Facebook to Facebook Encounters in Japan: How an Online Social Network Promotes Autonomous L2 Production

Abstract

Norton (2000, 2001), and Kanno and Norton (2003) launched an ongoing discussion on L2 use motivated through imagined communities of practice across various domains; however, there is a lack of investigation of this framework in relation to new media such as social networking services (SNSs). This study supports the primacy of the relationship between affinity with a larger international community of English users and communication through L2 English on a social network. Online social networking has become international for the first time with the recent global expansion of Facebook. This new domain of social networkers across physical and linguistic borders has greatly fueled the dominance of English as a lingua franca for online communication. Although most of my students, English majors in a Japanese university, communicate using exclusively their L1 (Japanese) on Facebook, a number of my students also actively use their L2 (English). This study examines the type of English used on the Facebook status update pages of 50 Japanese university English majors. About three-quarters of those students completed a survey about their use of English on social networking services (SNSs), and a small subgroup was interviewed. The study results show that students who use Facebook and Twitter increase their L2 use, even in communication with Japanese peers. Although these students felt comfortable using the L2 on Facebook or Twitter, they generally failed to use the L2 in face-to-face communication. Facebook’s association with English along with the informality of the medium contributed to the students’ desire to use their L2.

1 Appendix

Social Network Survey

• 1. What is your name? 名前はなんですか。

• 2. What year are you at NUCB? 名商大の安然生ですか。

• 3. What city were you born in? 生まれた都市はどこですか。

• 4. What city did you grow up in? 育った都市はどこですか。

• 5. Did you ever study at an international school in Japan? If yes, where and for how long?

• 6. Parent’s occupations:

  • (a) What is your father’s occupation? お父さんの仕事はなんですか。

  • (b) What is your mother’s occupation? お母さんの仕事はなんですか。

• 7. List your experience overseas. (Where? What year? How long? Purpose?)

  海外の経験を例挙してください。(どこ?なんねん?どんなぐらい?目的?)

• 8. How often do you use…? どんなぐらいの頻度でそれぞれのソーシャルネットワークを使いますか。

  	Everyday 毎日	Once a week 週にー度	Once a month 月ごと	Rarely めったにない	Never 使わない
  Facebook
  LINE
  sms
  Twitter
  Other network 他のネットワーク

• 9. Who do you communicate with on social networks? 誰と会話しますか。

  	Japanese friends 日本人の友達	Japanese teachers/staff 日本人と先生と職員	Foreign friends 外国人の友達	Foreign teachers/staff 外国人先生と職員	Family members 家族や親戚
  Facebook
  LINE
  sms
  Twitter
  Other network 他のネットワーク

• 10. What languages do you often use? To whom? よく使う言語は何ですか。だれに?

  	Japanese friends 日本人の友達	Japanese teachers/staff 日本人と先生と職員	Foreign friends 外国人の友達	Foreign teachers/staff 外国人先生と職員	Family members 家族や親戚
  Facebook
  LINE
  sms
  Twitter
  Other network 他のネットワーク

  1. The respondent can select English 英語, Japanese 日本語, English & Japanese 英語と日本語, Other 他, or I do not use 使わない

2 Responses to Social Network Use Questions

Responses to Question10

Percentages based on “Total responses” minus “Not applicable” to show language distribution for declared users of each social network.