Projecting authenticity through nativeness: a multimodal analysis of microcelebrity English teachers’ Instagram reels

Abstract Many language teachers create short, engaging, and accessible English content on social media, accumulating large numbers of followers. Drawing on existing conceptualizations of authenticity and qualities of internet celebrities, this study presents a multimodal analysis of Instagram accounts of two microcelebrity British English language teachers, each with over a million followers. The findings reveal instances where teachers position themselves as the authority for linguistic or non-linguistic knowledge highlighting different forms of cultural capital including ordinary and mundane aspects of their everyday lives. The analysis also reveals exclusive representations of the West (specifically the UK) including vocabulary associated with British culture, idiomatic expressions, and British pronunciation of some words. The study provides novel and critical insights into the emerging forms of language teaching on social media platforms shaped by the neoliberal landscape of education with important implications for English language teaching professionals and teacher education programs.