The Role of Language in Constructing the Academic Identities of Education Students on WhatsApp During COVID 19

Abstract

The ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic has affected all aspects of livelihood, but the higher education sector was hit hardest. The pandemic has exposed the inequalities that still exist in the South African Higher Education sector concerning resources. All universities were expected to shift from traditional face-to-face classes to virtual teaching and learning. Consequently, lecturers were expected to establish WhatsApp (WA) groups in different academic programmes in the institution to communicate course information. The aim of the chapter is to examine how WhatsApp groups can be used by the students to maintain and assert their academic identity as members of a group. This chapter draws from the concept of a discourse community as a sense of belonging and utilising communication to share objectives or goals. The chapter employs a qualitative research technique by drawing from the participatory action research (PAR).