“We learned a ton!”: Web 3.0 for second language critical discourse studies

While access to technology presents language learners with a view of the second language (L2) and culture that is very broad and current, foreign language curricula tend to be outdated and much narrower in scope, and they usually do not incorporate critical perspectives. Following the lead of researchers who seek to use education as a bottom-up method of achieving social justice, this case study of two students used Web 3.0 resources (especially Facebook [FB]) to integrate critical pedagogy (CP) and critical discourse studies (CDS) into an intermediate foreign language course. The purpose was to raise students’ critical awareness of sociopolitical issues while enhancing their agency and involvement. The students were trained in using CDS to study L2 discourses and in engaging collaboratively in dialogues in class and on FB. Close analysis of four major themes in the two students’ nuanced responses on eight data collection tasks over the semester shows that although they did well on the departmental assessments of expected progress, they also became comfortable at different rates and to varying degrees with CP/CDS and the dynamic nuances of language and culture. In this way, they developed a cohesive understanding of the ideologies embedded in L2 discourse.