English as an everyday meaning-making resource – a linguistic ethnographic study among young people in Denmark

Description:

The dissertation examines English as a meaning-making resource in everyday interactions among a group of high school students in Denmark and is based on a combination of ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, and linguistic analysis of interactional data from both online and offline contexts. The dissertation investigates how expressions associated with English are used by the students, which social purposes English-associated expressions serve for them, and what language ideologies inform their perceptions of English. In addition, the dissertation pays particular attention to how digital communication technologies, especially social media, influence the use of English and the language ideologies surrounding it.

Overall, the dissertation concludes that English resources are central to meaning-making practices among the participants in the study, who habitually draw on expressions associated with English in everyday interactions for specific social and communicative purposes, and that the participants’ use of English and the language ideologies that inform their perceptions of English are strongly influenced by their social media engagement. 

Project participants:

The PhD project is carried out by Marianne Haugaard Skov as part of the research project “English and Globalisation in Denmark: A Changing Sociolinguistic Landscape” (Enida). Read more about the Enida-project in the box to the right.

Project period:

The project was published in 2026.

You can find a link to the PhD dissertation in the box to the right.