Working title: In their own words: Young Swiss people’s communication ideologies and media ecologies – implications for educators

In the dynamic, diverse context of multilingual Switzerland, I am interested in finding out about how young Swiss people conceptualize communication – their own interpersonal and mediated communication ecologies and practices – and to examine how their awareness is influenced by media/public discourses. My project is grounded in previous research carried out in the UK by my supervisor (Thurlow 2001, 2003) and will be an extension of my MA thesis research (Mathier 2016). In elaborating on this research, I want to address the role of digital technology in young people’s communication ecologies and “media ideologies” (Gershon 2010; Thurlow 2018) which shape their practices. Furthermore, I want to investigate educational policy discourses about media and technology and teachers’ perceptions of young people as new/social media users.