Memes and identity in language teacher education
Boris Vázquez-Calvo, Alba Paz-López & Sergio Rey-Godoy · Language Learning & Technology, 29(1), 1-27
DOI: 10.64152/10125/73620
Overview
My work on digital literacies examines how people learn, teach, communicate and construct identities through digital, multimodal and platform-mediated practices.
Digital literacies are central to contemporary language education. Learners and teachers no longer encounter languages only through textbooks, classroom interaction or institutional materials. They read, write, listen, speak, remix, translate, comment, search, caption, meme, post and interact across platforms, social media, fan communities, video-sharing sites, gaming spaces and AI-mediated environments.
My research approaches digital literacies as socially situated practices. This means that digital literacy is not reduced to technical skill or tool use. It involves participation, identity, genre, multimodality, platform awareness, critical interpretation, linguistic choice and the ability to move across formal, informal and interest-driven spaces for language learning.
In language education, this perspective opens up questions about how learners engage with online discourse, how future teachers understand digital communication, how memes and fan practices can support reflection, and how digital environments reshape the boundaries between academic and vernacular literacy practices.
Research themes
This topic connects my work on literacy practices, digital discourse, participatory cultures and teacher education.
Literacy practices
Digital reading and writing
How learners read, write, interpret, evaluate and produce texts in digital environments, including online sources, multimodal texts, social platforms and classroom technologies.
Online discourse
Participation and identity
How language learners and teachers construct identities, affiliations and stances through digital communication, comments, posts, videos, memes and platform interaction.
Multimodality
Memes and multimodal texts
How memes, images, captions, humour and multimodal composition can become resources for language learning, reflection and teacher identity work.
Platforms
Platform-mediated learning
How digital platforms shape what learners see, do, produce and value, and how they mediate informal and formal opportunities for language learning.
Teacher education
Digital literacies for teachers
How future language teachers can critically understand, design and evaluate pedagogical practices that involve digital tools, online genres and learner participation.
Criticality
Critical digital literacy
How language education can address credibility, authorship, algorithmic visibility, platform power, multimodal persuasion and ethical participation online.
Related publications
Selected publications connected to digital literacies, online discourse, memes, platforms, multimodality and language teacher education.
Literacidades digitales
Boris Vázquez-Calvo & Germán Canale · The Routledge Handbook of Multiliteracies for Spanish Language Teaching, 299-313
A scoping review of digital literacies in language teacher education
Boris Vázquez-Calvo & Alba Paz-López · Internet al servicio de la modernidad / Internet at the Service of Modernity
The online ecology of literacy and language practices of a gamer
Boris Vázquez-Calvo · Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 21(3), 199-212
Teaching and open materials
My work on digital literacies also informs teacher education, workshops and open educational resources.
Open educational resource
Fan-Based Learning in Language Education
An open educational resource on fan practices, participatory culture, fanfiction, fansubbing, cosplay, podcasts, vlogs and digital ethics for language education.
Teacher education
Digital literacies for future language teachers
In teaching and supervision, I work with future educators on digital discourse, multimodal texts, online genres, AI, fandom, language didactics and critical digital pedagogy.