Call for Articles
Social media have become an indispensable part of most people’s everyday lives. Digital platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram and Co. offer the possibility to communicate quickly, directly, and multimodally, which dynamically changes the communication behavior of the speech community and leads to transformations in communicative practices (cf. Eckkrammer 2018). This affects not only personal communication but also areas of public life, such as political dialogue, advertising, sports, and so on. Negative aspects of internet-based communication, such as the phenomenon of hate speech, are also amplified by the “pseudo-anonymous” authorship of posts, especially in social networks. Such dynamic communication behavior forms the basis of current research in various scientific disciplines, including (Romance) Linguistics and Foreign Language Learning and Teaching.

Recent research in the field of (Romance) Linguistics (for French, cf. Rentel/Schröder 2018; for Spanish, cf. Giammatteo/Gubitosi/Parini 2017) has increasingly addressed the importance of social media, bringing very different research aspects to the fore, such as the formation of digital text types (cf. Rentel et al. 2014; Wenz 2017); multilingualism in computer-mediated communication (cf. Ueberwasser/Stark 2017); media-specific variation (cf. Jakob, in prep.) or general media linguistic issues (cf. Thaler 2003; Baechler et al. 2016); the phenomenon of code-switching (cf. Franko 2019); grammatical structures (cf. e.g. Recio Diego/Tomé Cornejo 2017); the use of graphic elements (cf. Dürscheid/Meletis 2019; Dürscheid 2020a; 2020b); as well as political language in social networks like Facebook and Twitter (cf. Mencke 2018; Visser 2018; Hesselbach, submitted), which attempt, among other things, to uncover and describe strategies of political language use with the help of discourse analytic methods (cf. Eibensteiner, submitted). However, social media are not only used by politicians to influence the formation of public opinion; activists are also increasingly resorting to the same channels of communication. For example, the Catalan independence movement is largely organized via social networks. The latter also offer the opportunity to actively use a regional and/or minority language, which can possibly counteract impending language decline or else advance the process of normalization and standardization (cf. Tölke 2015; Erhart 2020).

In addition to the linguistic issues outlined above, (Romance) Foreign Language Learning and Teaching has also begun exploring the potential offered by digitization and associated social media for learning and teaching new languages (cf. Burwitz-Melzer/Riemer/Schmelter 2019). The possibilities for using social media in (analog, digital, or hybrid) foreign language teaching are manifold. They range from social networks, microblogging services, blogs, and forums to tools for web conferencing to learning apps and learning platforms (cf. Brocca 2020). Researchers generally agree that social networks have high didactic-methodological value, as they are directly linked to the students’ lifeworld, provide authentic input, and thus enable linguistic rehearsal in authentic communication situations. A critical analysis of the functioning of social media and the language(s) used in them also offers the opportunity to develop digital literacy (cf. Hobbs 2011) or social media literacy (cf. Alvermann 2017), especially in the school context. These competencies are becoming increasingly important, especially with regard to the aforementioned phenomenon of hate speech, but also against the backdrop of the influence of social media, for example, with regard to the outcome of elections.
A second important line of development in the field of Foreign Language Learning and Teaching is the development of digital language learning apps (e.g., Bilingua or Tandem), which explicitly build on the interactive component of social networks (for a recent study on mobile-assisted language learning, cf. Falk 2019). In line with interactionist approaches to language acquisition, these apps offer the possibility to initiate authentic written or oral communication situations via a WhatsApp-like messenger; an integrated correction function also offers the possibility for users to provide mutual feedback.
The usefulness of tools for web conferencing, which can be used, for example, in the sense of online tandems (cf. Funk/Gerlach/Spaniel-Weise 2017), as well as platforms such as YouTube or Pinterest, has also been emphasized by some authors (cf. Höfler 2019; concrete teaching suggestions can be found at www.lehrer-online.de). However, critical voices have also been raised concerning data protection, especially regarding student data. To counter this criticism, several relatively secure learning platforms (e.g., Edmodo or Schoology) and messenger services (e.g., schul.cloud) have been developed for the school context.
In the planned interdisciplinary anthology, the aforementioned different research areas of Romance linguistics and Foreign Language Learning and Teaching will be addressed by means of concrete research projects. Contributions can therefore refer to the following aspects, among others:

Linguistics
• Formation and characteristics of digital text types (e.g. aspects of multimodality etc.)
• Argumentation structures and metaphors in political discourse
• Discourse analytical issues
• (Contrastive) analyses of political discourse in Romance speaking countries
• Use of social media for e.g. political, sports and artistic discourse
• Hate speech in digital discourse
• Standardization and normalization processes with the help of social networks; meaning of the norm or standard
• Code-switching and multilingualism in computer-mediated communication
• Media-specific aspects of communication (media switching, graphic variation, etc.)
• …

Foreign Language Learning and Teaching
• Training of functional-communicative as well as intercultural-communicative competence with the help of social media
• Promotion of text and media competence in the sense of digital literacy and social media literacy
• Use of digital language learning apps with social components
• Data protection issues in relation to social media
• Influence of social media on learner-internal factors (e.g., motivation, anxiety)
• Use of linguistic role models and promotion of (receptive) variety competence with the help of social media
• Concrete teaching suggestions for the use of social media in digitally-oriented foreign language teaching (e.g., with the help of digital learning platforms or language learning apps)
• Use of social media and/or cultural education
• …

Papers should not exceed 40,000 characters in length (including spaces and bibliography) and should be sent to: lukas.eibensteiner@uni-jena.de and robert.hesselbach@fau.de by June 30, 2021. Submitted papers will be peer-reviewed (double-blind) and should be written in English only.
The citation style follows the Chicago Manual of Style 17th edition (author date), which is also included in digital literature management programs (Citavi, Zotero, etc.).

References
Alvermann, Donna. 2017. „Social Media Text and Critical Inquiry in a Post-Factual Era“. In: Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 61/3, 335‒338.

Baechler, Coline et al. (eds.). 2016. Medienlinguistik 3.0 – Formen und Wirkung von Textsorten im Zeitalter des Social Web. Berlin: Frank & Timme.

Brocca, Nicola. 2020. „Social Media in education and foreign language teaching. An introduction“. In: heiEDUCATION Journal 5, 9‒23.

Burwitz-Melzer, Eva/Riemer, Claudia/Schmelter, Lars (eds.). 2019. Das Lehren und Lernen von Fremd- und Zweitsprachen im digitalen Wandel. Arbeitspapiere der 39. Frühjahrskonferenz zur Erforschung des Fremdsprachenunterrichts. Tübingen: Narr Francke Attempto.

Dürscheid, Christa. 2020a. „Emojis sind überall. Schreiben in digitalen Zeiten“. In: tv diskurs 93/3, 62‒65.

Dürscheid, Christa. 2020b. „Zeichen setzen im digitalen Schreiben“. In: Androutsopoulos, Jannis/Busch, Florian (eds.). Register des Graphischen: Variation, Interaktion und Reflexion in der digitalen Schriftlichkeit. Berlin et al.: De Gruyter, 31‒51.

Dürscheid, Christa. 2020c. „Schreiben in Sozialen Medien. Bestandsaufnahme und Perspektiven“. In: Marx, Konstanze/Lobin, Henning/Schmidt, Axel (eds.): Deutsch in Sozialen Medien – interaktiv, multimodal, vielfältig. Berlin et al.: De Gruyter, 35‒50.

Dürscheid, Christa/Meletis, Dimitrios. 2019. „Emojis: A Grapholinguistic Approach“. In: Haralambous, Yannis (ed.). Graphemics in the 21st Century. Brest: Fluxus Edition, 167‒183.

Eckkrammer, Eva Martha. 2018. „Auswirkungen der digitalen Textproduktion mit ludischem Charakter: Snapchat ‚l’application favorite des ados‘“. In: Rentel, Nadine/Schröder, Tilman (eds.). Sprache und digitale Medien: aktuelle Tendenzen kommunikativer Praktiken im Französischen. Berlin et al.: Peter Lang, 13‒30.

Eibensteiner, Lukas (submitted). „Legalismus- und Opfer-Diskurse: Die Darstellung des Artikels 155 in den Tweets von M. Rajoy und C. Puigdemont". In: Harjus, Jannis et al. (eds.): Grenzen und Brücken in der Romania – Beiträge zum 35. Forum Junge Romanistik. München: AVM.

Erhart, Pascale. 2020. „Von der ‚Mundart‘ zur ‚Fingerart‘. Was bedeutet es heute, Elsässisch zu sprechen bzw. zu schreiben?“. In: IDS Sprachreport 36/1, 6‒13.

Falk, Simone. 2019. Mobile-Assisted Language Learning. Eine empirische Untersuchung zum Einsatz digitaler mobile Endgeräte im Kontext des Fremdsprachenunterrichts. Tübingen: Narr Francke Attempto.

Funk, Hermann/Gerlach, Manja/Spaniel-Weise, Dorothea (eds.). 2017. Handbook for Foreign Language Learning in Online Tandems and Educational Settings. Frankfurt et al.: Peter Lang.

Franko, Katharina. 2019. Code-Switching in computervermittelter Kommunikation – eine Analyse deutsch-italienischer Facebook Beiträge. Korpus im Text, Band 4. Version 1 (08.06.2019, 18:41).
URL: http://www.kit.gwi.uni-muenchen.de/?p=4442&v=1

Giammatteo, Mabel/Gubitosi, Patricia/Parini, Alejandro (eds.). 2017. El español en la red. Frankfurt/Madrid: Iberoamericana Vervuert.

Hesselbach, Robert (submitted). „‹Nous sommes en guerre sanitaire contre le COVID-19› – A Corpus-based Approach of Official French, Italian and Spanish
Social Media Discourse in the Light of the Coronavirus Crisis“. In: promptus – Würzburger Beiträge zur Romanistik.

Höfler, Elke. 2019. „Vlogs als Lehr-Lernressource“. In: Kieberl, Marie Lene/Schallert, Stefanie (eds.). Tagungsband zur 2. Online-Tagung Hochschule digital.innovativ | #digiPH2 Digital-innovative Hochschulen: Einblicke in Wissenschaft und Praxis. Norderstedt: Books on Demand, 90‒108.

Hobbs, Renee. 2011. Digital and Media Literacy: Connecting Culture and Classroom. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press.

Jakob, Katharina. (in prep.). Medienbedingte Variation am Beispiel italienischer WhatsApp-Chats. In: Korpus im Text (LMU München).

Mazzuchino, María Gabriela. 2017. „Twitter como espacio (¿anti?)político: análisis discursivo de los tuits del presidente Mauricio Macri / Twitter as an (anti?)political space: discourse analysis of President Mauricio Macri’s tweets“. In: RALED 17/2, 66‒82.

Mencke, Johanna. 2018. „Multimodalität als strategisches Framing – Die mediale Selbstinszenierung von Marion Maréchal-Le Pen (FN) in den sozialen Netzwerken“. In:_ promptus – Würzburger Beiträge zur Romanistik_ 4, 93‒134.

Recio Diego, Álvaro/Tomé Cornejo, Carmela. 2017. „La realidad de Twitter. Subordinación en 140 caracteres“. In: Giammatteo, Mabel/Gubitosi, Patricia/Parini, Alejandro (eds.). El español en la red. Frankfurt/Madrid: Iberoamericana Vervuert, 75‒91.

Rentel, Nadine et al. (eds.). 2014. Von der Zeitung zur Twitterdämmerung – Medientextsorten und neue Kommunikationsformen im deutsch-französischen Vergleich. Münster: LIT-Verlag.

Rentel, Nadine/Schröder, Tilman (eds.). 2018. Sprache und digitale Medien: aktuelle Tendenzen kommunikativer Praktiken im Französischen. Berlin et al.: Peter Lang.

Thaler, Verena. 2003. Chat-Kommunikation im Spannungsfeld zwischen Oralität und Literalität . Berlin: Verlag für Wissenschaft und Forschung.

Tölke, Vanessa. 2015. „L’ús de les llengües minoritàries en les xarxes socials: el valencià en Twitter“. In: Zeitschrift für Katalanistik 28, 95‒115.

Ueberwasser, Simone/Stark, Elisabeth. 2017. „What’s up, Switzerland? A corpus-based research project in a multilingual country“. In: Linguistik online 84/5, 105‒126.
URL: https://bop.unibe.ch/linguistik-online/article/view/3849/5834

Visser, Judith. 2018. „Twitter im Wahlkampf von Marine Le Pen: Politolinguistische Analyse eines populistischen Diskurses“. In: Issel-Dombert, Sandra/Wieders-
Lohéac, Aline (eds.). Wahlkampf ist Wortkampf: Präsidentschaftswahlkampagnen aus sprachwissenschaftlicher Sicht. Berlin et al.: Peter Lang, 173‒195.

Wenz, Kathrin. 2017. «Bloguer sa vie». Französische Weblogs im Spannungsfeld zwischen Individualität und Gruppenzugehörigkeit. Frankfurt a.M. et al.: Peter Lang.

Internet resources
• www.lehrer-online.de
• https://bilingua.io/
• https://www.tandem.net/de
• https://new.edmodo.com/
• https://www.schoology.com/
• https://schul.cloud/