Methodology

How To Learn Any Language (HTLAL) caught my eye as I was searching for a site regarding linguistics because of its focus on language itself rather than any one language in particular. Theoretically created by a man who realized how rewarding it was to learn multiple languages, it hosts a variety of general resources designed more to inspire the user to seek out his or her own method instead of following any set plan. The resources include descriptions of different languages, a (difficult to find) sound gallery, lists of good books and tapes for different languages, and much, much more. It is clear that the forum is the big draw of this site, however; everything points back to it and the links prominently feature it (in fact, the website’s logo is even a link to the forum rather than the homepage). On the forum, users of all levels of language-learning (they call themselves –glots – monoglot, diglot, triglot, etc.) talk about every facet of learning language. There are specific forums in which they can talk to each other in their target language, but far more populous are the forum threads to talk about the origin and evolution  of language, discussing the sounds, perceptions, and reputations of different languages, and sharing interesting articles and other outside information regarding language.  

I am participating in this site more as an observer than participant; I am working by subject matter, then user. I want to know why talking about language is so useful in the goal of learning more languages – or if the real goal and the stated goal really may be slightly different. In other studies such as , users were using websites with the stated goal of sharing fan fiction with their peers, but they were also achieving the goal of learning a second language in an informal manner. I believe a similar phenomenon is occurring here; most of the users have a non-English native tongue – while they are asking each other (in English) how language works, they are learning new languages through discussing language itself. This is fascinating to me, as most other forums that I have taken a look at on language learning sites will talk about grammar and other very specific structural information about their particular language, as well as offering places to talk about life in general – but not language in general.

The information I’m collecting is mainly in the form of conversations between users – especially controversial conversations. While I do mean topics that inspire controversy due to their inherent nature, I also mean topics that draw attention to themselves because of the nature of the user who introduced them and/or because of their location in regard to other topics.I am also focusing heavily on the architecture of the website, looking at its influence on the users themselves.