What is trending? Promoting student motivation and engagement with viral content in the EFL classroom

Abstract

[eng] The main aim of this paper is to show how viral trends can be used as source material for the creation of activities for the EFL classroom. Firstly, the relationship between viral trends and teenagers will be researched, delving into topics such as the connection between young people and social networking, and how the mechanism of virality works. Then, it will first provide an overview of the most relevant theories of motivation, as well as strategies provided by authors such as Dornyei (1994) to make the activities carried out in the EFL classroom as motivating as possible for the students. Another series of theories that will be discussed deal with engagement, a concept related to motivation but for which specific research has been carried out by authors like Shernoff (2003), Zepke et al. (2010), and Gibbs and Poskitt (2010). Once these theories have been developed, a brief explanation of the relevant learning approaches within content-based learning, namely Content Based Instruction (CBI) and content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) will be developed. The theoretical background will provide a solid basis upon which to develop the didactic proposal. In the second part of this paper, the existing adaptations that have been made of viral trends for their use in the classroom will be explored, and the main strategies for motivation and engagement that can be found in these activities will be discussed. Finally, based on previous adaptations and the strategies provided in the theoretical background, an original proposal of activities which adapt viral trends for their use in the EFL classroom will be presented.