Educational Vernaculars of Twitch: Educators as Twitchers for Learning
Abstract
Within a remarkably short period of time, Twitch has become a platform with an unquestionable impact in terms of its number of users and streaming channels of all types. Its all-embracing content and exponential growth, with 35 million daily visitors in 2023, underlines the importance of studying it. Consequently, this study focuses on the vernacular language of the Twitch platform and its potential benefits for learning. For this analysis, we have chosen a predominantly qualitative methodology, through the content analysis of the chat of two streamers, Jaime Altozano, a more celebrity-like figure, and Clara Cordero, an educator with a committed community of followers. In addition, we conducted a focus group with five regular Twitch users to explore their perspectives on the platform, the channels being analysed and their educational potential. The findings reveal characteristics of the unique vernacular specific to the platform, which are further confirmed by the input of the focus group participants. These include parasocial relationships, the virtual community, chat dynamics, emotes, bots, pivoting, twitch bits and digital intimacy. It is also concluded that Twitch, through its distinctive language, information sharing and interaction, promotes digital learning within a community.
Keywords
vernaculars, Twitch, education, collaborative learning, platformization, streamersReferences
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