ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ PHẠM KHÁNH DUYÊN THE REPRESENTATION OF TEACHER IMAGE IN INTERNET MEMES Hình ảnh Người Giáo viên trong Memes trên Internet (ĐỀ ÁN THẠC SĨ) Chuyên ngành: Lí luận và Phương pháp dạy học bộ môn Tiếng Anh Mã số chuyên ngành: 8140231.01 HÀ NỘI – 2024 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES PHAM KHANH DUYEN THE REPRESENTATION OF TEACHER IMAGE IN INTERNET MEMES Hình ảnh Người Giáo viên trong Memes trên Internet (MA THESIS) Major: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231. Hoang Thi Hanh HANOI – 2024 DECLARATION I hereby state that I: Phạm Khánh Duyên, QH2022D1, being a candidate for the Master of Arts Degree, am the sole author of this thesis entitled “The representation of teacher image in Internet memes”. To the best of my knowledge, all sources used, and any help received in the preparation of this thesis, have been acknowledged. I accept the requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of Master‟s Theses deposited in the library.
I agree that the original copy of my thesis should be accessible for study and research, under the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan, or reproduction of the thesis. Hanoi, 2024 Student Pham Khanh Duyen Approved by SUPERVISOR (Signature and full name) Dr. Hoang Thi Hanh Date: ……………………………… 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge and convey my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Hoang Thi Hanh, whose insightful guidance and tremendous support and advice have carried me through all the stages of this journey.
Without your endless patience, great encouragement, and immense enthusiasm, I would not have been motivated enough to complete the study for the best. Thank you, for being kind, soft, and generous to me as always. Secondly, I highly value and respect all the lecturers in the Faculty of Graduate Studies for their kind support during the research time. Their comments on the topic and progress reports were of invaluable help to my study.
I would also like to give my warmest thanks to my beloved husband, Mr. Nang Nguyen, and my entire family. Thank you for your understanding and continuous support, which have immeasurably strengthened and empowered me. Thank you my best friend, Kim Dung, as you are always by my side and share with me all the difficulties in this uphill journey.
Lastly, I am eternally grateful to God for pampering me all the time and granting me the resilience and wisdom to overcome all the challenges. Your good luck and guidance day by day have been my constant companion and motivation to move forward. 2 ABSTRACT While primarily seen as a source of entertainment, Internet memes can also reflect and shape social views. This study examines how teachers are represented in Internet memes, thus figuring out the societal perception of teachers' images.
Through a content analysis of the top 50 memes related to the image of teachers on Reddit.com, selected based on engagement metrics like upvotes and shares, significant insights have been unveiled. Firstly, these memes portray teachers facing a range of stressors such as fatigue, exhaustion, and a longing for breaks, driven by challenges from students, demanding parents, school administrators, and the pressure to serve as role models. Secondly, teachers are depicted as dedicated, enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and professional in their craft. However, certain memes also portray teachers in a negative light, suggesting traits such as disengagement from teaching, lack of subject matter expertise, and unprofessional behavior within the school environment.
These findings emphasize teachers‟ pervasive stress, calling for more support from academic institutions and a greater empathy community, while also encouraging teachers to align their online image with their self-identity and adjust behaviors if necessary. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. Statement of research problem and rationale. Characteristics of memes.
Teacher identity, Teacher image, and Teachers‟ role model. Teacher‟s Role Model. The representation of teacher image in media. Teacher image represented in newspapers.
Teacher image represented in movies. FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS. Teaching is a hard, stressful job. Teachers face daily challenges at school.
Teachers as dedicated and professional. Teachers as dedicated and caring. Teachers as experts in their field knowledge. Teachers as unprofessional.
Lack of engagement. Lack of field knowledge. Summary of findings and discussion. Limitations and suggestions for further research.
Background The rapid development of the digital world in the 21st century has increased access to social media and various types of online platforms, especially social networking sites. This results in the spread of information and different online artifacts, including memes. Recently, Internet memes have been widely used as a source of entertainment on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. They are even more common after the COVID-19 pandemic when most interactions happen online (Zanette et al.
The latest social media behavior survey of YPulse shows that 75% of people from 13 to 36 years old share memes, with the majority of users being adolescents (YPulse, 2021). Particularly, the usage of memes has skyrocketed since COVID-19 pandemic when teenagers and youngsters spent most time on screen to study online or work from home (McVerry, 2018). They often share memes about their family, school life, teachers, and friends. One of the most widespread discursive topics of memes is about teachers in different situations.
Their discussion involves how teachers look, their awkwards experience with teachers, teachers during class, or teacher stereotypes (Zhang, 2017). These memes not only serve as a means of entertainment but also construct a representation of the teacher image in society. Meanwhile, teachers have a direct influence on students both cognitively and socially and contribute to the successful upbringing and education of students (Grabowska & Parlak, 2018). It is significant to be conscious of how this influential group is perceived and depicted by students and society.
Among popular platforms commonly used for sharing memes, Reddit.com has become a central to meme culture, as it provides various formats and allows for wide meme circulation. Until May 2023, this American social website was ranked 1 as the 11th most-visited website around the world for content sharing and discussion according to Semrush, an online ranking analytic site (Top Websites Ranking, 2023).com, worldwide users, also known as “Redditors” can upload their artifacts such as images, videos, gifs, etc. or go vote up or down posts of other members. All posts will be categorized into themes and belong to user-created communities, or “Subreddits”.
The more upvotes a post receives, the more likely it will appear on the front page of its Subreddit. Thanks to the upvote ranking feature of the website, users can discover the latest news and trends.com is the origin of viral memes before it is widespread on other platforms. Many rate websites have included Reddit.com on their top list of meme sources (Dennis, 2023; Elva, 2023; McCoy, 2021). Particularly, „Teacher memes‟ is a large subreddit with 16.5 thousand members, lying in the top 5% of the biggest communities on Reddit (Reddit - Dive into anything, 2023).
Statement of research problem and rationale Apparently, the growing significance of Internet memes as a widely shared form of online communication, especially among adolescents, as well as teachers‟ important role in shaping students' cognitive and social development, it is crucial to understand how teachers are depicted in memes, the media artifacts that students engage with daily. Although the representation of the teacher's image in the media was not a new aspect, little research about teacher images on Internet memes was found in literature sources. There was a large body of work on other types of media representation of teachers. For example, Townsend and Ryan (2012) focused on teachers‟ self-concept in non-print media such as radio, television, and films; Weber, Sandra, and Mitchell (1995) investigated teacher construction in popular culture; Janks (2010) studied the same topic in online advertisements; Alhamdan et al.
(2014) studied teacher representation in newspapers in three continents including 2 Africa, Asia, and Australia. While these studies provide valuable insights into how teachers are portrayed across various media, they do not address the issue with the unique characteristics of Internet memes as a form of communication. Characterized by humor, relatability, rapid circulation, interactive engagement, youth-centric, Internet memes play a significant role in shaping contemporary perceptions of teachers, while the existing literature may fail to explore this critical dimension. This leaves a noticeable gap for further investigation of Internet memes on this topic.
With these above-mentioned reasons, this study aims to fill this gap by examining the ways teachers are represented in Internet memes, thus figuring out the societal view of teachers' image. The research of this study is: How are teachers perceived and portrayed in Internet memes? 1. Scope of the study The study focuses on examining teacher image representation in Internet memes by analyzing 50 most popular memes on Reddit.com and identifying recurring and emerging themes. This website is chosen since it is one of the most popular and diverse platforms for meme creation and sharing.
The site includes subreddits dedicated to education and teachers, facilitating the collection of memes. Fifty memes is the suitable number for a manageable yet sufficiently comprehensive sample size, which helps access to the diversity of representations without overwhelming the analysis. The study employs qualitative content analysis method, in which the visuals and textuals of the memes are examined and categorized into common themes to discover the hidden messages and implications. Significance of the Study By examining the 50 memes about teachers on Reddit.com, the study shed light on how teachers are viewed and depicted in Internet memes, a rapidly growing form of 3 communication.
It significantly contributes to research literature on this topic, fulfilling the gap left by previous studies. More importantly, teachers can be more aware of their image online in the eyes of students and society and compare it with their self-identity (how they see themselves as teachers). They can also have justification and modification of behaviors if necessary. The data about teacher image is also beneficial to school authorities and other educational stakeholders in reconsidering the policies and regulations to better support teachers in their profession.
Besides, the study is a base for further investigation of memes. By recognizing the characteristics of memes and the extent to which they affect, stakeholders can consider the use of memes in teaching discourse. An example is to include language knowledge in memes for educational purposes. Structure of the Thesis This thesis is organized into five chapters.
Chapter one introduces the context of memes as the modern digital culture among teens and youngsters, the importance of examining teachers‟ representation in Internet memes, the objectives and research questions of the study. Chapter two presents a literature review of previous studies on memes, teachers‟ representation on media platforms, and related terms such as teachers‟ image, teacher identity, and role model. Chapter three is Research methodology which justifies the use of qualitative content analysis approach, the collection of 50 memes on Reddit.com as data, and how they are analyzed to identify the emerging themes. Chapter four analyzes the memes, interprets the findings, and discusses key themes about teacher image.
The last concluding chapter provides a summary of findings, implications, the limitations of the study, and suggestions for further research. LITERATURE REVIEW The current study investigated teacher image represented in Internet memes, thus figuring out how it emerges, aligns or challenges the conventional view of teacher identity and teacher profession. To better understand and analyze this phenomenon, it is significant to review interrelated themes as the contextual and theoretical foundation of the study. First, this chapter reviewed the definitions and characteristics of memes, and its role as a form of entertainment and shaping societal perceptions.
Second, the literature on teachers‟ identity and representation are reviewed, including teacher identity, teacher image, and teachers‟ role model.