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Associate Dean Research Heather Lotherington analyses four apps for language learning in a recent piece that she wrote for The Conversation Canada.
“None of these four top-selling apps are capitalizing on how language is changing in online communication where features such as emojis or hashtags — conventions used in texting and tweeting — are fundamentally altering how people communicate,” said Lotherington. “The #hashtag’s emergence as a new kind of word shape with its own form and spelling conventions is actually restructuring how we build words and meaning in a new way. Why not teach languages the way we actually use them?”