Identity and Psychological State in Multilingual and Multimodal Posts: Insights from Indonesian Students Abroad

Authors

  • Ade Windiana Argina

    Faculty of Education and Language, Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia, Jakarta 12930, Indonesia

    Graphic Design Study Program, Department of Design, State Polytechnic of Creative Media, Jakarta 12630, Indonesia
  • Anna Ayu Herawati

    Department of Guidance and Counseling, Universitas Bengkulu, Bengkulu 38372, Indonesia
  • Asdar Muhammad Nur

    School of Education, College of Arts, Social Science and Celtic Studies, University of Galway, Galway H91TK33, Ireland
  • Puspita Dewi

    English Language Education, Faculty of Letters, State University of Malang, Malang 65145, Indonesia
  • Muhammad Reza Pahlevi

    English Language Education, Faculty of Letters, State University of Malang, Malang 65145, Indonesia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i8.10060
Received: 16 May 2025 | Revised: 11 June 2025 | Accepted: 19 June 2025 | Published Online: 30 July 2025

Abstract

Identity is fluid, negotiated, and complex produced socially through self-consciousness, interpretation, and projection. This fluidity and complexity can be studied from language choice and mode selection performed by networked multilinguals on their Social Networking Sites, including Facebook. This study aimed to analyze to what extent Sasak students overseas project their multilingualism and identity (including psychological state) through language use and multimodality on Facebook. To answer the research question, this study collected 80 data corpora of participants’ Facebook posts (20 posts for each participant) posted during their study abroad. To strengthen the data gathered from the screen-based, a semi-structured interview designed based on the work of Androutsopoulos (2015) was also addressed with all participants. For multilingualism projection, all data collected were analyzed through Critical Discourse Analysis based on the theory proposed by Androutsopoulos (2015). To explore the multimodality projection, this study also employed Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis and was thematically analysed by referring to van Leeuwen’s theory (2008). This study showed that all participants projected their multilingualism through various language resources. This projection also represented their identity as a part of their local community (Sasak community), Indonesian people, and the global community; academic professionals; international students; Muslims, and creative and humorous language users. This study also found that all participants projected their identity, including their Spatial, Relational, and Functional identity using various modes.  Furthermore, the semiotic and mode choices also served as a psychological strategy to manage psychological state: stress, homesickness and emotional needs.

Keywords:

Identity; Multilingualism; Multimodality; Networked Multilingual; Psychological State

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How to Cite

Argina, A. W., Herawati, A. A., Nur, A. M., Dewi, P., & Pahlevi, M. R. (2025). Identity and Psychological State in Multilingual and Multimodal Posts: Insights from Indonesian Students Abroad. Forum for Linguistic Studies, 7(8), 228–250. https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i8.10060

Issue

Vol. 7 , Iss. 8 (August 2025)

Article Type

Article

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Copyright © 2025 Ade Windiana Argina, Anna Ayu Herawati, Asdar Muhammad Nur, Puspita Dewi, Muhammad Reza Pahlevi

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This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License.