Instagram English microlessons. A new genre for nonformal EFL learning

Academic interest in Instagram’s role as an informal language learning platform has grown over the past few years. This study systematically analyses Instagram accounts specifically dedicated to teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL), aiming to identify common features that establish them as a genre and to provide a descriptive framework for further empirical research into the learning outcomes of this type of language exposure. This qualitative investigation examines the characteristics of 6 institutional and 21 non-institutional English language teaching accounts. Using categories from traditional classroom language instruction as the analytical framework (non-formal, contents and topics, teachers and learners and methodology and modes of presentation), this study compares informal Instagram teaching to traditional formal EFL education. Additionally, it contrasts the strategies employed by institutional accounts with those used by private, micro-celebrity teachers.