A study of Chinese international students’ translanguaging practices and functions on SNS.

Abstract

Drawing on a functional perspective of translanguaging, this study examines how Chinese international students in South Korea strategically mobilize multilingual, semiotic, and multimodal resources in WeChat Moments and explores the communicative functions of these practices. A digital ethnographic study was conducted, based on an analysis of 303 WeChat Moments posts collected from seven students, complemented by semi-structured interviews and fieldnotes. The findings show that participants dynamically integrated communicative resources rather than a single language. Their translanguaging practices served three interrelated functions: expressing emotions and attitudes, constructing social relationships and community participation, and performing the self while co-constructing sociocultural meanings. The study suggests potential pedagogical implications for Korean language education, particularly regarding incorporating these resources into digital literacy and communication-oriented instruction.