


































Frontiers of Contemporary Education 
ISSN 2690-3520 (Print) ISSN 2690-3539 (Online) 

Vol. 1, No. 2, 2020 

www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/fce 

51 
 

Original Paper 

YouTube Platform and the English Language Learning in the 

Brazilian Context 

Márcia Aparecida Silva¹
*
 & Izídio Dias de Carvalho Junior¹ 

¹ Department of Modern Languages, State University of Goiás, Iporá, Goias, Brazil 

*
 Márcia Aparecida Silva, E-mail: marciasilva@ueg.br 

 

Received: December 21, 2020   Accepted: December 28, 2020  Online Published: January 29, 2021 

doi:10.22158/fce.v1n2p51              URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/fce.v1n2p51 

 

Abstract 

This work aims at exploring the YouTube platform as a social network and useful space for English 

language learning in the Brazilian context. We believe that YouTube is a potential platform to enhance 

autonomy, but we are aware that there is a specific kind of student who could benefit from using this tool. 

For the theoretical basis of this research, we are based on Recuero (2009) to discuss the meaning of 

social network. We will explore some YouTubers who use the platform to teach the English language. 

Keywords 

YouTube, social media, foreign languages, YouTubers 

 

1. Introduction  

YouTube is an online platform that was originally launched in June 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, 

and Jawed Karim. The platform was sold, a year after its launch, to Google. The purchase was made for 

an amount of $ 1.65 billion dollars (more or less R$ 6 billion reais), according to Burgess; Green (2009). 

YouTube is currently one of the most influential and internationally disseminated platforms, having 

reached the mark of 1.58 billion users in 2018. Also, in 2011, its interface was already available in 34 

languages (Barton, 2015). In addition to enabling the sharing of audiovisual content, YouTube allows its 

users, through registration, to evaluate the videos, giving them a “thumbs up” or a “thumbs down”, and 

adding them to a list of favorite videos. The content found on this platform varies a lot in its content and 

can be presented in the form of music videos, movie trailers, video clips, parts of TV programs, live 

streams (streaming) and, a great success today, vlogs and daily vlogs. 

This platform presents itself as an online environment pursued by those who wish, or do not care, for a 

more “public” life. Prensky (2010, p. 2) states that “people mourning with the need to express and share 

their feelings and get comfort in people‟s responses [...]”, for this reason, a large number of people 



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produce their content with the intention of generating some kind of feedback from those who watch their 

videos. 

Over the years new terms have emerged within the platform, and these terms have been used to refer to 

specific niches within the site. One of the most important terms was “YouTuber”, a word used to refer to 

the person who produces audiovisual material and shares it on this website. We can infer that the 

terminologies created were the result of an attempt to monitor the diversity of audiovisual content hosted 

daily. As an example, we can mention “booktuber” and “vlogger”. These terms, respectively, refer to 

those that produce content related to books and more personal topics.  

Although by the time YouTube started, the production equipment was basically a webcam. Nowadays, 

however, there is a major concern on the part of audiovisual producers. It is not difficult to find videos in 

which YouTubers present their filming and editing material, leading us to perceive an audiovisual 

production for YouTube as an area that is developing professionally. 

As we can notice, YouTube hosts audiovisual content of different genres, social relevance and goals. The 

videos are made mainly with a target audience in mind, so it is not difficult to find videos about sport, 

culture (national or international), news, education, comedy, entertainment and so on, some are delimited 

for age groups. For these reasons, we find it relevant to discuss how Brazilian students can benefit from 

this platform, enhancing their knowledge in the English language learning. To conduct our exploratory 

research, we will explore three YouTubers who post regularly about learning.  

After this introduction about what YouTube is and what its uses are, we will move on to the next topic, 

which is in the Applied Linguistics field of study. To do so, let's start by pointing this platform as a social 

network. 

 

2. YouTube as a Social Network 

Over the years, YouTube has changed its concept. This website is no longer just an environment for 

hosting videos, it started to attract the attention of people who were interested in sharing something with 

the world. In other words, the website has changed “from a personal storage resource for video content to 

a platform designed for personal expression” (Burgess, 2009, p. 21). 

This idea of personal expression is closely linked to the topic we intend to address in this section, the 

social. According to Dornelles (2015), YouTube has gained the attention of people who want to tell their 

stories to the world, and they see this platform as an alternative channel through which they can spread 

their ideas, opinions and worldview. 

It is precisely this possibility of interaction between users of digital media that characterizes social 

networks. Recuero (2009, p. 69) states that “a social network is always a set of actors and their 

relationships”, thus, what characterizes a social network as such is the relationship and the interaction 

established among its users. This interaction process is strongly perceived on YouTube. This relationship 

happens in several instances, it can be noticed between YouTuber and followers, followers and 

YouTuber, YouTuber and YouTuber or even among followers. The aim of this section is precisely to 



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show YouTube as a social network and, in order to do so, we will point out how the interaction can be 

developed in this environment. 

It is not difficult to understand YouTube as a social network that bonds its users through communication 

and interaction. This platform allows us to follow and interact more directly with video creators who 

create the content of our interest. We can notice this aspect by analyzing the platform‟s functionalities 

that enable us to subscribe to the YouTubers‟ channels that we like, to rate the watched videos by giving 

them a “thumbs up” or a “thumbs down”. We also have the possibility of sharing the videos that we like. 

YouTube has become a place in which “many users post ideas and opinions, looking for feedback, and 

many get large numbers of responses to their clips” (Prensky, 2010, p. 2). 

Digital influencers, in many cases, encourage their followers to express their opinions through the 

comments section, where interaction mostly takes place. Opinions and arguments are presented; debates 

take place openly, giving the right of speech to everyone who wants to use it. This interaction is one of 

the most common in the language teaching channels, since questions always arise when the subject is a 

foreign language. However, we believe that over the years the tendency is that the channels, regardless of 

genre, reach a larger audience and grow in terms of the number of subscribers. With this expansion of 

followers in mind, it is not difficult to imagine that in the future it will be almost humanly impossible for 

YouTubers to answer all their followers. 

In this kind of scenario, we can witness the development of another type of interaction, the sharing of 

knowledge among subscribers. It is noticeable that a channel with more than 1 million subscribers 

receives many comments, comments that will not, at least not all, be answered by the channel owner. 

Taking that into account, it is quite common to find comments such as the following one: 

 

 

Figure 1. Subscribers Sharing Their Knowledge 

 

In Figure 1, the first subscriber asks a question regarding the use of passive voice in the present perfect, 

and a second subscriber, for mastering the theme related to the question, does not hesitate to answer it. 

This sort of interaction is considered advantageous to all parties involved, since the first subscriber 

eventually finds a solution to their linguistic problem, the second subscriber puts into practice what they 

know and the YouTuber, who owns the channel, consequently, has one less comment to answer. 



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The construction of collective knowledge is frequently observed in the comments section in videos 

related to teaching English as a foreign language. Here we have another figure in which we can notice 

this sort of mutual collaboration: 

 

 

Figure 2. Construction of Collective Knowledge 

 

Figure 2 presents a case in which three followers build mutual knowledge in the English language. The 

first one shares their appreciation of the YouTuber‟s online contributions by using the expression “when 

it comes to”. The second subscriber had to ask for the meaning of the expression to understand the whole 

sentence, and, in the following moment, the third subscriber answers the question (Note 1). 

Through these images, we can attest that YouTube is a social network, because it is its users, who use it 

for interaction, the ones responsible for keeping this social media ongoing. Recuero (2009, p. 103) 

confirms this by stating that 

Although social networking sites act as a support for the interactions that will constitute 

social networks, they are not, in themselves, social networks. They can present them, help 

to perceive them, but it is important to emphasize that they are, in themselves, only 

systems. It is the social actors, who use these networks, that constitute these networks. 

Bearing this in mind, we can argue that a social network website is enhanced when human 

communication is established at its core. Another form of interaction presented on YouTube is “collabs” 

(Note 2). “Collabs” are videos that YouTubers make by inviting other digital influencers to their 

channels and vice versa. To give an illustration, we can mention the following collabs. 

 



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Figure 3. Collabs between Carina Fragozo and Rodrigo Honorato 

 

Figure 3 shows two collaborations between two Brazilian teachers, Carina Fragozo and Rodrigo 

Honorato. Collaborations are relevant on YouTube because, besides the gain of possible new subscribers, 

each YouTuber has the opportunity to present new content to their followers since the guest has a 

different background, opinion, humor and a unique view about the topic being discussed. In both videos, 

they are talking about the “African American Vernacular English” (AAVE) also known as “Black 

English”. In this collab, they present this English variation and its peculiarities, such as pronunciation, 

grammar, vocabulary, story and so on.  

In the following section, we rely on Arndt and Woore (2018) to discuss the concepts of intentional and 

incidental learning within YouTube. We also briefly present this platform as a means of sharing 

education.  

 

3. YouTube for Academic Purposes 

We would like to start this section with two researches, which were focused on the YouTube platform 

and in the English language learning and teaching. These studies are relevant to show the potential of this 

platform to education. 

The first is the work of Silva (2018), which addresses the issue of YouTube‟s pedagogical contributions 

to foreign language teaching and learning. The author introduced the possibilities and the challenges that 

this platform presents to the English language teaching/learning in basic education, in a Brazilian 

context, and the processes that permeate the skills that teachers and students need to present in this 

teaching model. For this purpose, the researcher used a qualitative methodology and theoretical 

foundation. To conduct the research, the author based herself mainly on the “English in Brazil”, channel 

by Carina Fragozo in order to understand the relationship of this social network with language teaching. 

The second research is from Dias (2013) who is also interested in pointing out the pedagogical 

contributions of YouTube. The author aimed to present this social network as a repository of audiovisual 

resources capable of contributing to the development of listening and oral skills in the teaching/learning 



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process of English in basic education. 

The researchers presented are relevant to the current teaching scenario, as they aim to investigate the 

relation between digital platforms and language teaching. It is worth mentioning there are numerous 

academic researches, which analyze YouTube as a platform that contributes to teaching. These 

researches are present in the teaching of Mathematics, Physics, Biology, Sign Language and so on, but 

they will not be included here, since our focus is the teaching of the English language. 

Taking into account the global reach of this platform and the ease we have to find videos in several 

languages, we argue that there is a relationship between this platform and the teaching/learning English. 

This is where our work is founded. We believe in the potential of YouTube as a facilitator in the 

development of the learners‟ autonomy, since this platform and its contents can motivate students to 

explore different materials for new information. To that extent, students look for information in videos 

that catch their attention, and this directly contributes to their learning process, as they act more actively, 

not just waiting for the teacher to tell them what to do. 

Barton and Lee (2015, p. 77) argues that “many YouTube users also take advantage of the possibility of 

sharing video to „teach the world‟ the languages they speak”, that is to say, this platform acts as a great 

ally in the foreign language learning and teaching, as it allows language teachers, trained or not, to 

“break” geographical barriers and reach users around the globe. 

We will explore the term “informal” linked to learning. To understand the proposed idea, we establish a 

relationship between “intentional” and “incidental” learning and informal teaching. Moreover, we will 

talk about how informal learning on YouTube can take place. 

We rely on Arndt and Woore (2018) to explain the incidental and intentional terms. When we mention 

“intentional”, we mean learning related to concentration, in which the student is actively learning. This 

occurs, for instance, when a language learner is in a traditional teaching context and he is receiving some 

type of instruction from the teacher. The moments of explanation in the classroom, for instance, can fit 

into intentional learning because it is when students focus their attention to learning, as Arndt and Woore 

(2018, p. 125) defend, “[...] it is believed that the intentional learning occurs when students‟ attention is 

focused on acquiring new language features [...]”. 

Although we have used the classroom, formal educational space, to refer to intentional learning, it can 

also occur in the YouTube context. When an apprentice watches a video about grammar, he strives to 

absorb the content, so he has his attention focused on that purpose. 

Incidental learning occurs when the student learns something without being aware of it. Incidental 

learning can happen, for instance, when the learner is watching, for leisure, a video on a topic that 

interests him. At this point, the student is not concerned with the tenses or conjugations that the speakers 

of the language are using, because his intention is to understand what he is hearing. Throughout this 

moment of leisure, a lot is learned incidentally. In this type of learning, we unconsciously internalize 

grammatical structures, vocabulary, pronunciation, language rhythm, and so on. 

 



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There is an immense number of teachers, enthusiasts and language learners sharing their knowledge 

through videos. It is not difficult to find people, native or not, teachers or not, sharing tips, rules of a 

specific language which can leverage learning in any particular language. 

We use, as an example, the testimony that teacher Carina Fragozo shared with members of YouTube at 

an event called “Creator Talks”, in a lecture at YouTube Space in New York. She was invited by the 

YouTube team to share her experience on the platform. Carina, in his lecture, addresses the issue of 

democratization of education through YouTube. She claims that “today education is available to more 

and more people” and, according to the speaker, this dissemination of free educational content through 

YouTube “is the most incredible thing that the internet has brought us” (Note 3).  

The visibility experienced by teachers in the online environment is a point of recent debate when it comes 

to the democratization of education in an online context. This debate is based on the fact that videos 

hosted on YouTube vary widely in content and are subject to worldwide visibility, which, consequently, 

contributes to the lives of students who dedicate themselves to learn autonomously. 

The YouTube Edu initiative is still relatively new, but it already has interesting ideas in the free 

dissemination of knowledge. Teachers linked to this platform have promoted since 2017 the so-called 

“aulão YouTube Edu ENEM”, in which they perform live classes talking about important topics for the 

National High School Exam. The democratization of education through YouTube is something that has 

shown positive results and seems that it will be more used in the future context. 

In this section, we presented the concepts of intentional and incidental learning in an informal learning 

context, and discussed YouTube as a platform, which generates constant interaction among its users. 

Therefore, we intend to highlight the work of some YouTubers who produce quality content for everyone 

who wants to have greater and deeper contact with the English language. 

 

4. YouTubers and the English Learning 

In this section, we present three English teachers on YouTube. In order to understand these teachers and 

the work they have been developing on the platform, we introduce them, and show how they can 

contribute to the autonomy of the Brazilian English learners who follow them. 

The first channel is called “English in Brazil” and it is run by Carina Fragozo. 

 



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Figure 4. English in Brazil by Carina Fragozo 

 

Carina Fragozo holds a Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of São Paulo. As a researcher, her main 

academic interests are phonetics, phonology and second language acquisition. 

Her videos cover a variety of different topics, such as grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, curiosities 

about the English language and the culture of countries where this language is spoken. The content 

hosted on her channel is explained in a simple way. Carina, due to her academic background, generally 

relies on scientific facts and academic research to support her explanations. 

The second channel is called “SmallAdvantages” and it is run by Gavin Roy, a native English speaker 

from North America. 

 

 

Figure 5. Small Advantages with Gavin Roy 

 

 

 



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Gavin Roy, better known as Gavin, is one of the classic cases of autonomous language learners, since he 

speaks English as his mother tongue and has taught himself Spanish and Portuguese. He is also currently 

learning the Czech language. His channel started in mid-2014 with the aim of giving English tips to 

Brazilian Portuguese speakers. 

Although “SmallAdvantages” has good recognition among YouTube channels focused on teaching 

English, Gavin does not hold a certification in the educational field. He holds a Ph.D. in meteorology, but 

he has decided to focus on his career as an English teacher on YouTube. He started, back in 2014, only 

with tips on the English language, but his channel currently hosts a great number of videos covering 

many different topics in English, from pronunciation to grammar. 

The content available on this channel is presented in a simple and dynamic way. One of the highlights of 

the YouTuber didactics is the relationship he establishes between the language learning processes he has 

been exposed to through his autonomous learning. This comparison facilitates the understanding of 

students who have never learned a foreign language or for those who have experienced many difficulties 

in their language learning journey. 

Last but not least, we have Mairo Vergara‟s channel. 

 

 

Figure 6. Mairo Vergara’s Channel 

 

Mairo Vergara is a Brazilian English teacher and has worked in this field since 2009. He has accumulated 

over 2 million subscribers in his YouTube channel and he is well known for having a “think outside the 

box” mindset when it comes to teaching and learning English. Mairo is also an entrepreneur and sells his 

English courses online. His channel is interesting and accessible for everyone since most of his videos are 

recorded in Portuguese and using daily language. His channel hosts many videos related to grammar, 

vocabulary and pronunciation, but there are also many videos talking about methods and techniques to 

learn English in a more effective way. He also posts videos explaining how to use apps, such as Anki 



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(Note 4) that can benefit our learning journey. 

Before concluding this section, it is worth mentioning that most YouTubers create Playlists on their 

channels to divide their videos into topics. This division is another factor that contributes to English 

language learners, as they will have access to videos already separated. In other words, they will not 

“waste time” searching for videos of their interest on specific channels, they only need to go to the 

playlists and watch videos related to their current language needs. 

To give an illustration of what we mean, the two following images illustrate how Carina Fragozo 

separates her videos into lists that meet the diverse needs of her followers. She also created a specific 

playlist, entitled “Start here: basic English”, for new followers who still do not know her channel and 

want to start from the beginning. 

 

 

Figures 7 and 8. Playlists by Carina Fragozo 

 

These are three channels that can contribute to autonomous English language learners in Brazil, because 

students have in these channels a source of information relevant to the search for proficiency in the target 

language. In addition to having contact with qualified professionals, apprentices have the opportunity to 

enjoy the content of the channels regardless of the level of proficiency, since the three channels 

mentioned here have specific videos for the most basic levels, but they also have videos for those English 

learners who are in a more advanced level in the language. 

 

 



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5. Conclusion  

In this paper, we aimed to explore YouTube as a social network and how this platform establishes 

possibilities to promote learning in English language learners in the Brazilian context. We can see that 

the process that unfolds on YouTube has brought many possibilities to learners. We can perceive this by 

acknowledging that YouTube provides free access to a vast collection of videos that contribute to 

autonomous learning and the enhancing of linguistic abilities. 

In view of the arguments presented, it is concluded that the possibilities of using YouTube combined 

with the learning of students who have an autonomous profile are relatively large. The phenomenon of 

language teaching/learning on this platform has taken on great proportions, we can deduce that this fact is 

closely related to the narrowing that has occurred in the relationship between teaching/learning and the 

digital technologies of communication and information over the years. 

Burgess and Green (2009, p. 13) state that 

Although not the only video-sharing site on the Internet, YouTube‟s rapid rise, its wide 

variety of content and its public projection in the West among English speakers make it 

useful for understanding the still evolving relationships between the new media 

technologies, creative industries and popular culture policies. 

Therefore, we conclude that the popularity of YouTube is something that contributes greatly to its status 

quo when it comes to the dissemination of content. YouTube popularity and contributions are going to 

last for a long time, but it is worth mentioning that “it is not social networks that improve language 

teaching, but how we use them” (Leffa, 2016, p. 138).  

 

References 

Arndt, H. L., & Woore, R. (2018). Vocabulary learning from watching YouTube videos and reading blog 

posts. Language Learning & Technology, 22(1), 124-142.  

Barton, D., & Lee, C. (2015). Linguagem online: Textos e práticas digitais (1st ed.). São Paulo: Parábola 

Editorial. 

Burgess, J., & Green, J. (2009). YouTube e a revolução digital: Como o maior fenômeno da cultura 

participativa transformou a mídia e a sociedade. São Paulo: Aleph. 

Leffa, V. J. (2003). Quando menos é mais: A autonomia na aprendizagem de línguas. In C. Nicolaides, I. 

Mozzillo, L. Pachalski, M. Machado, & V. Fernandes (Eds.), O desenvolvimento da autonomia no 

ambiente de aprendizagem de línguas estrangeiras (pp. 33-49). Pelotas: UFPEL. 

Prensky, M. (2010). Why YouTube Matters. On the horizon. 

Recuero, R. (2009). Redes Sociais na Internet. Porto Alegre: Sulina.  

Silva, M. T. (2018). Contribuições Pedagógicas da Rede Social YouTube para o Ensino e a 

Aprendizagem de Língua Estrangeira. 2018. 169 f. Dissertação (Mestrado em Linguística 

Aplicada)-Faculdade Federal de Minas Gerais-UFMG, Belo Horizonte, 2018. 

 



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Notes 

Note 1. Figures 1 and 2 were taken from interactions on Teacher Carina Fragozo‟s channel. The images 

show moments of interaction between the YouTube teacher and her followers, and these moments show 

the exchange of information that takes place on this platform. 

Note 2. Term used to designate collaborations between YouTubers. 

Note 3. Retirado de: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70-I-99W77g&t=273s 

Note 4. Anki is an app and website that helps people to remember things by using flash cards. 

 

 


