Learning Languages on Social Media

In this episode of the Language on the Move Podcast, Brynn Quick speaks with Dr. Yeong Ju Lee about her new book Social Media and Language Learning: Using TikTok and Instagram.

 

This book explores creative uses of social media for informal language learning. It focuses on the underexplored area of how informal language learning adapts to technological innovations in two multimodal media-sharing platforms: TikTok and Instagram.

Drawing on ecological perspectives of language learning and spatial understandings of digital technology and learning, the research reported in this book unpacks how social media technologies are used for language learning. It presents insights from a dual-level qualitative methodological design: a comparative study of public online data of social media posts collected from TikTok and Instagram, and a multiple case study based on ethnographic narrative data gathered from participants’ journal entries, stimulated recall interviews, and social media posts. This book reveals the dynamic landscape of digital language learning that is being integrated into learners’ everyday lives through multimodal content creation and networking.

This book enriches readers’ understanding of social media’s role in language learning, and offers pedagogical strategies for teachers to integrate newer technologies and multimodal materials into language classrooms to enhance students’ learning experiences.

If you enjoy the show, support us by subscribing to the Language on the Move Podcast on your podcast app of choice, leaving a 5-star review, and recommending the Language on the Move Podcast and our partner the New Books Network to your students, colleagues, and friends.

Reference

Lee, Y. J. (2025). Social Media and Language Learning: Using TikTok and Instagram. Taylor & Francis.

Related content

Bruzon, A. S. (2025). Why “critical” use of AI in education might mean refusal. Language on the Move. https://languageonthemove.com/why-critical-use-of-ai-in-education-might-mean-refusal/
Quick, B. (2025). Researching Language and Digital Communication, with Christian Ilbury. Language on the Move. https://languageonthemove.com/researching-language-and-digital-communication/
Quick, B. (2025). Teaching International Students, with Agnes Bodis and Jing Fang. Language on the Move. https://languageonthemove.com/teaching-international-students/
Rillera Kempster, J. (2025). Centering people in technology-mediated communication. Language on the Move. https://languageonthemove.com/centering-people-in-technology-mediated-communication/

Transcript (added 02/06/2026)

BRYNN:

Welcome to the Language on the Move Podcast, a channel on the New Books Network. My name is Brynn Quick, and I’m a PhD candidate in linguistics at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. My guest today is Dr. Yeong Ju Lee.

Yeong Ju is an academic in the Department of Linguistics and the School of Education at Macquarie University. Her research interests include digital language learning and teaching with a focus on digital literacy, multimodality, digital spaces, social media, and AI. Today, Yeong Ju and I will be discussing her 2026 book, Social Media and Language Learning, Using TikTok and Instagram, published by Routledge.

Yeong Ju, welcome to the show, and thank you so much for joining us today. At the very beginning of your book, you write, “This book explores language learners’ creative uses of social media for informal language learning, that is not for formal institutional and instructional purposes.” Talk to us about the difference between learning a language formally versus informally, and what got you interested in studying this contrast.

YEONG JU LEE: Formal learning is usually like the traditional concept of language learning. So usually classroom-based, structured, curriculum-based, and usually teacher-led and assessment-driven. Whereas informal language learning is self-directed, everyday activities, and it includes resources like social media, digital platforms like video games and VR.

They’re not usually designed to be used as teaching materials. So, it’s not designed for learning, it’s more for recreational social purposes. So actually, everything started during COVID time when everybody was at home, right?

So, I just realized that everybody was doing a lot of social media things. And then I think that was the time when TikTok kind of made a huge hit, huge success over the world. So, people doing different trends all over the world that try to copy what other people do, right?

So, I just realized that people are doing a lot of creative content creation. And then at that time also I was interested in, okay, what’s going on in TikTok? And I started using it.

And I realized that, okay, there is a lot of language learning going on, right? So, I think at this point, we have to define what learning is, but it’s more like learning acquisition, like awareness of language used on TikTok or social media, right? So, I just realized that people do engage language used on social media, and they do exchange, so language exchange as well.

And then people like to comment on there about their digital content, things like that. So, I felt that, okay, so at that time, now it’s a bit different time. At that time, I felt like institutional spaces kind of shifted to everyday digital spaces and learners actually use and propose social media.

They’re not designed for language learning, for their own language learning spaces. And I observed interactions and participation of those users. And I see that this is multimodal.

This is multimodal communication. This is how people communicate in digital spaces. And language use and learning can occur in that area.

So that’s how I started. That’s how I started my PhD degree on social media, focusing on Instagram and TikTok, trying to approach to more younger generations.

BRYNN: With you talking about social media, and especially TikTok during COVID, I feel like that just gave me flashbacks that I kind of hadn’t thought about in a while. Like, do you remember during the beginning of COVID when we would see people doing duets and people from all different parts of the world doing these dance trends because they were all stuck inside? So, you’re right that that was really a time period where there was this huge boom of TikTok and this huge shift into the digital world because we kind of had to shift into the digital world.

YEONG JU LEE: But it’s a bit different time now that we don’t have to shift into the digital time because COVID is not around anymore. So, but then I think ever since that, like people kind of learned that we can use the digital spaces more actively. So now I realize that learners, they use social media within their daily lives.

So, it’s embedded within their lives. So social media use and learning through social media are embedded within their lives.

BRYNN: Well, and that brings me to my next question because when we talk about learning another language, we often discuss the idea of this word affordances. So, in our sphere, an affordance is essentially how a particular language learning tactic allows or doesn’t allow us to learn. So, what did you find are the affordances of language learning on these social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok?

And how do these affordances differ from affordances offered by a more traditional classroom learning environment?

YEONG JU LEE: So, affordances refer to what technologies enable or promote learners to do. And social media affordances, for example, we have multimodality that we can use text, video, audio, images, we have also instant access. So, we have like search features or algorithmic discovery.

We just open the phone, right? And then we just scroll down and it’s immediate. It’s immediate.

Like we don’t even have to actually do anything. So, like as if like social media actually have prepared something for us, right? And then once you start searching something like algorithm just starts working, right?

So, it’s all like depending on how you design your language learning spaces. So, if you search like, let’s say Korean, then algorithm will show you Korean content. And there’s interaction, there’s like comments and feedback people share.

And it’s all global participation, everyone in the globe. But the differences between TikTok and Instagram that I’ve realized that like depends on how people use them. So, TikTok, for example, when it comes to language learning, people often use it for pronunciation or speaking practice, because it’s a short form video.

That’s how the videos can demonstrate. Instagram, people often use it for grammar explanation, vocabulary, visual explanations, and like using the carousel learning post, where there you can post many images in one post. But then I actually Instagram does have video sharing format as well.

So, it’s quite different ways of interpreting the social media platform use. So, I think it’s when it comes to affordances, technologies are there, features are there. It depends on the users, how they perceive them, how they act upon them.

So, because even the technologies and features are there, if you don’t recognize them, if you don’t utilize them for your own ways, they are just there and you don’t get to use them. Compared to classroom, so classroom I believe it’s more structured. However, it may have a bit limited interactional patterns unless teachers intentionally put some engaging activities, but there are some limits depending on the classroom size, especially if it’s a large class, it’s quite limited when it comes to organizing engaging activities.

However, social media as we said, it’s spontaneous, it’s very immediate, and it’s very learner-driven, like user-driven, right? So, you can actually design your social media platform in a way that you want. So, your TikTok and your TikTok main page might be different from my TikTok main page, right?

So, depending on you and it’s very multimodal learning. So, you can use videos, images, texts, anything, just very multimodal and actively engaging with such multimodal elements.

BRYNN: And do you think that it’s that multimodality that maybe a traditional classroom is lacking in?

YEONG JU LEE: I guess that it’s more, I think there is a multimodality within the classroom of traditional classroom as well. Like, for example, like teacher talking, students talking with peers and group activity. Maybe like they have like fun activities, roam around the classroom as well.

However, social media, I think it’s a bit in a different way. So, it has a bit of less pressure and less organized, less organized and less teacher led. So, it’s depending on the learner, I guess that learner can actually decide the degree of multimodality as well.

So, if they want to include more, if they want to include less, it depends on them.

BRYNN: And that’s a good point that these learners, because of these affordances, they maybe have a bit more agency than they would in a traditional classroom. And this is a big theme that you identified in your data, was that language learners really appreciated this ability to have more agency through learning via Instagram and TikTok. So why do you think learners’ sense of agency was so important to your participants, but to learners in general?

And how did these social media platforms allow for this agency in ways that other learning methods might not?

YEONG JU LEE: Learner agency is learners’ control or manage their learning, and it’s up to the learners’ motivation. So, like motivation, autonomy, personalized learning path, that’s all important for agency, right? But I guess that for my participants, they were really interested in learning English.

They wanted to improve their English to live in Australia, so their agency was really strong. Their agency was really strong. So, they started following language creators, and they started save useful posts, and they replay videos, and they tried to like copy and mimic what the other Australians actually sound, and they tried to create their own content.

But this case is for those who have strong agency. But that’s the point of using social media, because social media are not designed for learning. So, people mostly use social media for their social and recreational purposes.

For those who don’t want to use social media, they can’t use social media, because it’s not designed for learning. So, you must actually exercise your agency to utilize the affordances and feature opportunities in social media. And I guess in general, agency is important in like not just social media, but in just general in your learning, right?

Because like motivated students usually have a higher level of proficiency or performance. And it’s motivation and confidence, and it’s kind of drives your learning all the way, because it’s a lifelong journey, right? So, it’s the agency that initiates your learning, and then it’s the agency that makes you continue your learning.

So, agency is important, I guess, in general, not just about social media.

BRYNN: I kind of want to go back to something that you mentioned before, which was, and you just talked about the idea of confidence in a learner. And a few questions ago, you had mentioned something about learners maybe not feeling as much pressure when they’re learning English or language through something like social media. Do you think that, because I honestly hadn’t really thought about that before, that people would potentially feel that intense scrutiny or that pressure in a traditional classroom environment, and that maybe learning through something like TikTok or Instagram is less pressure because you’re on your own?

Like you said, you are creating your own algorithm. You’re seeing what you want to see. Do you feel like the idea of a learner having less pressure on them is something that drew your participants to social media?

YEONG JU LEE: Yes. I think one of my participants might be a very good example for this. He emphasized that he’s a very introverted person.

It’s his word. He said, I’m a very introverted person. I don’t know what to do because that was probably just one month or two months after he arrived in Australia.

He said he’s very introverted. He doesn’t know how to approach people.

He doesn’t know how to explore Australia. But he really was motivated to improve his English. He really was motivated to leave and stay in Australia.

However, he got so much pressure and so much stress in the classroom. Nothing wrong with teachers or peers. It’s just the pressure that’s giving him that you have to perform well.

Because he also mentioned that he’s from a country and culture, where making mistakes is not really allowed. And then I told him, have you ever used TikTok or Instagram, social media? Just do whatever you want.

I didn’t really ask him what to do either. And then he just explored and he came back to me, this is crazy, this is amazing, because he started following these Australian creators and just picked up these daily life expressions. Daily life expressions like feeling like, I feel under the weather, for example.

Those expressions he never had to come across before. And then he just, I think one week, two weeks, he was just using the social media just by himself, just scrolling down, looking into the content and maybe picked up some vocabulary and expressions. And then one day, he felt that maybe I’m confident enough to say a word.

And then he used those expressions with his peers in the classroom with his teacher. And then also he just went to like a restaurant or cafe and then tried to like use expressions that he learned from the prank videos and like fun videos on TikTok. And then he said, this game is so much confidence.

That’s how that’s the one good example of using social media. And I think people may think about the intellectual depth when it comes to social media. Maybe it’s a surface level learning.

Maybe for some learners, yes, because it’s very short form video platform, but for learners who actually are in need, in need of that level of learning that works. And I think intellectual depth also depends on how you actually use that content. Do you maybe just scroll down that content and just like, just consume it?

Or do you actually maybe try to listen to it and then try to listen to it again and again, try to maybe copy the pronunciation or accent? Or do you maybe search in like Google Dictionary or ChatGPT to look for other definitions or examples that like maybe even like practical examples that you might be using in your daily life. So that’s the intellectual depth.

So, the learning in digital space, it doesn’t end in one space. It’s cross-platform language learning and it’s the connection between digital and physical spaces. So, you maybe pick up one vocabulary or expression from TikTok and that may end of your learning.

And we can kind of criticize where is the intellectual depth, where it’s learning, is it actually learning? However, for those students who have a strong agency, strong motivation, that person might explore the definition in Google Dictionary, as for examples in the Wikipedia, for example, or maybe even go to like ChatGPT and then say, can you maybe give some examples that are situations that I can use the expressions, or maybe can we do role play with the voice feature with ChatGPT? So that’s where we can discuss the intellectual depth of using different digital spaces.

BRYNN: Well, and it’s a really good point that not every language lesson needs to have intellectual depth because-

YEONG JU LEE: That’s also a good point.

BRYNN: Because it’s just as important, like you were saying, for a learner to gain enough everyday phrases and words that they feel comfortable enough to go approach people in a shop, in a cafe, whatever, and start to use the language. And then little by little, they’ll get more and more and more confident and then they can go into more, you know, “intellectual depth”.

YEONG JU LEE: Right. So like, I think there was a time people were really interested in using gaming or music, and maybe even play some movies in the classroom. That was all for that.

That was all for fun activities to make students be interested in more and more. Be confident, be motivated, so that when students have motivation and confidence, they can do something else. That’s all the sparks.

BRYNN: Some of the… Because my second language is Spanish, and so some of the phrases in Spanish that I remember most are from when I learned them by watching a movie in class, you know, or by listening to a song in class. So, you’re right that videos on social media, any type of social media, can encourage our learners, and that’s what every teacher wants anyway, for the learners to feel encouraged.

And another theme that emerged from your data was the idea of transnational collaboration while learning, which I thought was so interesting, especially in this case, while learning English. So, in the book, you describe how the comment sections of language-related posts would be full of learners from all over the world asking questions and seeking feedback. Why do you think this participatory element is so important to language learners who are reacting in the comment sections?

YEONG JU LEE: In traditional classroom learning, it’s important to participate. So, teacher and students, it’s two ways. So, teacher may deliver the knowledge, but it’s the students, up to students who participate, try to transfer that knowledge into their own, right?

So that’s what’s happening in TikTok as well. So maybe one creator post like multi-modal content in their post, and then other people comment on their section. Maybe those people just like, maybe they didn’t have to, like they could just scroll down and move on, right?

But they instead comment, which means that there was a curiosity, there was interest, there was a little bit of motivation of learning further, right? So, it’s very global interaction spaces, and all the people, all the speakers of different languages, they gather in one space. So, it’s a multilingual communication, people from different countries, and it’s also interesting when someone posts, they also like to comment each other.

So, commenters, they like to comment each other, and then they like to solve the problem together. So maybe one person asks a question, but then other commenter actually answer that. So, it’s very interesting dynamics in the comment section.

Also, they like to ask for clarification of pronunciation vocabulary. So, is that how you say? Is this correct?

Can I use this expression in this situation? Things like, so is it a bit rude, or is it appropriate to use in my work context? Things like this.

They like to have a clarification. So learning and social media is on your own. So, there’s no teacher, right?

That’s why I think they seek for clarification. Like, am I understanding correctly? Can I use this in my life?

So that’s what was happening in comment. And I think TikTok is just interesting. For example, it has its own feature of promoting interaction, like Duet, for example.

So, it actually made a feature called Duet, encouraging users to respond to another person’s post directly just by clicking one icon. So, this platform is actually designed to interact. And while interacting, we learn.

We absolutely learn through interacting.

And that’s the same for Classroom as well.

BRYNN: Well, and that, I think, is a really good point because I’ve taught English before. And I think any language teacher especially knows that in a classroom, because I taught adults, in a classroom, you’re going to have some students who are so ready to participate and are so ready to speak. They’re ready to go up to the whiteboard, you know, with a whiteboard marker.

And they’re ready to make mistakes in front of you, the teacher, and also their classroom peers. But like you said, there are also going to be students in the classroom who are not okay with making a mistake in front of other people. And they don’t necessarily want to ask a question that they really want to know the answer to because they’re afraid of maybe looking foolish or being wrong.

And so that’s why I thought that the point that you made about the comments section is so important because that’s almost a way for those students who feel a bit too nervous to make these mistakes in class, to seek clarification, to ask questions, and to be able to get their questions answered.

YEONG JU LEE: So, I think for classroom, it depends on how the lesson is designed. Of course, teachers will look into individuals’ learning needs and interests. It’s really hard for teachers and for students as well to make the classroom that satisfy everyone’s needs, right?

So, there will be people who are very motivated, they’re very outgoing, they like to participate and ask questions. They’re also students who are a bit less motivated in doing in that way.

BRYNN: And they’re maybe more introverted.

YEONG JU LEE: Yeah, that’s right. But then good thing about social media or any other digital space that you can use on your own is you can do on your own, at your pace, whatever you want.

And with a little bit more anonymity as well.

If you’re more active, actually, you might create your own content. But if you’re less active, you might just, you don’t create your own content, but you rather look at other people’s content and maybe comment there and go to other platforms like dictionary, Google dictionary or AI, just to explore your own ways of learning. It depends on individuals.

BRYNN: Yes, that’s right. You’ve got your choice. Exactly. And so, on that, in chapter four of the book, you write, quote, students frequently use the search feature on Instagram and TikTok to quickly find linguistic information on new words and expressions they encountered in real-life interactions. This helped them to overcome language barriers and to build confidence, to use new vocabulary while engaging in in-place interactions, end quote.

So, kind of what we were just talking about. And I think that anyone who has tried to learn a new language knows this feeling of encountering words and phrases in the wild and wanting to know their meanings and usages right away. And 4,000 years ago, back in my day, when I was learning Spanish, all I had access to were paper dictionaries, like no phones with internet yet.

So, I had to really ask Spanish speakers to define new words and phrases for me when I heard them. And like we were just talking about, this meant having to overcome feeling embarrassed about how much I didn’t know, and I had to be okay with making lots of mistakes in front of people. And so, kind of what we were just saying, I think that you described these learners appreciating, some of the learners appreciating the ability to be more anonymous about their language questions.

And did they find that they didn’t really have to ask people for clarification because they could just find their answers online? And if they did like being anonymous in this social media space, what might that mean for language teachers and learners who are in traditional classrooms?

YEONG JU LEE: Actually, my participants, their main purpose was using social media or any kinds of resources to assist their language learning. They want to use them in real life. That was the purpose.

Their purpose is, I want to improve my English so I can speak with my friends, and I speak with teachers and speak with Australians in Australia to stay and live in Australia. So, I think none of them actually wanted to just stay within digital spaces. So, like I said, now we live in a world where digital and physical spaces are just interconnected.

BRYNN: They are intertwined. It’s not just like, we already have long passed the time when we had to open the laptop to access the digital space. We live in digital space.

YEONG JU LEE: Yeah, it’s connected, it’s intertwined. So, when they hear some words that they were confusing, they just open their phone and then just search something, and then they would get definitions and examples. And the one good thing about social media is it’s very quick.

So, you could just see how it’s actually used in their practical and real life. And then when you actually encounter such real life in your life, you can use that. So that’s how they use search feature for seeking for clarification of what they encounter in their life.

And then actually the interaction happened vice versa. So, they see something on social media, and then they try to use that in their daily life as well. But obviously, like I said, social media is not designed for learning.

It’s not designed for education. It’s not also designed for language learning, right? So, when it comes to the social media content, is it accurate?

Like accuracy, it’s also up to users, right? So, like I said, some of my participants, they would explore different platforms, like including Google Dictionary, or ChatGPT. And some of them actually ask teachers for clarification as well, ask peers for discussion of to seek for clarification.

All these learning processes, right? But social media content definitely needs the clarification of accuracy because it’s designed for recreational purpose. So, some of the content might be leading to inaccurate use of language.

So, in such cases, yes, they need to. Actually, one of my participants, I found it very cute, but I think it was very stressful situation for her. She saw this TikTok video and then she learned that you have to say, “chill”, to calm down the situation when everybody was a bit like, you know.

BRYNN: But that’s very informal.

YEONG JU LEE: Yeah, that’s very informal because that’s what’s happening on social media, right? So, it’s informal language use and conversational language use. However, she learned that and then she used it to her teacher.

When her teacher was a bit upset, and then teacher was apparently mad, right? But however, teacher, she explained that during the lunch break, again, this is how I learned, and maybe it was a bit inappropriate, and then teacher actually had a further explanation of how chill should be used, and what’s the alternative expression that she could use in the classroom, right? And she told me that it was a bit stressful, but she also told me that after a week or so, she kind of thought of it, and then she realized that that’s her learning, right?

She now realized that something that she’s seen in social media, maybe she would look for more research, more explanations or examples. So, she learned that, okay, social media is really good because it’s giving me different expressions and vocabulary that I can use in my life because it’s very informal, very conversational and communicative.

It’s very useful. However, maybe those are the expressions that I might use with my friends more. And if there is anything that I’m not clear on, I can use other digital resources and even I can ask my teacher for clarification.

That’s whole learning process. How amazing is that, right? That she realized that experience.

BRYNN: And you’re right that that is a lesson in and of itself. That is language learning in and of itself. I mean, any of us who have learned another language, we’ve all made those mistakes before.

YEONG JU LEE: And also, she mentioned that, okay, that’s the one way of using the social media TikTok that is made in daily lives. But she also found that there are some teachers on social media. There are some teachers who upload teaching content, which is more appropriate because those teachers intentionally make that social media account and intentionally upload teaching account to teach and deliver the knowledge to students.

So, she follows some of the Australian English teachers and learned the more formal ways of language use as well. So, there are different ways of using social media.

BRYNN: And that means, like you said, that it’s up to each individual learner to check and to seek clarification. And you mentioned a little bit about, you know, ChatGPT as well, and how the learners have to check to make sure that what ChatGPT is saying is correct. Because we know that it is not always correct.

YEONG JU LEE: We’re talking about social media platforms, so maybe we focus on learning from social media, but there are people who learn from AI first. So maybe ChatGPT might be the first place where they access the knowledge. And are you, like those students, will they stop there or will they continue to explore further?

BRYNN: That brings me to my last question for you. Where do you see the future of language learning and teaching headed in this age of learning through social media or AI or these other digital ways of learning?

YEONG JU LEE: So, I think we live in a digital era with the AI as well. I think we’re at the time that we can’t really avoid. But as teachers, we guide students to use them effectively, ethically, and more appropriately.

I think that’s our job. Because even if we say, don’t use AI for these, like all these black points, and use AI only for these, all these black points, the same goes to social media. We actually don’t know whether students follow our instruction or not.

So, we try to guide them to use them more effective way, an ethical way, and instead of telling them what to do and what not to do, we actually try to include activities in using such technologies within our classroom, and so that students actually get exposed to effective and ethical ways of using. Students have more experience, more and more of using it more ethical way. Students will learn how to use ethical way, because giving them the list of what to do and what not to do, that’s not enough anymore, and that’s same for social media and AI as well.

That’s what we have to do in our education as teachers. Also, when it comes to social media ban in Australia, social media is banned for our children. My point of, like my whole this entire work, including this book, it’s not about promoting the social media platforms, but it’s about recognizing the realities of learners, the digital era that we live in, and try to engage with them critically and ethically.

For the primary classroom, for example, we would get the idea, take the idea of multimodal content and bring that into the classroom. It’s not like teachers or students have to make Instagram account or TikTok account. It’s not like they have to interact within that platform.

We got the idea from these platforms, and we take advantage from that idea to make our classroom more engaging and more multimodal. So that’s the whole point of this work, and I think same goes to AI as well.

BRYNN: I like that final thought of take what is good, take what learners seem to really be responding to, which is that multimodality, potentially that anonymity for the people who feel more introverted or scared, and making sure that teachers in real classroom environments know about these things that learners want as well, because then the teachers can bring those lessons into their classrooms and, like you said, tailor their lessons more for these students.

YEONG JU LEE: So, instead of downloading TikTok or Instagram, because we’ve already got the idea from those platforms, then maybe just a group of students, they would film their own videos in playground, in like corner of the classroom. And maybe like corner of the classroom can be like flower shop, cafe. And then they would like do role play of barista and customer like try to order coffee.

And that’s the practice of ordering coffee in English, for example. So, you can kind of mimic the environment of the digital platforms in your classroom, in your school. It can be outside in the playground as well.

You can do something fun for engaging for students. And that can be fun and engaging at the same time, educational as well.

BRYNN: Excellent. Well, thank you so much again, Yeong Ju. Thank you for speaking to us today.

YEONG JU LEE: Thank you very much for having me.

BRYNN: And thank you for listening, everyone. If you liked listening to our chat today, please subscribe to the Language on the Move Podcast, leave a five-star review on your podcast app of choice, and recommend the Language on the Move Podcast and our partner, The New Books Network, to your students, colleagues, and friends. Till next time.