I. INTRODUCTION
Translanguaging views language as a social practice rather than a fixed physical entity (Canagarajah, 2013; Conteh, 2018; Li, 2018). This perspective allows for a deeper understanding of literacy practices’ dynamic and fluid nature, particularly the processes of meaning negotiation that occur within meaningful contexts. Such a view emphasizes the ways individuals engage in interaction by drawing on all available resources as a unitary repertoire (Li & García, 2022) to express their voices and understand interlocutors. In this light, language and languaging (Swain, 2006) transcend the boundaries of verbal and written modes as well as named language boundaries, which are usually geopolitically constructed and tied to nation-states and institutional recognition, becoming socially situated practices that integrate diverse linguistic and cultural elements to perform social actions. The traditional view of language as a discrete, standardized system may limit both language users and learners in drawing on their full linguistic and semiotic resources, thereby reinforcing artificial boundaries between named languages that do not necessarily reflect actual language use (Saraceni, 2015). Such a rigid perspective often leads to pedagogical inefficacy as well because it not only restricts learners from utilizing their existing linguistic knowledge but also creates barriers to comprehension, expression, and engagement.
The emergence of New Literacy Studies (e.g., Gee, 1996; New London Group, 1996) has further broadened our understanding of literacy as a socially and culturally embedded phenomenon. With the rise of new digital platforms and social networking services whose meaning is also discursively constructed and socially determined, such as YouTube and Instagram, literacy practices have evolved to encompass multimodal formats that extend beyond traditional notions of written and spoken discourse. These platforms foster multimodal literacy, where meaning-making processes integrate various semiotic modes, including visual, auditory, and linguistic elements. Digital storytelling, often realized through multimodal formats, represents a translanguaging practice, as it enables individuals to engage in meaning-making by drawing on multiple linguistic and semiotic resources (Linville & Vinogradova, 2024).
A growing body of research highlights the interplay between translanguaging and multimodality in digital spaces. Translanguaging practices have been extensively studied in educational contexts where learners are encouraged to draw upon their full linguistic repertoires to facilitate understanding and expression (Kim & Weng, 2022). In multimodal contexts, such as digital platforms, these practices extend to the use of visual, auditory, and textual resources, enabling users to negotiate meaning across languages and modes and link out-of-school experiences with education (Blackledge & Creese, 2010; Cai & Fang, 2022). Studies on multimodality through the lens of translanguaging have shown that learners benefit from the freedom to creatively combine linguistic and semiotic elements, fostering both linguistic competence and identity formation (Im et al., 2022). Specifically, vlogs (video blogs) have emerged as a unique genre for exploring translanguaging and multimodal practices. Research has shown that vlogging provides learners with opportunities to practice authentic language use, develop digital literacy, and negotiate cultural and linguistic identities (e.g., Hassan, 2023). In EFL (English as a foreign language) contexts, where access to authentic English-speaking environments may be limited, vlogs offer a platform for learners to immerse themselves in meaningful and communicative tasks. Previous studies on EFL learners’ use of vlogs have demonstrated their potential to enhance engagement and creativity in language learning and positively influence confidence (Choi & Sinwongsuwat, 2024; Jin, 2021; Lazo & Kim, 2019). By integrating audiovisual elements with personal narratives, learners can navigate between their native and target languages, employing translanguaging strategies to communicate effectively and authentically.
The Korean EFL context presents an exciting site for investigating these phenomena. English is often positioned and taught as a tool for global communication in Korea, yet learners maintain strong ties to their linguistic and cultural heritage. This dual orientation fosters creative language practices as learners negotiate between English and Korean to express their identities and connect with diverse audiences. Using vlogs as a pedagogical tool highlights the dynamic interplay of translanguaging and multimodality, offering insights into how learners leverage their linguistic resources to navigate local and global contexts. A vlog exemplifies this personalized form of multimodal literacy practice, where individuals narrate their daily lives for an imagined online audience. This shift toward multimodality has garnered the attention of ELT (English language teaching) professionals, who have begun exploring the pedagogical potential of integrating these practices into language learning (Spring, 2020). Prior research indicates that English learners benefit from engaging in digitally saturated learning environments, which provide opportunities for creative and multimodal approaches to language learning. These multimodal experiences not only enhance learners’ linguistic skills but also contribute to the formation of new identities, allowing learners to explore and embody their second/foreign language through the concept of L2 ego and identity.
Among the various ways of implementing multimodality in ELT contexts, vlogs represent an up-and-coming genre. They combine audiovisual elements and personal narratives, creating a platform for learners to engage in authentic and meaningful language use. This study examines Korean college students’ creation of English vlogs, focusing on their narration of daily routines. By analyzing these vlogs through the lens of translanguaging, the study seeks to uncover how Korean college students’ multimodal literacy practices incorporate translingual features to negotiate meaning. Understanding the nature of their translingual practices highlights the dynamic interplay of linguistic, cultural, and semiotic resources in their use of English.
The findings of this study highlight five key strategies employed by the vloggers: the use of translingual words, the creation of code-meshed language, shuttling between genres, pronouncing words in a translingual way, and the presence of transmodality in using language resources. These strategies not only indicate the learners’ linguistic creativity but also reflect their ability to adapt their linguistic choices to the affordances of digital platforms. By documenting these practices, this study contributes to the growing body of literature on multimodality and translanguaging by showcasing how English vlogging assignments enable learners to engage in creative language-in-use practices beyond traditional classroom language learning. In the following section, previous research on this issue in the context of ELT will be reviewed along with translanguaging perspectives.
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
Despite the growing number of research on translanguaging in digital spaces, those on translanguaging in EFL contexts remain relatively scarce (see Pontier & Tian, 2022), particularly in settings where English functions strictly as a foreign language rather than as part of an actively bilingual environment (e.g., Im, 2020). While previous research has predominantly focused on multilingual contexts, arguably monolingual and monocultural EFL contexts, including Korea and Japan, where English is not commonly spoken in daily interactions and a shared national language dominates communication, have been underexplored in translanguaging research. This gap is particularly significant given that translanguaging is not exclusive to bilingual or multilingual settings. Rather, it emerges whenever speakers mobilize their full linguistic and semiotic repertoires, even in traditionally monolingual EFL environments that aim to conduct English teaching only in English (e.g., Li, 1998).
In addition to the general lack of translanguaging research in EFL contexts, the intersection of translanguaging and digital pedagogical discourse has been even more underexplored. While studies have examined how digital platforms facilitate language learning (e.g., Jin, 2021, 2022; Lazo & Kim, 2019), few have investigated how learners in EFL settings leverage multimodal translanguaging strategies in digital literacy projects. Unlike prior studies that primarily assess vlogs as tools for linguistic development, this study approaches them as multimodal translanguaging spaces, where learners actively negotiate meaning through a combination of linguistic, visual, and cultural resources. By addressing these gaps, this study contributes to a broader understanding of how EFL learners in monolingual-dominant societies engage in translanguaging through digital media, shaping their linguistic identities beyond conventional classroom practices.
The convergence of digital media with language practices has received significant scholarly attention, particularly in the context of vlogging—a widely popular form of video blogging that combines visual, auditory, and linguistic elements to gain audiences’ attention (Aldukhayel, 2021; Ho & Tai, 2024; Mısır & Işık Güler, 2024). As dynamic and interactive platforms that are realized in a multimodal way, vlogs create a rich space for examining translanguaging practices where speakers fluidly shuttle between and utilize multiple languages within a single communicative event (García & Li, 2014). For example, Mısır and Işık Güler (2024) examine vlogs as multimodal translanguaging spaces by analyzing a corpus of Turkish social media influencers. Their study demonstrates how these influencers utilize translanguaging to engage audiences, foster relatability, and assert cultural identities. By alternating between the Turkish and English languages, social media influencers bridge linguistic gaps, constructing a transmodal communicative environment (Im et al., 2022) that resonates among bilingual and multilingual viewers. Furthermore, Mısır and Işık Güler (2024) emphasize the pivotal role of visual modalities—such as gestures, facial expressions, and on-screen text—in enabling language switching. These translingual practices enrich the translanguaging experience, with non-verbal cues intricately complementing verbal interactions to construct meaning and sustain engagement (García & Li, 2014; Im et al., 2022).
Aldukhayel (2021) argues that translingual and transmodal digital literacy practices, including vlogging, represent effective approaches for ESL/EFL education. Both educators and learners have shown positive attitudes toward developing linguistic competencies through vlogging. Beyond linguistic development, empirical studies in EFL contexts highlight the potential of vlogging activities that positively influence the affective domain of EFL learners. For example, in a Thai university setting, Choi and Sinwongsuwat (2024) found that vlogging significantly bolstered students’ confidence in their English conversational abilities, alongside notable improvements in speaking performance. Specifically, in the Korean ELT context, research has examined the effectiveness of vlogs in EFL classrooms. The documented benefits include fostering self-directed learning, enhancing linguistic skills such as speaking and presenting, promoting intrinsic motivation, and encouraging active in-class participation (Jin, 2021; Lazo & Kim, 2019). In terms of integrating language skills, Jin’s (2022) study found that vlog activity helped EFL learners to engage in a main speaking activity by providing a pre-speaking stage in which they were given an opportunity to write before speaking. This writing-speaking integration in the vlog making context was found more effective than traditional speaking-only teaching. By repeatedly expressing their messages using both written and spoken modes, Korean EFL learners increased their English use and practice it, whose repeated practice led them to be able to reduce their fear of making errors and mistakes in an actual language in use. These findings consistently suggest that EFL learners not only develop heightened awareness of strategies for improving their language skills by writing and presenting their ideas in digitally mediated discourses but also bring their own life experiences into classroom activities. Thus, they are situated within meaningful learning contexts.
Vlogging has also been explored within the realm of critical literacy, in addition to linguistic and affective domains. Pederson’s (2018) research on integrating digital media into EFL education in Korea highlights the importance of utilizing multimedia to address Korean and global social issues in English education at the university level. Such approaches are said to help engage learners while fostering transformative educational experiences. Based on the previous studies, this study addresses these gaps: There is limited research on the translanguaging practices of preservice EFL teachers in vlogs, as most studies focus primarily on students. Additionally, there is a lack of detailed analysis on how multilingual teaching professionals utilize multimodal resources in digital spaces. Furthermore, it is essential to understand how future EFL teachers navigate their professional and linguistic identities through digital mediums.
Investigating this dimension of digital literacy among Korean EFL learners provides valuable insights into how translingual speakers mobilize their linguistic and cultural resources multimodally to express their voices. By understanding the translingual nature exhibited in these learners’ multimodal literacy practices, we can deepen our comprehension of how language(s) are utilized and how individuals engage in the process of languaging. In this vein, the research question that this study examines is as follows: What translingual strategies are evident in the multimodal literacy practices of Korean college students as they create vlogs?
III. METHOD
1. Research Context and Data Collection
The research context is an undergraduate course in which English education major sophomore students submitted vlog clips as a semester-long project. Their vlog assignment asked them to create a short video lasting approximately 5 to 10 minutes, capturing and narrating their daily routines. The assignment had to be made in English, but the use of the Korean language was not excluded. It was said to be evaluated based on organization and content, linguistic aspects of English, and creativity/originality.
A total of 28 vlogs were submitted and collected for the data corpus. The shortest clip was 3 minutes and 36 seconds, and the longest was 7 minutes and 30 seconds. The participating students’ individual English proficiency was not measured. However, they were expected to have a certain level of proficiency in the sense that they had taken various English courses at college, such as practical English conversation courses from their freshmen year and other courses that solely focused on improving their English skills.
Regarding ethical considerations, all students received information about the research, being told that their vlog videos submitted for the course were going to be used for research. They were also notified that it was voluntary participation in the research, and those who did not want their vlogs to be included in the current study could disagree with a researcher’s request to use their data. This notice was made after their submission that whether to participate in the study by allowing the researchers to use their vlogs as data did not influence their course grades. This notification was also made clear with the given information that the researchers were not involved in the grading process. The quality of the collected vlog assignments varied, with scores assigned based on the aforementioned evaluation criteria. But, no vlog video was excluded from the data corpus because all submissions included essential elements to be regarded as vlog, such as video, voice narration, and a theme related to daily routines. Since the study’s focus was not on the quality of the vlogs but rather on practices of translanguaging, all submitted videos were included as data.
2. Data Analysis
The collected 28 vlogs were qualitatively analyzed through the lens of translanguaging. As stated, the interest of the current study lies in exploring which translingual strategies were utilized by Korean speakers of English in their vlog multimodal digital literacy practice. Firstly, the researchers watched the submitted vlogs, each making notes on translingual interesting moments (Park & Im, 2025). These initial stages allowed the researchers to familiarize themselves with vlogs as a multimodal literacy discourse and thematic commonalities among submitted videos. Secondly, each researcher brought several scenes, discussing why the chosen examples were interesting in terms of translanguaging. This was followed by carefully determining and labeling what translingual strategies the selected scenes included based on Canagarajah’s (2013) translingual meaning negotiation strategies (envoicing, recontextualization, interactional, and entextualization) and transmodality (Im et al., 2022). Researchers’ own linguistic repertoires and translingual mindsets as users of Korean and English, along with their attitudes toward a translanguaging perspective, were actively utilized to understand and interpret the qualitative data in which Korea was specifically culturally embedded (Im & Park, 2024).
As for the translingual strategies mentioned, envoicing refers to the expression of a speaker’s linguistic and cultural identity through the strategic uses of their available resources. It involves blending linguistic forms and cultural elements to construct an authentic voice that reflects the speaker’s unique positionality. Recontextualization involves adapting linguistic and cultural elements to fit new communicative contexts in which they are situated. This strategy allows speakers to reshape language and cultural meanings to align with their target audience’s expectations, norms, or understanding. Interactional refers to the efforts made by speakers to establish rapport and mutual understanding with their audience. This strategy is characterized by responsiveness and adaptability, ensuring that communication is dynamic and audience-centered. Entextualization refers to the process of selecting, organizing, and representing linguistic and cultural elements within a specific textual or communicative framework. This strategy enables the speaker to contextualize their discourse effectively, making it comprehensible and relevant to the audience. Since Canagarajah’s (2013) translingual meaning negotiation framework was arguably based largely on spoken discourse, an online discourse-specific translanguaging strategy was added by referring to Korean English speakers’ transmodality (Im et al., 2022). Transmodality refers to the ability to utilize various online/offline sources, ranging from online translating programs to human resources, to understand and produce language. In the vlogs, transmodality was evident when vloggers used digital tools such as visual aids like captions, animations, imagery, and sound effects to clarify meanings or provide translations for their audience. Additionally, the researchers considered the EFL context, where Korean speakers operate within an educational and societal system that prioritizes English proficiency for global communication. This context shaped the vloggers’ strategies as they navigated both linguistic challenges and opportunities unique to an EFL environment.
The researchers’ paying close attention to instances where the students demonstrated envoicing, recontextualization, interactional, entextualization, and transmodality strategies allowed for cross-validation of observations and ensured a consistent application of the theoretical framework throughout the analysis (Merriam & Tisdell, 2015). For example, in the initial examination of the vlog data, the analysis had a moment of identifying a narration of the sentence, “We had a late breakfast at 찜질방,” accompanied by rice bowl and noodle emoji stickers (see Figure 5 below for a detailed analysis). Referring to Canagarajah’s (2013) framework, this was categorized as an envoicing strategy because the English sentence, incorporating Korean vocabulary written in Korean, is comprehensible only to those who understand Korean. This code-switching reflects the speaker’s intent to address Korean-English speakers by utilizing their available linguistic resources. It was also analyzed as Canagarajah’s (2013) entextualization instance as the voice narration was transcribed into a written subtitle without romanizing the Korean vocabulary. In addition to the Korean usage within the English sentence, visual elements (i.e., stickers) were incorporated, even though the speaker’s narration did not mention the visual elements. This integration of visual elements suggests the speaker’s effort to boost meaning by utilizing multimodal resources that are also culturally acceptable to make the spoken message visually perceptible. This practice and similar ones were examined using Canagarajah’s translingual meaning negotiation strategies first and later compared with similar cases both collectively by the researchers during meetings and independently by each researcher. The analysis focused on categorizing instances to establish broader classifications that could explain newly observed translingual practices in the students’ vlogs.
The coding categories were developed through a systematic content analysis approach for translanguaging research in the context of computer-mediated communication (CMC) discourse. This approach allowed for a comprehensive understanding of how students utilized multiple languages and multimodal elements to achieve communicative goals. Regular meetings were held 11 times, each of which usually lasted approximately an hour, to discuss discrepancies and refine the coding process. Lastly, synthesizing the findings into a coherent narrative that highlights the prevalence and characteristics of each translingual meaning negotiation strategy observed in the vlogs. The categories were developed iteratively, combining inductive coding—where themes emerged from the data—and deductive coding, informed by prior research on translingual and multimodal communication (Park & Im, 2025). Key features coded included instances of language switching, multimodal affordances (e.g., visual, textual, and auditory elements), and creative strategies used in meaning negotiation. To ensure reliability and validity, inter-coder agreement was established through multiple viewing sessions. Two researchers independently coded a subset of the vlogs, after which discrepancies were discussed and coding definitions were refined. This process was repeated until a consensus was reached, ensuring consistency in the application of coding categories. Drawing on the translanguaging lens, five themes were created by the researchers to explain Korean EFL preservice teachers’ vlogs in digital formats (Merriam & Tisdell, 2015). The coding framework was further validated through discussions that aligned with existing translingual research perspectives, ensuring the systematic identification of multimodal and translingual features in the dataset.
IV. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
The results of the qualitative data analysis reveal that Korean college students’ translingual strategies shown in their vlogs can be categorized into five labels, each of which is realized to carry a certain communicative translingual purpose. These categories are the presence of translingual words, code-meshing language, genre blending, translingual pronunciation, and transmodal resource integration. Each will be discussed in detail.
1. Translingual Words
One of the prominent translingual practices shown in the students’ vlogs is the presence of translingual words. Translingual words refer to hybrid, open-to-change vocabulary items whose forms and linguistic boundaries are flexible in that they are constantly produced and consumed in multiple places online (Ahn & Kiaer, 2021; Kiaer, 2018). For example, those who described their school life often included scenes showing breakfast from convenience stores. In explaining foods they usually have, whose practice is always culturally bounded (Laurier & Wiggins, 2011), food names were often translated into English and the students sought to find English counter nouns of the Korean food item vocabulary. As seen from Figure 1, a student’s use of Triangular kimbap and another’s triangle kimbap are an interesting translingual word phenomenon. Along with several spelling variations, including gimbap (Ko, 2024) and kimbop (Wong et al., 2019), all of which are used in authoritative media sources like news and Korean primary school English textbooks (e.g., gimbap), the use of one of the variations of the Korean food names in English shows that Korean speakers of English do not entirely depend on so-called standard norms of English by seeking for a correct form of translation but instead freely chose one from the variations to appeal to the imagined Korean audiences who easily understand what exactly the vloggers describe Korean culture they are enjoying without translating it into English counter words that might lose the nuance of the social aspect and nuance of the Korean vocabulary. The use of translingual words, in contrast to the direct use of Korean or English vocabulary—which will be discussed later—serves as an interactional strategy (Canagarajah, 2013). This approach allows those familiar with Korean culture, including classmates and instructors who were expected to watch the vlogs, to understand the content easily due to their shared cultural knowledge.
Another example of a translingual word’s spelling variation is in Figure 2 below. The vlog has a subtitle illustrating a student getting food in which the spelling of “dduc” from “dduckgalbi” is used to refer to the Korean voiced consonant [ㄸ][t] which is in another student’s vlog written as “tteok.” According to the Revised Romanization of Korean, “tteokgalbi” is the correct spelling. Nevertheless, this spelling variation of the Korean word 떡갈비 may not cause meaning confusion because of the shared linguistic repertoire between the vlog makers and the imagined audiences. Thus, this variation and the students’ use of it translingually by utilizing romanization of the Korean vocabulary reflects the fluid and dynamic nature of multimodal translingual strategy in which standard language in terms of spelling and English vocabulary items used to describe Korean phenomena is often set aside. However, communicative intent and appealing to the shared knowledge is considered more.
These usages of the translingual words go beyond the possibility of spelling variations for Korean food. This emergence of translingual words in Korean college students’ vlogs illustrates the linguistic fluidity and cultural hybridity stored and exercised by the English education majoring students who, as suggested by Li (2018), possess the intuition to utilize all the linguistic and cultural elements available. The students demonstrate their ability or subconscious capability to navigate their resources for meaning negotiation to describe Korean food as a Korean cultural phenomenon. Thus, by choosing whatever they feel comfortable and most available in depicting their daily routine in Korea to the imagined audiences (i.e., their Korean peers and faculty members in the department), the principles of translanguaging such as entextualization (Canagarajah, 2013) are realized for which the choice of or the mere dependence on the English counterparts in describing their own Korean culture was less importantly considered than other strategic options of enjoying spelling variations of Korean culture-based vocabulary. In other words, the case of mentioning food names as part of the students’ daily routine creates an opportunity to think of language differences in terms of global Englishes (e.g., Boonsuk, 2024) in which the romanization or the use of counterparts between Korean and English vocabulary, in fact, may not be effective or almost impossible to deliver intended nuance that is socially and culturally constructed.
2. Code-Meshed Language
Another interesting translingual strategy is code-meshing, which integrates languages seamlessly by translingual speakers (Canagarajah, 2013). This code-meshing reflects the fluid nature of language in diverse sociocultural contexts in which the boundaries of the named languages, which are socially and politically constructed labels but may not accurately capture the actual fluid linguistic practice, become less clear and regarded as less important. Instead, parts of named languages being mixed (e.g., Korean and English) and not following the traditional sense of language as a fixed and separate system, they are used as one unitary linguistic repertoire (Li & García, 2022) of English LX users (e.g., Dewaele, 2018), which emphasizes the fluid use of the available language repertoire by translingual speakers. Figure 3 below is a moment that describes a student eating a newly released noodle. In describing its flavor, the subtitle reads “a new 마라탕-flavored 컵누들” in which a noun phrase was made by the combination of Korean and English altogether. The vocabulary item 마라탕 in fact has an English noun-malatang. Instead of using the English counterpart, the vlog included a code-meshed adjective, 마라탕-flavored. Moreover, the modified noun 컵누들, which seemed to be a general noun, specifically refers to a product name Cupnoodle by the food company Ottogi. Thus, the choice of Korean vocabulary written in Korean was more appropriate to describe exactly what the vlogger was having. In addition, this example illustrates the student’s knowledge of word formation. For combining words, a hyphen between the Korean vocabulary (마라탕) and the English one (flavored) is correctly used to form a compound adjective to modify the noun (컵누들).
This shuttling between two named languages at the level of adjective and noun, along with the use of a hyphen in making, indicates that Korean college students are able to creatively mix and match their language resources, going beyond traditional language boundaries between Korean and English. In addition to the first finding about spelling variation (i.e., translingual words), this code-meshing strategy shows the way creativity is translingually realized by Korean EFL students’ digital practice that does not merely code-switch to compensate for their lack of English proficiency but is strategically employed as a result of their effort to deliver their own message more effectively throughout their own words.
In addition to code-meshing between the Korean vocabulary and the English one, many students’ vlogs also include moments of using Korean words in English sentences. This was often supported by the presence of emojis. Figure 4 and Figure 5 below are from a student’ trip to a city called Daejeon, which is famous for its hot spring, during which she stayed at a 찜질방 [jjimjilbang; Korean spa; Korean dry sauna] and had breakfast.
These emojis are almost always located at the end of the sentence after Korean vocabulary items are mentioned before them. While the hot spring emoji in Figure 4 is directly related to what was mentioned in the voice narration and subtitle (i.e., 유성 hot spring), rice and noodle emojis from Figure 5 are not the same as what the vlogger ate at the spa. Although the emojis added at the last part of the sentence were not exactly matched to the menu she had, the presence of them right after the phrase “breakfast at 찜질방” serves as a booster in a written discourse of the English subtitle (Hyland, 2005) through which its combination of a photo of the dishes she had helped viewers to focus on the intended message of the vlogger.
Using Korean vocabulary items within an English sentence is not a simple code-switching. As an envoicing strategy that allows them to display what language(s) speakers they are (Canagarajah, 2013), the students drew upon Korean vocabulary not because they did not know how to translate it into English. Instead, it should be understood as a strategic code-meshing at the sentential level in which their utilization of the Korean vocabulary or sudden change from English to Korean helped to express their intended meaning better, which might not have been expressed if they solely depended on English (e.g., Kaufhold, 2018). For the difficulties of multilingual speakers who seek to figure out how to describe their first language in English (e.g., Zhang & Hadjioannou, 2022), their bold decision to include Korean vocabulary written in Korean, in fact, reflects their strategic use of linguistic resources and their awareness of audiences targeted (i.e., Korean).
3. Genre Blending
As illustrated in Figure 1, numerous students’ vlogs incorporate “educational moments” in which they provide explanations of vocabulary items and idioms that might be challenging for their imagined audience (e.g., peers who are expected to watch and rate their vlogs) or considered significant for language learning purposes. These moments effectively recontextualize the personal narrative genre of the vlog into English educational content. For instance, as depicted in Figure 6, students conclude their vlogs by highlighting vocabulary items used in their narration, presenting them in a format that mimics English teaching. This includes providing key expressions accompanied by their Korean definitions, ensuring that Korean viewers, as the presumed audience, can better comprehend the English content of the video.
Similarly, Figure 7 demonstrates another example of English learning moments where key expressions are explained in real-time as part of the narration. While the vlog in Figure 6 introduces vocabulary items at the end, which looks like a review session summarizing the content, the example in Figure 7 embeds Korean explanations as the terms are mentioned during the vlog. This strategy minimizes comprehension gaps, helping less fluent Korean English speakers to follow the narration seamlessly without confusion. By doing so, the vlog employs a translingual interactional strategy (Canagarajah, 2013) that acknowledges and guides the imagined Korean audience, enhancing their understanding of the message delivered by the vlogger. In other words, the interactional strategy is the realization of the audience accommodation in which the preservice teacher vlogger’s awareness of the audience and their linguistic needs invited imagined Korean peer audiences to make the English content more accessible.
This inclusion of vocabulary explanations transforms the vlog’s genre from a personal narrative into English-learning content, reflecting the students’ emerging identities as preservice teachers. Although the students do not explicitly identify themselves as primary school English teachers nor aim to position themselves as teaching professionals in the vlog videos, their practice-based identity (Gee, 2017) as educators is expressed through their recontextualization of the assigned task. By integrating English language teaching elements in the format of listing English vocabulary and Korean definition familiar to Korean EFL learners into their descriptions of daily routines in the vlogs, these students bridge their personal and professional identities, which in turn showcases the pedagogical potential of vlogs as a tool for self-regulated language instruction (Jin, 2021).
4. Translingual Pronunciation
In comparison to previously mentioned strategy above, several vlogs showcased interesting moments of distinguishing oral language from written language. The vlog consists of language, images, and, lastly, sound. They usually include their own voice narrations that match the subtitles. In some vocabulary, several instances of strategically changing pronunciation were found. For example, a student’s vlog included the line, “While eating ramen, I saw dolphins swimming!” The word “ramen” here, although it was written in English and was voice-dubbed in English, was pronounced as if it was a Korean word “라면”.
This phenomenon illustrates the interplay between the speaker’s linguistic repertoire and their cultural association with the word. While the written form “ramen” adheres to English orthography and should be understood globally, the pronunciation “라면” in a Korean way reflects the speaker’s cultural and linguistic background, emphasizing the Korean origin of the dish that may differ from the Japanese ramen. Phonologically, the substitution occurs due to the speaker’s tendency to map the English orthographic form to the Korean phonological system, transferring the Korean articulation rules to the English word. Specifically, the English /r/ sound, which is a postalveolar approximant, is replaced with the Korean /ㄹ/, realized as an alveolar tap [ɾ] in initial syllable positions, aligning with Korean phonotactic constraints. This deliberate use of Korean pronunciation in an English speaking context suggests an intentional act of identity expression (i.e., Korean) wherein the speaker foregrounds his cultural heritage. Such code-switching and/or phonological blending aligns with translingual practices in which speakers fluidly navigate multiple linguistic systems to convey nuanced meanings, foster relatability, and probably even assert cultural authenticity. The multimodal nature of the vlog, with the combination of visual and auditory elements, further enhances the contextual salience of this choice, which in turn allows the Korean speaker of English to engage Korean audiences by blending the familiar (global English spelling and vocabulary) with the localized (Korean phonology).
Another case in Figure 8 is also translingually interesting, which can be seen as an example of hyperforeignism. A speaker in a vlog narrated, “We ordered 삼겹살,” where the Korean word 삼겹살 (a popular grilled pork belly dish) was written in the Korean alphabet Hangul but pronounced with an English phonological influence. The final consonant /ㄹ/, typically articulated in Korean as a lateral [l] in the coda position, was pronounced in an exaggerated English style that may resemble a clear /l/ sound. This modification of the original pronunciation of the Korean word aligns with the English lateral approximant, which creates a phonological shift that diverges from its native Korean articulation.
This language usage, known as hyperforeignism, occurs when speakers apply phonological features of a foreign language (in this case, English) to a word from their own language, often in order to conform to what they perceive as the norms of the target language. The pronunciation of /ㄹ/ as a distinctly English /l/ reflects the speaker’s awareness of English phonology but simultaneously reveals an overextension of its application in the context of English speaking narration. This shift may serve several functions, including an attempt to integrate seamlessly into the English-speaking context of the vlog, a performative display of linguistic competence in English, or a marker of hybrid identity that merges Korean and global linguistic practices. The use of hyperforeignism in this English vlog context illustrates the speaker’s active negotiation of language boundaries by mixing phonological systems to reflect the complex dynamics of English-Korean user identity, audience engagement, and cultural representation.
5. Transmodal Resource Integration
The last category of translanguaging in the students’ vlogs is transmodality (Im et al., 2022). Their transmodality specifically refers to combining body language with written language that already embodies features of spoken language and combining their texts intertextually with trendy texts (e.g., memes). In other words, a vlog serves as a translanguaging space that allows the students to express their voices by shuttling between different modes of language in which visualized non-verbal information enhances the vlogs’ intended messages (Verhallen et al., 2006; Vinogradova et al., 2011).
The first example illustrated below (Figure 9) shows that a student video-recorded her thumb being up (visual language) to indicate her positive reaction to the cake she ate, which came with an English subtitle (written language) in which a smiley face emoticon “;D” was added. Another example of transmodality (Figure 10 and Figure 11) is the presence of intertextuality. In this vlog case, the students included memes that were currently viral on social media platforms. Examples such as memes and pop song dancing choreography are strategically used because their meanings are implicitly shared in online discourse and easily understood by most current social media users, allowing the vloggers to avoid lengthy explanations of the context.
As seen in Figure 9, the screenshotted scene includes multiple components that deliver meaning, ranging from the written English subtitle, the video being played with the cake she bites, and her hand indicating her satisfaction with her narration voice. These combinations of written and spoken language, hand gestures, online discourse language of emoticons, and video are evidence of the vlog maker’s ability to utilize her resources creatively and in a translingual manner. This translingual practice boosts her message and invites viewers to go beyond and be more effective than her mere reliance on one mode, such as her voice narration.
The other example in Figure 10 is interesting in terms of intertextuality—using a famous SpongeBob meme as a transition signal of time and scene of their vlog. This student describes how time flew by using the closed caption, “(After doing assignment...)” with the meme of “A FEW MOMENTS LATER,” which may help fast forward the long process of doing an assignment with a meme and refresh the attention of the audience with a familiar meme among the audience to convey the intention of changing the topic in the next scene. For the Millennials and Generation Z college students, using proper memes at a proper time may help them quickly hook into the content and understand the speaker’s intention within the “digital connectivity” (Grundlingh, 2018; Vasile et al., 2021). Thus, memes are another form of recontextualization strategy of transmodal language used to communicate with the audience.
The last example of a remarkable feature of transmodality (Im et al., 2022) in students’ vlogs is the mixture of online and offline messages delivered in the form of dancing to the dance challenge on social media and ventilating her feelings in a karaoke dancing along to a song of a K-pop singer (see Figure 11). RIIZE, a K-pop boy band, an Instagram account dancing to their music on the left, and an English Education student’s vlog dance challenge placed on the right. This student intentionally juxtaposes the social media dance challenge with her own dance challenge along the same song and uses her voice narration to explain what this dance is about and why she selected this challenge to release her stress. This online/offline, music/dance/voice message, and video editing combining all different modes in one scene show how “digital natives” (Helsper & Eynon, 2010) naturally transform, transcend the limits, and move between different modes.
By applying transmodality to students’ vlogs, we tried to demonstrate the dynamic nature of communication patterns in the digital world. Student vloggers tend to naturally combine elements such as body language, written text, emoticons, intertextual memes, and diverse multimedia and social media platforms; these vlogs create rich, engaging narratives that resonate with viewers on multiple levels. Therefore, transmodality, as a strategy for translanguaging, may clarify how various modes and resources enhance efficiency and connectivity in digital vlog narratives.
V. CONCLUSION
This research explored translingual features from the Korean college students’ multimodal literacy project vlogs through the lens of translanguaging. The analysis shows how their vlogs include moments of translanguaging in which language boundaries become blurred and various resources are actively employed for meaning negotiation. Various strategies employed in this vlog multimodal discourse illustrate that the Korean EFL speakers, assigned with the task of making videos in English, do not merely depend on so-called standard English or an English variety that is often regarded as a native speaker’s language in use (i.e., American English speakers or English speakers in the Inner Circle); instead, they are able to creatively utilize all the available linguistic and cultural elements in a multimodal and translingual way and mix and match them. The college vloggers’ translingual practice in their literacy practice yield language that goes beyond the traditional sense of language boundaries and transcends assigned meanings, for example, in dictionaries. This is realized in a way that appeals to the imagined Korean audiences (e.g., Korean faculty members and classmates who are supposed to watch vlogs), going beyond code-switching in online discourse that often happens to serve to create exclusive identity boundaries between speakers of the same language (e.g., Lam, 2004; Sampson, 2012). That is, being in the vlog translanguaging space (Li, 2018), the students participate in a meaningful language experience, seeking to experience how to encode messages by utilizing culturally relevant linguistic and cultural resources (Hall, 2011). In conclusion, the analysis of translingual meaning negotiation strategies, as seen throughout the paper, tells us that, in addition to previous research on this issue that aims to promote EFL learners’ language skills through digital literacy projects, understanding the translingual nature of Korean EFL learners would lead to us to the direction that promotes literacy practices through which Korean speakers of English can acknowledge the importance and even the naturalness of utilizing what is available in dynamically expressing their voices and realize identities of English-Korean/Korean-English users (Dewaele, 2018) with translingual mindsets (Im & Park, 2024).
In comparison to and addition to previous research on vlogging in the Korean educational context (e.g., Jin, 2021, 2022; Lazo & Kim, 2019; Pederson, 2018), the current study indicates a possibility of using vlog as another educational opportunity to make visible translingual nature of our language in use. This can specifically provide implications for EFL teacher training, which often lacks sufficient opportunities for developing a translanguaging instinct (e.g., Tian, 2020). As shown above, integrating multimodal projects such as vlogs into preservice EFL teacher education can effectively cultivate a translanguaging instinct in that such projects encourage them to draw upon their entire linguistic and semiotic repertoire and thus foster a natural inclination toward translanguaging practices. By engaging in multi/transmodal assignments, preservice teachers can experience firsthand the benefits of translanguaging, which ultimately prepares them to embrace and implement these strategies in their future classrooms while also critically examining the monolingual ideology that remains pervasive in ELT (Deroo et al., 2020; Flores & Aneja, 2017; Im & Park, 2024). This type of training is also expected to raise awareness of literacy practices as a form of resistance against dominant language ideologies as well as those in ELT in their everyday literacy engagement (Canagarajah & Dovchin, 2019). Canagarajah (2013) has pointed out that translingual meaning negotiation always takes place within our mundane daily routine, placing an emphasis on the generality of translanguaging. Similarly, Li (2018) has also claimed that we have an instinct for translanguaging, called translanguaging instinct, through which our language in use creates a translanguaging space that becomes meaningful by contextualizing it. As we witnessed the project of making vlogs, the students naturally utilize various translingual strategies, moving between various semiotics and discourses, their knowledge of language and culture being used as one unitary repertoire (Li & Garcia, 2022). In this practice, such a use of the meme (e.g., “a few moments later” originally from SpongeBob) shows what it means to use language, whether to be the first or foreign, to the current generation to whom meme should be no longer utilization of English and foreign language material but instead use of online discourse language that does not bother their and viewers’ understanding of the meaning (to whom the Korean language as a first language should arguably be more comfortable) although such memes are technically written in their foreign language (English).
As stated above, the current study’s purpose lies in describing translingual features in multimodal literacy practices. Accordingly, there are limitations, such as the lack of inclusion of the content creator’s own explanations of their intentions and decision-making processes. Furthermore, the discussion could be enriched by examining how actual viewers respond to translingual moments in the vlogs. A limitation that requires further consideration is the potential influence of students’ English proficiency on the level and manner of their engagement in translanguaging. The role of high proficiency in English (and Korean) should be examined more carefully to make better sense of how translanguaging occurs in both academic and out-of-school literacy practices. Future research should address these gaps by adopting diverse approaches and considering multiple perspectives, including those of vlog producers, viewers, native speakers, non-native English speakers, and those who stand for or against translanguaging in the Korean ELT. Another critical aspect that this study did not address is assessment. Specifically, further investigation is needed into, in addition to how various resources are utilized through translanguaging, how they are evaluated. This issue is particularly significant in educational settings where strong native-speakerism persists in second and foreign language education (e.g., Huang & Chalmers, 2023; Wang & East, 2024). Despite these limitations, this study holds important value in highlighting the versatility of current Korean college students in utilizing multiple resources within the specific genre of digital literacy. For those seeking to approach Korean ELT through multimedia, the next step will be exploring how the translanguaging perspective can transform in- and out-of-class activities into linguistically engaging and culturally rich spaces, eventually bringing new dynamics to translingual practice.
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