Design And Integration Of Visual Aids Into Chinese Language Learning On Instagram

Modern technologies and social media in particular have become an essential part of our daily lives,and the effort of using them to benefit language learning seems only natural.The current study was designed to analyze how a particular social media network,Instagram,can influence the process of Chinese language learning among a global community of learners.Within the course of three years,the author had tested a large number of tools to support Chinese learning online.However,very few of the discovered projects were entirely social media-based,and none of the research projects had focused on Instagram,a social platform for image exchange.Research design was based on the assumptions that a)content that is delivered to a social news feed,and is relevant to learners’ life,can have significant impact on learning and motivation;b)vocabulary accompanied by real-life,"augmented reality style" images can help bring learning closer to reality,and help build meaningful connections with the real world.Based on these assumptions and a stated research gap,three main research questions were formulated as follows:1.What kind of visual aids and activities can benefit Chinese language learning on social media?2.How do learners engage with these visual aids/activities?3.What kinds of visual aids/activities attract different types of learners,and how to cater to their needs?To meet the research aims,a 9-month course was designed combining the principles of second language acquisition,cognitive science,and social media marketing.It consisted of daily updates on Instagram and featured several types of visual content.The course ultimately attracted over 6000 learners,located in China and abroad.Content performance and learners’ engagement was measured and analyzed in two stages:activity during the course,and learners’ feedback after the course.Project activity was recorded in content logs and visualized via mind maps.Research data was collected and processed using quantitative(statistical analysis)and qualitative(surveys,interviews)methods.Major findings are presented as follows:1.Vocabulary posts,presenting new vocabulary items,received the highest number of likes and proved to be an effective tool for language input.Activity posts,designed to ask learners questions,received the highest number of comments,and proved to be effective for language output;2.a.Learners’ engagement with the content highly differs from learner to learner.Attempts to group different types of online behavior,based on frequency of likes and comments,revealed 5 groups:Passive observers(47.0%),Observers(37.0%),Active learners(13.0%),Strategic learners(2.6%)and Teachers(0.4%).Despite a relatively small representation,"teacher" type of followers has a significant impact on language learning in an informal setting.b.In terms of engagement with Instagram content,the majority of learners check their newsfeed every day(70.8%),look through both the image and the caption(100%)to a various extent,with 54.2%of learners reading it till the end.c.Learners choose to like a post if they feel they learned new things;if they find the information useful;if the post resonates with them,or if they are drawn by the aesthetic side.The decision to comment is commonly triggered by questions at the end of the post,a desire to practice,receive language feedback and correction.3.a.Background images help learners relate a Chinese word to meaning,relate it to the real world and memorize it.Among background images,inspirational(76.2%)and realistic(76.1%)pictures were found to be the most appealing to learners.b.Most learners(95.2%)found extended captions to be beneficial.Important parts of the caption were admitted to be the English explanation(87.5%),word or phrase’ use in context(83.3%)and character breakdown(79.2%).c.87%of learners found feedback given via comments important and useful,even though they never left comments themselves and only read the comments left by other followers.Feedback on language mistakes was viewed as the type of response learners enjoyed most(58.3%).d.All the learners(100.0%)enjoyed the use of emoji in comments and captions,and stated that emoji gave more visual appeal and drew attention.e.Review activities were found less efficient,with only a third of respondents being able to take advantage of reviewing via hashtags or mind maps,and 54.2%being unclear of their nature.More efficient review mechanisms for social media-based learning are required.f.Overall,the experience of learning via Instagram was described as positive,which was expressed in the interviews.Interviewees noted the effectiveness of vocabulary presentation,content relevance,post structure,and visual appeal.Regular updates also contributed to building consistent learning habits,and enjoyment of the format helped learners maintain motivation and continue with their learning.i.Community aspect was also regarded as important factor influencing motivation,as learners saw "Chinese learners together as a community" as "very motivating".j.Surveys revealed that the majority of learners joined the account via Instagram suggestions;this means that the platform can promote learning content based on the algorithm which takes into account such factors as account’s posting consistency and engagement rates.Use of hashtags and keywords also contributes to higher account exposure.Based on these findings,the paper further offers some pedagogical suggestions,limitations and research directions for future researchers and practitioners in the field of social media-based language learning.