The internet favors the development of flexible identities among language learners

A review reveals that the interplay between technology, identity, and languages involves and encourages multiple identities, language mixing, and support for minority languages

The Internet allows students of new languages to develop flexible identities, enabling them to mix native and foreign words, to vary them according to the context and to, increasingly, use minority languages. This is the conclusion of a review study published in the International Journal of Multilingualism, in which Francisco Javier Palacios Hidalgo and Cristina A. Huertas Abril, with the University of Cordoba's RELATED research group, studied 31 articles published between 2020 and 2024 to better understand the influence of digital tools (such as apps and social networks) on the identities of those who are learning new languages.

Based on the premise that the words we choose to express ourselves, our language, reflect how we present ourselves to society, and our identities, Palacios Hidalgo and Huertas Abril wanted to go a step further; specifically, to observe the role that the Internet plays in this relationship between language and identity and in a context of language learning. In this framework of multilingualism, the definition of identity through languages is related to the use of digital tools, is not uniform or rigid, and does not exclusively involve majority languages.

As they have been able to verify with their review of the most recent studies, rather than a single identity, several are used in different ways, depending on the context; i.e. an email written in a single language (formal context) is not the same as a post on Instagram or TikTok, in which several languages or codes are mixed (informal context). In the same way, those who learn new languages use digital platforms to experiment with "hybrid" identities; that is, they do not separate the languages they know, but rather mix them fluently.

What emerges are more flexible identities, as a result of which  the majority use of English is giving way to other languages. "More and more minority or marginalized languages are gaining strength and visibility on the international scene. Languages that 50 years ago were limited to a very specific geographical environment are now gaining momentum, thanks to technology," explains Huertas Abril.

Thus, digital tools serve as dynamic forums of communication with which to explore different languages — both one's own and new ones — and to enhance people's different linguistic identities. In the words of Palacios Hidalgo, "technologies give people many opportunities to combine linguistic knowledge that, in other contexts not mediated by technology, might otherwise not be used."

Technologies open up new opportunities for the use of other languages, serving as a complement to traditional language teaching. In this way, the study lays the theoretical foundation to establish cooperative alliances between researchers and schools within the framework of Europe's Pluridentities project, which seeks to understand how young Europeans make use of the different languages they know, and to advance both language policy proposals in Europe and more direct interventions at schools.

Reference:

Francisco Javier Palacios-Hidalgo y Cristina A. Huertas-Abril, “Impact of technology use on the construction of identity in language learners: a 2020–2024 systematic literature review,” International Journal of Multilingualism, 1–19 (2025), https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2025.2546506