The Web as a Participatory Environment: Social Networks and “Memes” from a Teacher’s Perspective

The aim of this chapter is to study the use of English as a lingua franca (ELF) on the Internet and focus on the spread of memes as an example of the creative innovations introduced by the impact of social networks on informal discourse. Since the advent of Web 2.0, online interaction and intercultural communication via ELF have grown globally, leading to the creation of cyber communities, whose members are drawn together by shared interests and common goals. Following Lantolf and Thorne (2006: 67), it is claimed that the World Wide Web should be included in the list of settings where developmental processes take place, hence it would seem appropriate to consider ELF as a cultural artifact that allows ‘Internet-mediated communication’. However, considering ELF speakers as members of a community is a highly controversial issue, especially if we take into consideration the double identity of most non-native speakers (NNSs) of English, who are both EFL learners (i.e. students living in countries where English is not the L1, and who are attending or used to attend institutional language courses at school or university), and ELF users (when they use English as a contact language within authentic communicative contexts, e.g. the Web). The conflicting ideas behind the academic debate on the nature of EFL (English as a Foreign Language), ELF and the NNSs’ identity seem to leave no space for compromise. Nonetheless, it is suggested that a Vygotskyan approach to language learning may reconcile these opposing views and provide the appropriate key to interpret complex sociolinguistic phenomena such as those referred to here.