1
|
Zhang X, Romero-Forteza F. Social Media as a Tool for Informal Spanish Learning: A Phenomenological Study of Chinese Students' Behaviour in Spain. Behav Sci (Basel) 2024; 14:584. [PMID: 39062407 PMCID: PMC11274278 DOI: 10.3390/bs14070584] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2024] [Revised: 07/02/2024] [Accepted: 07/08/2024] [Indexed: 07/28/2024] Open
Abstract
This study explores the perceptions of Chinese learners in Spain regarding the use of social networks for informal Spanish language learning. The objective is to identify the challenges and benefits of using social networks to address the real needs of students in learning Spanish. A qualitative phenomenological approach was adopted, focusing on participants' perceptions before and after using social networks. Eight Chinese students were selected for the study. The study was conducted in Valencia and Barcelona, Spain, from 1 September 2023 to 20 March 2024, and three commonly used social media networks were compared. The results indicate positive perceptions towards social media as a tool for learning Spanish, highlighting its usefulness in improving language skills and enhancing cultural awareness. Additionally, Xiaohongshu and Bilibili emerged as the most popular platforms for Spanish language learning among Chinese students. This study concludes that social media effectively meets the authentic needs of Chinese students learning Spanish in Spain, enhancing both language skills and cultural adaptation. This multifaceted approach reflects the complexity of learning Spanish in the digital age, combining personal passion, professional aspirations, and cultural adaptation needs.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Xinyu Zhang
- Department of Applied Linguistics, Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 València, Spain;
| | | |
Collapse
|
2
|
Jin Y, Yan A, Sun T, Zheng P, An J. Microblog data analysis of emotional reactions to COVID-19 in China. J Psychosom Res 2022; 161:110976. [PMID: 35998408 PMCID: PMC9245366 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2022.110976] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2021] [Revised: 06/10/2022] [Accepted: 06/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
To explore the emotional attitudes of microblog users in the different COVID-19 stages in China, this study used data mining and machine-learning methods to crawl 112,537 Sina COVID-19- related microblogs and conduct sentiment and group difference analyses. It was found that: (1) the microblog users' emotions shifted from negative to positive from the second COVID-19 pandemic phase; (2) there were no significant differences in the microblog users' emotions in the different regions; (3) males were more optimistic than females in the early stages of the pandemic; however, females were more optimistic than males in the last three stages; and (4) females posted more microblogs and expressed more sadness and fear while males expressed more anger and disgust. This research captured online information in real-time, with the results providing a reference for future research into public opinion and emotional reactions to crises.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yuchang Jin
- College of Psychology, Sichuan Normal University. Chengdu 610066, China
| | - Aoxue Yan
- College of Psychology, Sichuan Normal University. Chengdu 610066, China
| | - Tengwei Sun
- College of Psychology, Sichuan Normal University. Chengdu 610066, China
| | - Peixuan Zheng
- Department of Kinesiology and Nutrion, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA.
| | - Junxiu An
- College of Software Engineering, Chengdu University of Information Technology, 610225, China.
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Everyday life information seeking in South Korea during the COVID-19 pandemic: daily topics of information needs in social Q&A. ONLINE INFORMATION REVIEW 2022. [DOI: 10.1108/oir-10-2021-0547] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
PurposeThis study investigated information needs on COVID-19 by identifying topics discussed on social questions and answers (Q&A) about daily routines, problems, and health issues for survival. A layered model of contexts for everyday life information seeking (ELIS) was adapted for interpreting topics to better understand the contexts in which users could relate information needs.Design/methodology/approachQuestions and answers posted on Naver Knowledge-iN were collected and analyzed during the first nine months following the outbreak. Time distribution, topic modeling, and association rule mining were applied to examine the topics on COVID-19 and their temporal variation.FindingsNumerous topics related to the cognitive context (symptoms and masks) and situational contexts (international affairs, financial support, study, and work) were discovered. Topics related to social context were discussed moderately, but the number of questions on this topic increased with time. Strong associations were observed between terms related to symptoms, indicating their importance as a COVID-19 topic in health.Originality/valueThis study investigated topics of information needs using social Q&A data in which not only information inquiry but also information sharing coexist. The findings can help bridge the theory of ELIS to topic modeling in practice. The insights gained from this study can be used by information service providers for developing guidance and programs about how to survive during a pandemic.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-10-2021-0547.
Collapse
|
4
|
Xu X, Li Z, Wang R, Zhao L. Analysis of the Evolution of User Emotion and Opinion Leaders' Information Dissemination Behavior in the Knowledge Q&A Community during COVID-19. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2021; 18:12252. [PMID: 34832009 PMCID: PMC8618384 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph182212252] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2021] [Revised: 11/13/2021] [Accepted: 11/18/2021] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Since its emergence in 2019, COVID-19 has quickly triggered widespread public discussion on social media. From 26 February 2020 to 26 September 2020, this study collected data on COVID-19-related posts in the knowledge Q&A community, identified 220 opinion leaders of this community, and used social network analysis and sentiment analysis to analyze the information exchange behavior and emotional evolution of the opinion leaders during COVID-19. The results show that the COVID-19 topic community could be divided into seven main categories. The information dissemination of opinion leader information dissemination network had low efficiency, multiple paths, and a high degree of control. In addition, the emotional evolution of users showed obvious phased characteristics. User emotion changed from initially strong negative to strong positive over the course of the pandemic and eventually tended to be objective and neutral as time passed and the event stabilized.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Xu Xu
- School of Economic Information Engineering, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu 611130, China; (X.X.); (L.Z.)
| | - Zhigang Li
- School of Management Science, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China;
| | - Rui Wang
- School of Management Science, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China;
| | - Li Zhao
- School of Economic Information Engineering, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu 611130, China; (X.X.); (L.Z.)
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Yang Y, Deng W, Zhang Y, Mao Z. Promoting Public Engagement during the COVID-19 Crisis: How Effective Is the Wuhan Local Government's Information Release? INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2020; 18:ijerph18010118. [PMID: 33375307 PMCID: PMC7796154 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18010118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2020] [Revised: 12/16/2020] [Accepted: 12/23/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
During times of public crises (such as COVID-19), governments must act swiftly to release crisis information effectively and efficiently to the public. This paper provides a general overview of the way that the Wuhan local government use Weibo as a channel to engage with their citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the media richness, dialogic loop, and a series of theoretically relevant factors, such as content type, text length, and information source, we try to examine how citizen engage with their local government. By analyzing the data mining samples from Wuhan Release, the official Sina Weibo account of Wuhan's local government, results show that, despite the unstable situation COVID-19 over the crisis, there exist three stages of a crisis on the whole. Combining the behavior of the government and the public, duration from 31 December 2019 to 19 January 2020 could be seen as the development period, then the outbreak period (30 January 2020 to 28 February 2020), and a grace period (29 February 2020 to19 April 2020). Public attention to different types of information changes over time, but curbing rumors has always been a priority. Media richness features partially influent citizen engagement. Text length is significantly positively associated with citizen engagement through government social media. However, posts containing information sources have a negative impact on citizen engagement.
Collapse
|
6
|
Zhu B, Zheng X, Liu H, Li J, Wang P. Analysis of spatiotemporal characteristics of big data on social media sentiment with COVID-19 epidemic topics. CHAOS, SOLITONS, AND FRACTALS 2020; 140:110123. [PMID: 32834635 PMCID: PMC7367019 DOI: 10.1016/j.chaos.2020.110123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2020] [Accepted: 07/10/2020] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
COVID-19 blocked Wuhan in China, which was sealed off on Chinese New Year's Eve. During this period, the research on the relevant topics of COVID-19 and emotional expressions published on social media can provide decision support for the management and control of large-scale public health events. The research assisted the analysis of microblog text topics with the help of the LDA model, and obtained 8 topics ("origin", "host", "organization", "quarantine measures", "role models", "education", "economic", "rumor") and 28 interactive topics. Obtain data through crawler tools, with the help of big data technology, social media topics and emotional change characteristics are analyzed from spatiotemporal perspectives. The results show that: (1) "Double peaks" feature appears in the epidemic topic search curve. Weibo on the topic of the epidemic gradually reduced after January 24. However, the proportion of epidemic topic searches has gradually increased, and a "double peaks" phenomenon appeared within a week; (2) The topic changes with time and the fluctuation of the topic discussion rate gradually weakens. The number of texts on different topics and interactive topics changes with time. At the same time, the discussion rate of epidemic topics gradually weakens; (3) The political and economic center is an area where social media is highly concerned. The areas formed by Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Sichuan and Hubei have published more microblog texts. The spatial division of the number of Weibo social media texts has a high correlation with the economic zone division; (4) The existence of the topic of "rumor" will enable people to have more communication and discussion. The interactive topics of "rumors" always have higher topic popularity and low emotion text expressions. Through the analysis of media information, it helps relevant decision makers to grasp social media topics from spatiotemporal characteristics, so that relevant departments can accurately grasp the public's subjective ideas and emotional expressions, and provide decision support for macro-control response strategies and measures and risk communication.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Bangren Zhu
- School of Information Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Xinqi Zheng
- School of Information Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China
- Technology Innovation Center for Territory Spatial Big-data, MNR of China, Beijing 100036, China
| | - Haiyan Liu
- School of Economic and Management, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Jiayang Li
- School of Information Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Peipei Wang
- School of Information Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Huang C, Xu X, Cai Y, Ge Q, Zeng G, Li X, Zhang W, Ji C, Yang L. Mining the Characteristics of COVID-19 Patients in China: Analysis of Social Media Posts. J Med Internet Res 2020; 22:e19087. [PMID: 32401210 PMCID: PMC7236610 DOI: 10.2196/19087] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2020] [Revised: 05/03/2020] [Accepted: 05/12/2020] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND In December 2019, pneumonia cases of unknown origin were reported in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China. Identified as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the number of cases grew rapidly by human-to-human transmission in Wuhan. Social media, especially Sina Weibo (a major Chinese microblogging social media site), has become an important platform for the public to obtain information and seek help. OBJECTIVE This study aims to analyze the characteristics of suspected or laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients who asked for help on Sina Weibo. METHODS We conducted data mining on Sina Weibo and extracted the data of 485 patients who presented with clinical symptoms and imaging descriptions of suspected or laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19. In total, 9878 posts seeking help on Sina Weibo from February 3 to 20, 2020 were analyzed. We used a descriptive research methodology to describe the distribution and other epidemiological characteristics of patients with suspected or laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) infection. The distance between patients' home and the nearest designated hospital was calculated using the geographic information system ArcGIS. RESULTS All patients included in this study who sought help on Sina Weibo lived in Wuhan, with a median age of 63.0 years (IQR 55.0-71.0). Fever (408/485, 84.12%) was the most common symptom. Ground-glass opacity (237/314, 75.48%) was the most common pattern on chest computed tomography; 39.67% (167/421) of families had suspected and/or laboratory-confirmed family members; 36.58% (154/421) of families had 1 or 2 suspected and/or laboratory-confirmed members; and 70.52% (232/329) of patients needed to rely on their relatives for help. The median time from illness onset to real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing was 8 days (IQR 5.0-10.0), and the median time from illness onset to online help was 10 days (IQR 6.0-12.0). Of 481 patients, 32.22% (n=155) lived more than 3 kilometers away from the nearest designated hospital. CONCLUSIONS Our findings show that patients seeking help on Sina Weibo lived in Wuhan and most were elderly. Most patients had fever symptoms, and ground-glass opacities were noted in chest computed tomography. The onset of the disease was characterized by family clustering and most families lived far from the designated hospital. Therefore, we recommend the following: (1) the most stringent centralized medical observation measures should be taken to avoid transmission in family clusters; and (2) social media can help these patients get early attention during Wuhan's lockdown. These findings can help the government and the health department identify high-risk patients and accelerate emergency responses following public demands for help.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Chunmei Huang
- Department of Geriatrics, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Xinjie Xu
- Department of Emergency, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Yuyang Cai
- School of Public Health, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Qinmin Ge
- Department of Emergency, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Guangwang Zeng
- Department of Geriatrics, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.,The Health Center of Nansheng Town, Wuzhishan, China
| | - Xiaopan Li
- Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Pudong New Area, Shanghai, China.,Pudong Institute of Preventive Medicine, Pudong New Area, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Weide Zhang
- Big Data and Artificial Intelligence Center, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Chen Ji
- Warwick Clinical Trials Unit, Warwick Medical School, Coventry, United Kingdom
| | - Ling Yang
- Department of Geriatrics, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Zhao Y, Cheng S, Yu X, Xu H. Chinese Public's Attention to the COVID-19 Epidemic on Social Media: Observational Descriptive Study. J Med Internet Res 2020; 22:e18825. [PMID: 32314976 PMCID: PMC7199804 DOI: 10.2196/18825] [Citation(s) in RCA: 139] [Impact Index Per Article: 34.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2020] [Revised: 04/13/2020] [Accepted: 04/20/2020] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Since the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic in China in December 2019, information and discussions about COVID-19 have spread rapidly on the internet and have quickly become the focus of worldwide attention, especially on social media. OBJECTIVE This study aims to investigate and analyze the public's attention to events related to COVID-19 in China at the beginning of the COVID-19 epidemic (December 31, 2019, to February 20, 2020) through the Sina Microblog hot search list. METHODS We collected topics related to the COVID-19 epidemic on the Sina Microblog hot search list from December 31, 2019, to February 20, 2020, and described the trend of public attention on COVID-19 epidemic-related topics. ROST Content Mining System version 6.0 was used to analyze the collected text for word segmentation, word frequency, and sentiment analysis. We further described the hot topic keywords and sentiment trends of public attention. We used VOSviewer to implement a visual cluster analysis of hot keywords and build a social network of public opinion content. RESULTS The study has four main findings. First, we analyzed the changing trend of the public's attention to the COVID-19 epidemic, which can be divided into three stages. Second, the hot topic keywords of public attention at each stage were slightly different. Third, the emotional tendency of the public toward the COVID-19 epidemic-related hot topics changed from negative to neutral, with negative emotions weakening and positive emotions increasing as a whole. Fourth, we divided the COVID-19 topics with the most public concern into five categories: the situation of the new cases of COVID-19 and its impact, frontline reporting of the epidemic and the measures of prevention and control, expert interpretation and discussion on the source of infection, medical services on the frontline of the epidemic, and focus on the worldwide epidemic and the search for suspected cases. CONCLUSIONS Our study found that social media (eg, Sina Microblog) can be used to measure public attention toward public health emergencies. During the epidemic of the novel coronavirus, a large amount of information about the COVID-19 epidemic was disseminated on Sina Microblog and received widespread public attention. We have learned about the hotspots of public concern regarding the COVID-19 epidemic. These findings can help the government and health departments better communicate with the public on health and translate public health needs into practice to create targeted measures to prevent and control the spread of COVID-19.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yuxin Zhao
- Department of Social Medicine and Health Management, Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Sixiang Cheng
- Department of Social Medicine and Health Management, Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Xiaoyan Yu
- Department of Social Medicine and Health Management, Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Huilan Xu
- Department of Social Medicine and Health Management, Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China
| |
Collapse
|