A social network perspective on language teaching

Social network analysis offers language teachers an incredible tool for
understanding the social support that their students access within and beyond
the classroom. Relationships are an underutilized and often overlooked asset for
language learning, an afterthought in most classrooms and programs. Current
work with social networks in applied linguistics builds on our understanding
of relational ties as the invisible framework that supports language learning in
classrooms and other social spaces. Engaging this perspective to better understand language development can shift pedagogical focus toward facilitating of the social relationships that motivate and sustain language learning. Given the complexities of language teaching around the world, we believe that social network analysis offers precisely the kind of information teachers need now to understand student agency within the constraints and opportunities of classroom learning.