Digital platforms account for a significant portion of the time adults spend online. Increasingly, these platforms have become online communities where people from different walks of life share similar or diverse views. This chapter examines how Cameroonian English users construct identities online through multilingual practices. To answer this question, a mixed- methods design that combines web scraping, manual data collection, and interviews is used. The data comprise posts, comments, and interactions from Cameroonian users who use English as a primary or second language on social media platforms, online fora, and blogs. The research draws on two key theories: (a) Gracia and Wei’s (2014) Translanguaging and (b) Goffman’s (1959) Social Media Identity Performance. The findings of this study show that Cameroonian users of English use multilingual practices like code- switching and language blending to signal identity and construct an online community.
Njuasi, I. F. & Nkwain, C. N. (2026). Cameroon English and Identity Construction: Insights From Multilingual Practices in Digital Spaces. In A. Elhami & A. Roshan (Eds.), Exploring Identity Formation in Language Education: Personal Narratives and Educational Research (pp. 381-408). IGI Global Scientific Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3373-5423-1.ch012