Children and young people are increasingly performing a variety of writing tasks using computers, with word processing programs thus becoming their natural writing environment. The development of keystroke logging programs enables us to track the process of writing, without changing the writing environment for the writers. In the myMoment schools project, children in primary school grades one to five were provided with a web-based interactive writing environment, which they could use to read and write stories and comments. The parallel study on myMoment suggests that interviews and analyses of writing processes can provide detailed information about the effect that writing environment and instructions have on writing. An individual case study illustrates the potential that triangulating product and process analyses can offer in the teaching of literacy skills at elementary school level.

News media in Switzerland are confronted with the challenge of not reaching young people, as youth-specific news platforms and formats are not used by the target group. Our study aims to determine how and where young people can be reached with news. It uses a mixed methods approach to analyze the expectations of young people towards news content and formats and to determine their news consumption patterns. The results show that young people’s news consumption is characterized by four dimensions: 1. duration and times of consumption, 2. news consumption habits and behavior, 3. restrictions, 4. media literacy. The significance of these dimensions varies between three age groups determined through the study. The news consumption of the 12-to-14 year-olds is strongly restricted by parents and school. This group consumes news mainly through media available at home. In the group of 15- to-17 year-olds, parental influence and restrictions decrease, while peer influence increases. This age group spends a lot of time on social media platforms where young people stumble upon news rather accidentally. Between 18 and 20 years of age, news consumption stabilizes, and individual patterns emerge. This age group accesses news via selected apps and social media channels. Young people in Switzerland prefer visual formats like pictures, videos, and memes. When scrolling through social media platforms, they come across news content which arouses their interest in certain information and leads them to search for it on media websites. Swiss Youth wants to be informed about relevant news or topics that are “in vogue”.

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This textbook offers an interdisciplinary, comprehensive and state-of-the-art overview of the media linguistics approaches to explain and understand digital communication and multimodality. Linking the fields of communication studies, applied linguistics and journalism, it grounds communication practices in a deep understanding of the social and societal implications of language use in digital media. The tools to analyse multimodal texts are analysed in light of the advantages and constraints that different communication modes pose, both individually and in combination. Aimed at upper level undergraduates and graduates in applied linguistics, communication and media studies, including journalism and PR, this textbook contains case studies and professional examples highlighting the interplay between language use and digital communication and encouraging the reader to reflect on the themes covered, and put the acquired knowledge into practice. Online resources for students include videos, writing techniques, a guide to multimodal texts analysis, additional case studies and a glossary.

This editorial reports on the special issue “New Generation of Applied Linguists in Europe” which highlights the work of early career researchers in the field of Applied Linguistics who participated in one of the last AILA Europe Junior researchers’ Meeting (JRM). It aims to offer a reflection from the roots to the new blossoming buds of Applied Linguistics in Europe. We will review the emergence of Applied Linguistics in Europe through the challenges of creating its different affiliates. Then, we will present the levers for the emergence of a European network. We will conclude with the logic behind the selected papers.