Vandergriff takes on grammar trolls
It’s become easier than ever to communicate with people of other language backgrounds. For foreign language learners, social media offer anytime access to spaces where they can connect with native speakers. Professor of German Ilona Vandergriff has been studying such interactions since the ’90s. It turns out that in social media, language learners are not always treated as full participants. Even in spaces like Reddit, which are open to anyone with an internet connection, nitpicky grammar trolls act like gatekeepers. In a new paper recently published in the interdisciplinary journal Critical Multilingualism Studies https://cms.arizona.edu/index.php/multilingual/article/view/209/318, Vandergriff zooms in on one young language learner who pushes back against pedantic trolls and the tyranny of the native speaker. Above all, Vandergriff’s analysis is compelling because it shows how social media can raise awareness of hidden language-based ideologies while inspiring and empowering language learners.
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