i.      Multimodal communication: Definitions and cultural intersections

Late 20th century digital communications were overwhelmingly communicated using text, and this was reflected in the literature we compiled in 2004. A few studies examined how users employed textual and graphical systems, such as emoticons, within online communications to compensate for the lack of contextual cues present in face-to-face interactions. Others investigated hyperlinks, identifying these as a multimodal element that allowed multiple trajectories through content. Overall, however, opportunities were limited by the technologies of the time.

More than twenty years later, continuing rapid development in digital technologies and in global access to these technologies has allowed true multimodal communications to flourish. Multimodal communication in digital spaces now involves the use of various modes beyond written language, including voice, visuals, and music, to articulate ideas. Multimodality extends grammar beyond written language (Domingo, 2012). It posits that social and cultural factors influence how people create signs for digital and diverse purposes, viewing multimodal meanings as lived practices of sharing ideas, thoughts, and texts within the social world (Domingo, 2014).

This concept is closely related to ‘transmodality’ (Shipka, 2016), which describes the simultaneous use of a range of modes in social networking sites (SNS) where distinguishing between them is not always useful. Transmodality is not a rejection of multimodality but rather a perspective focussing on multimodal resources and transmodal processes. Digital communication and SNS are increasingly integral to daily life and are of significant interest to applied linguistics researchers (Baker & Sangiamchit, 2019; Domingo, 2012). However, communication itself is achieved through diverse semiotic resources, with language being a crucial one, making research into multimodal communication complex (Sauro & Chapelle, 2017).

Multimodal communication enhances expressive capacity, transcending the limitations of written language alone. Digital and mobile technologies facilitate engagement with multimodal texts, enabling people to participate in new forms of meaning-making practices. This allows for creative and playful transgression of linguistic, cultural, and modal boundaries in virtual spaces (Hull et al., 2013). The designs and affordances of multimodal communication are frequently socially oriented, empowering creators to engage specific audiences and adapt content strategically (Domingo, 2012, 2014).

In the realm of second language (L2) or foreign language (FL) learning, multimodality assumes a crucial role by replicating authentic contexts in which meaning is dynamically negotiated (Avgousti, 2018). Furthermore, the digital environment’s rich diversity of languages, cultures, and communities engenders unparalleled opportunities for intercultural and transcultural communication, giving rise to “superdiverse spaces” that facilitate self-expression, community formation, and the negotiation of identity across boundaries (Baker & Sangiamchit, 2019). Domingo (2012) describes, for example, how transcultural youth demonstrate intricate multimodal designs in their multilingual exchanges online.

Contemporary scholarship emphasizes that transcultural communication is a critical contribution to emerging research paradigms, urging a reconceptualization of intercultural communication that foregrounds hybridity and fluidity as foundational dimensions for inquiry, rather than treating them as exceptional or peripheral phenomena (Baker & Sangiamchit, 2019).

Scholars suggest that further research is needed to fully grasp the evolving complexities of multimodal communication, and the implications for global communication. Specifically, continued investigation into the interplay between technological affordances, social norms, and cultural dynamics in shaping multimodal expressions is crucial. The constraints imposed by pre-existing social structures and technological limitations on the freedom offered by multimodality also warrant further study. Understanding how these ‘superdiverse spaces’ continue to evolve and impact communication across cultures remains an ongoing area of inquiry .

ii.      Creative cultural expression and innovation

An additional emergent theme connecting some of the work in our new collection concerns the ways that individuals and groups are using digital spaces and media to support cultural expression and innovation. Perhaps Lévy (2001b) foresaw such activity, with his suggestion that digital culture (“cyberculture”) expressed the rise of “a new universal”, fostering new forms of fluid and evolving cultural expressions. Indeed, some early studies also recorded the creative and innovative ways in which individuals and groups used digital spaces for cultural expression, often adapting existing norms to the new technological environment.

Work in our current collection illuminates ways that digital spaces have transformed how various individuals and groups engage in creative cultural expression, innovation, and exploration, redefining traditional notions of culture, creativity, and literacy (see for example Brownell & Wargo, 2017; Hu et al., 2017; Rendell, 2021; Rutten, 2014; Schofield & Carvajal, 2022). These virtual environments offer new avenues for interaction, promotion, and the collaborative creation of cultural content.

Recent scholarship also highlights the multifaceted ways digital spaces are utilized by a diverse array of individuals and groups to support cultural expression and innovation. Users of digital technologies increasingly seek updated content and personalized access to cultural products, exemplifying a broader shift toward tailored cultural experiences in digital environments Such digital ‘third spaces‘ often afford individuals greater latitude to experiment and challenge established societal norms and conventions (Pennington, 2017; Žuvela-Bušnja et al., 2008). Research has also illuminated how sociolinguistic factors shape their expressive practices within ‘superdiverse’ contexts, further enriching digital cultural landscapes (Solmaz, 2020). In addition, the public cultural sector, civil society, and creative industries play pivotal roles in the collaborative development of cultural content for virtual platforms. Associations within the cultural domain tend to employ virtual spaces primarily for web-based identification and self-presentation, rather than for interactive engagement or communication. At the same time, companies within the creative industries demonstrate increasing interest in virtual presentation–particularly in fields such as cultural tourism (Žuvela-Bušnja et al., 2008). Notably, digital media have also transformed the relationship between artists and audiences, moving beyond traditional parasocial dynamics prevalent in physical venues and offering new forms of engagement and interaction (Rendell, 2021).

Digital spaces empower the global promotion of local cultural values and foster innovative forms of interaction, while simultaneously enabling collaborative creation and the development of culturally significant products within interconnected electronic environments (Žuvela-Bušnja et al., 2008). This shift contrasts with the traditional paradigm of isolated artistic production, instead encouraging the emergence of highly creative works and intertextual, mixed media products through collective engagement (Pennington, 2017). Moreover, the presentation of cultural products in virtual spaces is redefining cultural tourism and prompting the rise of new profiles of ‘postmodern tourists,’ further illustrating the transformative potential of digital environments for cultural expression and innovation (Žuvela-Bušnja et al., 2008). Sociolinguistic work likewise shows how ‘collectives’ and convivial practices on social media coordinate identity display and uptake (Varis & Blommaert, 2015).

As discussed earlier, some studies in our current compilation reporting on digital engagement with fan fiction and fan culture–active engagement with existing media and popular culture. Fanfiction involves fans imaginatively extending or altering established plotlines, introducing new characters, and developing relationships between figures within the original source material. Such engagement challenges stereotypes that portray fans as passive consumers and instead highlights their capacity for creativity, community-building, and the dissemination of diverse perspectives. Black (2006;2009) argues that fanfiction communities promote pluralism and discussion, fostering dialogic relationships and social interaction across multiple worlds.

Building on accounts of multimodality and participatory creation, recent scholarship highlights the need to examine how digital infrastructures mediate cultural identity and social interaction. Key priorities include identifying thresholds at which identity-related threats– signals that one’s personal or group identity is devalued, misrecognized, or unsafe on a platform–on social media erode in-group belonging and reduce participation; tracing behavioural responses to identity complications (e.g., withdrawal, adoption of privacy tools) and how platform salience shapes subsequent identity work (here, platform salience means the degree to which a platform’s norms, affordances, and algorithms are top-of-mind in how people display and read identities; identity work refers to the ongoing, interactional construction of self in and through discourse and practice). To move beyond correlational claims, longitudinal designs are needed to test causal pathways between platform features, identity threat, coping strategies, and participation (Hu et al., 2017). Collectively, these directions call for nuanced, context-sensitive inquiry into the co-evolution of identity, technology, and cultural engagement in digital environments.

Seeing language as social action clarifies how multilingual practice and multimodality organize participation online, pointing to a need for analysis and pedagogy that consider form, function, and platform conditions together. Future work should specify how platform affordances (e.g., visibility, threading, turn length) condition pragmatic work (stance, mitigation, repair) in intercultural exchanges, and how these conditions vary across languages and scripts.

These dynamics of platform salience and identity work carry direct implications for pedagogy and course design, which we take up in Theme 4.