Vlogs as Korean College Students’ Translanguaging Space

This study investigates translanguaging practices in vlogs created by 28 Korean EFL preservice teachers. The rise of digital platforms has reshaped traditional literacy, extending it to include multimodal formats that integrate visual, auditory, and textual elements. In this context, vlogs provide an ideal space for translanguaging meaning-making and creative language use in EFL education. Through systematic content analysis of their English-language vlogs, including coding of multimodal elements and translingual features across multiple viewing sessions, this research uncovers key strategies that reflect creativity in multimodal communication. Drawing on Canagarajah’s (2013) translingual meaning negotiation framework and transmodality concepts (Im et al., 2022), the analysis identifies five major translanguaging strategies: translingual words (varied spellings of Korean terms), code-meshing of Korean and English, genre blending, hybrid pronunciation, and transmodal resource integration. These practices demonstrate how preservice teachers negotiate their cultural and linguistic identities while developing pedagogical awareness of translingual communication. The findings suggest that vlog creation can serve as a powerful tool in EFL teacher education, fostering metalinguistic awareness and multimodal literacy skills. This research informs the design of teacher preparation programs by highlighting how digital projects can develop both linguistic flexibility and a pedagogical understanding of translanguaging in contemporary EFL contexts.