Language Management Theory: A Device to Control Social Media effects on Language Usage- A South African Context

Abstract

Language Management refers to any specific efforts made to modify or influence language practice (Nekvapil & Sherman, 2015). Language management takes place when a language deviation has been noted. The main purpose of language management is to enforce the correct and sound use of a language, according to the standards of a given context. Language could be managed by a Macro structure (government and private institutions) or Microstructure (individual activists or general citizenry). In the educational setting – a Microstructure, it is the responsibility of language teachers to influence good language practice, by ensuring that school learners use language correctly. Teachers are duty-bound to guard against any language deviations in accordance with the requirements of language subject curriculum. With the growing usage of social media and its widespread accessibility to school learners, teachers in South Africa constantly deal with language deviations caused by social media. This is in response to school learners’ use of social media writing style in the classroom. Although, it is not wrong for learners to deviate from the norms when writing on social media, teachers bemoan school learners’ tendency of transferring social media writing style to the classroom. The contamination of classroom language by social media language necessitates language management. This paper spotlights Nekvapil’ Language Management Theory (LMT) as an effective tool to control language deviations influenced by social media. It bridges a gap between theory and practice by demonstrating how South African teachers manage language use in schools. This is qualitative research and uses interpretivism worldview to understand language management through educator’s lenses. Open-ended interviews were done with 20 teachers from South Africa, Limpopo to get their experiences on how they ensure good language practice in the school. The collected data demonstrated that teachers have put various measures in place to management language.