a comparative content analysis of online elt pages on instagram: the case of native, iranian, and arab instructors and their followers

The exponential upsurge in the quantity and significance of technology and social networking platforms as either primary or supplementary language learning materials / sources worldwide warrants an investigation of their characteristics and quality. in the absence of adequate analytical frameworks and comparative cross-cultural studies of popular instagram elt pages prepared by iranian and international language teachers, we set out to comparatively examine the distinctive characteristics and features of selected instagram pages while checking the appropriateness of an existing analytical framework proposed for web-based materials. purposive sampling (i.e., popularity) was used to choose nine instagram pages which were designed, managed, and instructed by non-native (arab and iranian) and native (british and american) elt teachers. a stringent content analysis model with nine categories as well as structured interviews with selected page users (i.e., 45 active followers) were drawn upon to comparatively analyze the content of the pages while evaluating their educational applications, their potential similarities and differences, and their areas of strength and weakness (according to the page users). notwithstanding some qualitative differences (which will be illustrated during the presentation), there was no significant quantitative difference in terms of the nine categories of content quality among the three groups (iranians, arabs, and natives). regarding user perceptions, several strengths and weaknesses of the pages were pointed out by the followers including acceptable quality of oral skills and grammar instructions despite insufficient writing and reading competency content. moreover, the followers of popular pages reported using other pages and other applications / materials for learning purposes. in the absence of a dedicated content analysis framework, the adopted checklist could be adequately utilized in determining the quality of the instagram pages across the three groups. the ensuing invaluable insights along with the interviewees’ suggestions and perspectives (to be depicted and discussed during the presentation) can provide a sound basis for (researching) influential online language education/learning using modern multimedia platforms like instagram.