language – Familiarizing with Frisian culture – Initially for age group 16+ – For all proficiency levels – Dutch as medium of instruction – (future plans for an English interface)

Edufrysk / Structure • Language & culture learning through: – Text (according interest) – Music / songs – Poetry – Games

Edufrysk / defined user groups • • General interested public (30 -40 years) New students Students, already following course in Frisian Teachers Young people Root seekers Expert groups Language fanatics

Edufrysk / features • • • Personal profiles Virtual communities Expert groups Podcasts Possibilities for software conversion to other (minority) languages

Edufrysk / experiences sofar • • Successful Quick learning Learning strategy is intuitive and analytical Low demand for exams or certificates

International Research Project • • • Comparative research Language maintenance Participation Statistics Use of social media in the classroom

www. mercator-research. eu mercator@fryske-akademy. nl Spasiba Mersi dit Thank you Danke Tak Haristo Köszönöm Dzãczi Hvala Tige tank Teşekkür ederim Ful toank