Digital Discourse, Power, and Cyberbullying among Students on X (Twitter): Implications for Language Education in Nigerian Universities

Abstract

This study examines cyberbullying as a language-mediated social practice among Nigerian university students on X (formerly Twitter), with particular attention to how linguistic choices construct power, identity, and aggression in digital academic communities. Adopting a qualitative discourse-analytic approach within the framework of language education, the study purposively sampled public tweets produced between 2023 and 2024 and subjected them to thematic and critical discourse analysis. Findings reveal that cyberbullying among university students is realized through patterned linguistic strategies such as evaluative insults, academic shaming, sarcasm, public call-outs, and coercive directives. These strategies function not merely as expressions of hostility but as communicative acts through which speakers negotiate dominance, legitimacy, and exclusion within digitally mediated learning and social spaces. The analysis further shows that academic identity (e.g., references to exams, competence, failure, and institutional authority) is frequently mobilized as a resource for bullying, with implications for students’ linguistic confidence and participation in academic discourse. From a language education perspective, the study highlights the need to integrate digital discourse awareness, critical language literacy, and ethical online communication into university language education curricula. The study contributes to applied linguistics by demonstrating how discourse analysis can illuminate the pedagogical consequences of harmful language practices in students’ digital lives and by offering evidence-based insights for educators, curriculum designers, and policy makers concerned with student well-being and communicative competence in higher education.