The author would like to thank the anonymous reviewers of a previous version of this paper.

1. Introduction: Covid-19 as prospect for agency in a language learning context

1Since December 2019, the coronavirus pandemic is a reality affecting life and activity worldwide. The unprecedented intensity of the phenomenon has consequences with which humanity is still struggling to cope. Education is also affected by this extraordinary situation, and there is a growing body of literature on its impact on educational practices, policies, and human capital (Van Lancker & Parolin, 2020; Weller, 2020; United Nations, 2020; UNESCO, 2020a). Cross-country data are regularly gathered concerning the disruption in education worldwide (Wikipedia, 2020). UNESCO provides visualisations on an interactive map regarding the number of learners confined to their homes (UNESCO, 2020b).

2The lack of or restrictions for face-to-face interactions in formal education contexts seems to be the major motivation to pursue learning and teaching through digital technologies. In several contexts, online learning has not been a top priority on regional or national governments' agendas before the outbreak. Yet, technological mediation, like, for example, online classrooms and collaboration platforms, are emerging at incredible speed. However, it seems that technology is widely used to remediate presumably the most disruptive feature of education, the face-to-face condition, and less perhaps for the learning possibilities it affords. Without neglecting the value of technology to simulate physical presence, we argue that the implications for learning occurring from the massive use of technology during the pandemic should not be considered less important.

3Among the wealth of language learning practices in the current pandemic, this paper addresses practices and possibilities for L2 learning and use occurring informally, particularly those taking place in bottom-up, community-driven digital actions of citizens in the fight against the pandemic. Since January 2020, many technology-mediated social participation (TMSP) forms (Preece & Shneiderman, 2009) are launched locally and globally, where citizens contribute voluntarily to actions that serve social purposes in crises. Four TMSP types are indicatively analysed through examples of cases drawn from the pandemic: a) massively multiplayer online games, b) emergency response expert hackathons, c) digital activism in grassroots communities and d) citizen science. This paper builds on sociocultural understandings of the language learner as a social actor (and an active citizen meaningfully engaged in collective action during the pandemic) to identify current practices and future possibilities at the crossroads of language learning and agency for a social purpose in crises.

4At this stage, this paper does not probe deeply into the relationship between agency for a social purpose (Covid-19) and L2 learning. However, it offers a tentative mapping of the TMSP features that depict their potential for L2 learning and open up research perspectives in CALL.

5The paper starts with an outline of its scope, delimitation, and methodology (section 2). It then moves to its theoretical underpinnings, namely sociocultural theories focusing on agency in L2 and technology-mediated social participation (sections 3 and 4). It then moves to the description of four main types of TMSP (section 5). Section 6 (Discussion) offers a synthesis of the TMSP features and addresses the connection to current and future research in CALL.

2. Scope and delimitation of the study

6The scope of this paper is to understand the implications of the coronavirus pandemic on language learning by addressing the possibilities and limitations of agentive action as an enabler of L2 development. It supports scholarly work in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and specifically research in Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) that explores the potential of learning outside formal education to "understand and to acknowledge a diversity of communicative practices, all of which are aimed at expanding the goals and outcomes of instructed L2 education" (Thorne & Fisher, 2012).

7By adopting a sociocultural approach that emphasises the use of mediating tools of social and cultural origins as catalysts for language development, the paper will look at "language-mediated opportunities for joint attention and meaningful engagement [which] are understood as foundational to language learning" (Thorne & Fischer, 2012).

8L2 learning will be understood broadly as encompassing L2 use and socialisation in out-of-class contexts as opportunities to L2 development. As described by Thorne, Black and Sykes (2009), second language use and socialisation in "entirely out-of-school non institutional realms of freely chosen digital engagement" can broaden the scope of SLA and unite "the analytic rigour of instructed L2 education with the immediacy and vibrancy of language use in digital vernacular contexts" (p. 802). Conceptually, this paper is situated within scholarly work seeking to identify better the

potential for an increase in the ecological relations between the language practices and identity dispositions developed within instructional L2 contexts and the broader plurilingual communicative contexts of life outside of the academy" (Sykes et al., 2008, p. 539).

9Among the range of possible contexts, we will focus on those conducive to L2 use and learning, where individuals engage in some form of technology-mediated social participation for a social purpose in a crisis, namely the fight against Covid-19.

10In light of the above, the current paper tackles the following questions:

• What types of Technology Mediated Social Participation occur in the pandemic?

• What is the current status of CALL research about these types?

• What kind of L2 learning and use possibilities match to these types?

11There is a wealth of participatory, citizen-driven initiatives stemming from the collective effort to commit to a social purpose. Among them, we focus on those in the fight against Covid-19 because of the unprecedented pandemic and also the scarcity of research so far–CALL studies addressing implications of the pandemic in CALL are very limited yet growing (cf. Discussion). In addition, forms of social participation that engage users in no or very limited interaction will be excluded from the present study because language interaction is a catalyst for L2 use and learning.

3. Methodology and data collection

12This study adopts an exploratory research method (Stebbins, 2001), intending to understand better an issue that has not been studied or thoroughly investigated in the past. By definition, exploratory research does not lead to a conclusive result, yet it can trigger scholarly discussions and open up further research. The purpose of exploratory research is to offer a preparatory examination of an issue to gain insights and ideas about its underlying nature. It is not intended to serve as an in-depth look into all factors because there is little or no prior knowledge of the phenomenon under scrutiny (McNabb, 2015).

13A literature review has been carried out on TMSP forms during the pandemic and on CALL research on these TMSP forms, before and during the pandemic, from a data collection point of view. This matching will identify gaps in current CALL research and suggest possible uses of TMSP for language learning in the future.

14From a methodological point of view, we adopt mapping as a methodological tool that synthetically presents key features of novel or least explored concepts or practices like ours. Similar attempts to map novel practices in CALL have been used with mobile language learning (Jones et al., 2013) and game-based learning (Chik, 2014). The former is a mapping exercise of several mobile learning inquiries against five dimensions: learner control, location on the formal-informal spectrum, location of learning, system support, and social support, age, and technology. The latter, by Chik (2014), analyses practices of out-of-class L2 gaming by using a framework composed of four dimensions (location, formality, pedagogy, and locus of control) (Table 1).

Table 1–Chik's (2014: 4) framework for the analysis of out-of-class L2 gaming.

1.	Location	The place in which a learning activity takes place, which can refer to both physical and virtual environments
2.	Formality	Concerned with whether or not a learning activity is part of an institutional programme possibly leading to qualifications. Informal learning usually involves pursuit of interests outside learning environments
3.	Pedagogy	The degree to which instruction, the structured progression of material, explicit explanation, and assessment are involved
4.	Locus of control	Hinges on whether a learning activity is self- or other-directed or how the decisions about learning and teaching are distributed.

15We will adopt Chik's four-dimensional mapping methodology and definitions (Table 1), with the addition of two columns to increase visibility: one about CALL research on each TMSP and one about CALL research on each TMSP in the current pandemic. The differences between Chik's and Jones's et al. mapping exercises are that these two are fully grounded on a large collection of evidence-based research. In contrast, our paper is much more interpretative concerning the potential for L2 learning and use, because of the scarcity of literature on almost all TMSP forms. Because of the emergent character of this analysis, the study is far from exhaustive, and its preliminary findings are worth discussing and expanding in further research.

4. Theoretical background

4.1. Agency in L2 from a sociocultural perspective

16Sociocultural approaches to learning that emphasise action and engagement are vital for L2 development (Wertsch, 1991; Lantolf et al., 2015). We will use the term "agentive action" as a hypernym for forms of technology-mediated participation, by definition, in light of the pandemic, of L2 learners in action for a social purpose, namely the fight against Covid-19. Thus, this study explores the extent to which agentive action can be conducive to L2 learning, which forms it takes in the current pandemic, and the limitations to such an approach.

17Bligh (2014), building on research by anthropologist Jean Lave, claims that in the role of social actors, learners engage in the act of "becoming" through mastering the discourses associated with situated contexts and develop agency through actions within interrelated life-worlds (p. 34). For the author, "[a learner] is agentive in transforming her/his world through participation" (ibidem). These claims are rooted in the broader context of sociocultural understandings of learning that emphasise learners as social actors, shaping their discourse and identity through agentive action.

18In CALL studies, agency is a concept that has gained considerable attention because it most often adopts sociocultural approaches to learning. For Sykes, Oskoz, and Thorne (2008), "students' agency–defined as the socioculturally mediated capacity to act (…)–has the potential to evolve beyond the confines of the subject-position associated with the conventional institutional identity of 'student'" (p. 539). This approach emphasises that L2 learners increasingly craft learning trajectories through multiple platforms and sites, including social networking ones. Αs Zhao, Lampe, and Ellison (2016) argue, "People make decisions based on their consideration of multiple parameters across social media platforms, including audience and norms" (p. 98). It becomes vital to adopt a more holistic view of user practices, beyond standalone sites or platforms, with scholarship moving from studies of social networks to how sociodigital ecosystems evolve. These studies investigate how users enact various identities, illustrating the dynamic, user‐driven flow of networked activity.

19Agency is often dealt with alongside the concept of autonomy. For Reinhardt (2018), agency (and awareness) are necessary to afford to learn and develop learner autonomy. In the author's terms, "a pedagogy that leverages social media practices for developing L2 learner autonomy should support learner agency by promoting user choice and self‐directed learning" (Reinhardt, 2018, p. 10). In networked environments, scholarly work has addressed autonomy in informal learning contexts (Chik, 2014), yet social autonomy (Lewis, 2014) is a largely underexplored topic. Informal L2 users demonstrate the free will to support other users throughout their learning process and their requests for support (Zourou et al., 2017), which concurs with the participatory culture (Jenkins, 2006) often related to social media. Evidence‐based research is still scarce (Kessler, 2013) and merits further investigation.

20Seen from a broader perspective of active learning and engagement of L2 learners, several authors emphasise the need for pedagogies that expose learners to various genres, stances, and critical reflection (Warner & Chen, 2017). As Hanna and de Nooy (2003) claim, teachers need to sensitise learners to online cultural practice and genres, "so that their participation in electronic discussion[s] is no longer seen as linguistic training, but as engagement with a cultural practice" (p. 71). In the same vein, Warner and Richardson (2017) argue that networked technologies not only offer an opportunity for authentic communicative contexts but also represent "a means of enabling learners to expand the scope of positions, which they occupy as users of a new language" (p. 197).

21Developments in technology–such as mobile devices that afford connection and social interaction anytime and anywhere, social networking offline and online and horizontal patterns of connectivity that allow users to create natural bonds based on shared interests–offer possibilities for the user-driven, self- and group- initiated practices that redraw models of production, distribution, and reuse of knowledge. The term digital wilds (Thorne et al., 2015; Sauro & Zourou, 2019; Zourou, 2020) was adopted to refer to "non-instructionally oriented contexts" (Thorne et al., 2015, p. 225) that support social activity, are less controllable or organised than a classroom, "but which present interesting, and perhaps even compelling, opportunities for intercultural exchange, agentive action, and meaning-making" (Thorne, 2010, p. 144). Key in understanding this concept is the desire to include student experience and agency and support and amplify language learners' opportunities.

4.2. Technology-mediated social participation

22There is a wealth of terms for civic engagement with a social purpose through some form(s) of technology: digital activism, citizen-driven innovation, social computing, and more specific terms such as citizen science, open production communities, data activism, citizen journalism, and public participation in scientific research. Although these terms are not new, they gain traction with practitioners and scholars in information science, sociology, Internet studies, and education.

23In this study, we will adopt "Technology-Mediated Social Participation (TMSP)" as an umbrella term to refer to the many forms of digitally enhanced collective effort for a social purpose. TMSP is a concept that emerged within Human-Computer Interaction studies before being adopted by other research fields, including education (Lampe et al., 2010). According to Preece and Shneiderman, who coined this term, "responses to many of the world's difficult challenges could be dramatically more successful if social participation could be made more consistently effective" (Preece & Shneiderman, 2009, p. 15). The choice of TMSP in this study is motivated by two reasons: first, because the term emphasises the sociocultural legacy of artifact mediation, to which this paper adheres, and second because it puts social participation in a dynamic perspective of engagement. More precisely, Preece and Shneiderman advance the Reader-to-Leader Framework, with users potentially moving from becoming readers to becoming contributors, collaborators, and possibly leaders. This understanding of the dynamics of TMSP puts into perspective the degree of agency in forms of social action.

24Civic engagement for a social purpose should not be considered a panacea, as scholars rightly point out.

TMSP can also be used by hate groups, terrorist organisations, and deceptive corporations (…) while openness about leadership, transparency about funding, and accountability for identifiable organisations are potential antidotes to malicious intent, strategies to minimise the dangers will also have to be developed (Preece & Shneiderman, 2009, p. 26).

25In addition, joining a campaign or initiative does not necessarily mean active engagement. Referring to the community management platform Slack, widely used in digital activism projects, "Slacktivism" is a term for giving token support for a cause, like wearing a pin or "liking" something on Facebook, without being willing to engage in more meaningful support, like donating time or money (Kristofferson et al., 2014). The degree of engagement in some form of meaningful support is affected by choices Internet users make regarding their networked public identity (Ellison & boyd, 2013). Kristofferson et al. claim that at times the public display of support in social networks does not necessarily make people willing to commit further. These findings echo research on patterns of online commitment and different profiles of users.

4.3. TMSP in crisis situations

26Large-scale initiatives that involve citizens acting for a social purpose in crises exist, addressing challenges such as crime reporting, natural hazards, large-scale epidemics, fighting terror, or other emergency responses. Public participation in mass emergencies and disasters can be analysed under several lenses. We adopt Palen's et al. (2010) emphasis on viewing citizens as a powerful, self-organising, and collectively intelligent force, for whom information and communication technology can play a transformational role during a crisis. The authors propose a vision of research that makes use of and enhances information supplied by members of the public and official sources. This consideration includes not only official responders (who tend to be the focus in policy and technology-focused matters) but also volunteers. It, therefore, views the emergency response as a social system where information is disseminated within and between official and citizen-led channels and entities.

27There are numerous studies on TMSP for a social purpose as part of emergency response (such as the current coronavirus outbreak). Only a few studies are mentioned in this section, identified by discipline as a means to highlight the wealth of epistemological grounding for these multifaceted phenomena (computer science–Palen et al., 2010; Internet studies–Imran et al., 2018; geography/geospatial data and information–Zook et al., 2010; Human-Computer Interaction–Jaeger et al., 2007; Education–Steiner et al., 2013).

4.4. Forms of TMSP

28Studies in TMSP indicate a wealth of types, but to our knowledge, there is no specific typology of TMSP forms. Thus, we set out to identify the four main types that have been documented as social responses in the specific coronavirus crisis: a) Massively multiplayer online games (MMOs), b) emergency response expert hackathons, c) digital hacktivism in grassroots communities, and d) citizen science projects. Identifying these four types as far from exhaustive indicates the exploratory character of a study in an emerging field. It is motivated by the social realm triggered by each of the four types.

5. Forms of TMSP in the fight against Covid-19

5.1. Massively multiplayer online games (MMOs)

29MMOs can be defined as online games with large numbers of players, often hundreds or thousands. One type of MMO is Massively multiplayer online role-playing games, known as MMORPGs, also being explored from a CALL perspective (see next section). Some MMOs help advance science throughout the online gaming experience. MMOs exist to respond to the fight against Covid-19, such as Eterna (https://eternagame.org/​) and Foldit (https://fold.it/​). We choose to present the former because it is almost exclusively designed for this purpose.

30Eterna's motto is to "solve puzzles, invent medicine." As of August 2020, more than 250,000 players have joined and played. Eterna is defined in scholarly contributions as a Massive Open Laboratory (Lee et al., 2014) or a Scientific Discovery Game (Das et al., 2019), aiming to engage an open community to solve engineering problems where automated methods fail. As Treuille and Das (2014) argue, "compared with conventional science, a massive open laboratory thus strongly encourages reproducibility and error checking" (p. 508). One of Eterna's online games is OpenVaccine, the purpose of which is to design a stable mRNA vaccine for Covid-19. Solutions submitted by users are voted on, selected, and tested by medical teams at the Jewett Lab (Northwestern University) and the Das Lab (Stanford University). User engagement is a catalyst for "bypassing the laborious and complex production challenges that accompany protein therapeutics" (project website, https://eternagame.org/​labs/​9818634).

31Over multiple rounds, Open Vaccine aims to" develop design rules for mRNA therapeutics and democratise mRNA medicines" (op. cit.). User interaction tools available during problem-solving are a) an asynchronous discussion forum and b) two synchronous chats, one on general topics and one specifically for problem-solving during online gaming. The co-creation process, involving puzzle solvers, community managers and scholars is displayed in Figure 1.

32Each puzzle has a dedicated URL that can be directly copied and pasted in the chatbox allowing other users to check the status and propose solutions quickly. As in MMOs, competition-oriented game mechanics support user engagement, such as a publicly available leader board, badges, achievements, links to synthesised RNAs (with dedicated URLs), and links to cleared puzzles (approved by the research teams at collaborating universities). Finally, users can form either open or closed groups, which can be motivating for some users.

5.2. Emergency response expert hackathons

33The coronavirus outbreak has encouraged experts to problem solve for the unprecedented pandemic quickly, openly, and transparently with worldwide contributions. Several TMSP initiatives for expert communities have been carried out. The Hack the Crisis movement began in Estonia in mid-March 2020 and has since reached over 40 countries and more than 100,000 participants between March and April 2020. The Global Hack (https://theglobalhack.com/​) is the global initiative that unites the Hack the Crisis movement in all countries and hosts ongoing hackathon announcements.

34To be brief, we will mention just one of the most impactful hackathons: the European EUvsVirus hackathon (https://www.euvsvirus.org/​). This initiative brought together over 20,900 people from across the EU and beyond. It took place from April 24-26, 2020. In six areas, 2,150 solutions were submitted to this hackathon, including health and life (898), business continuity (381), remote working and education (270), social and political cohesion (452), digital finance (75), and other challenges (83). The winners of each category were offered further expert guidance within the framework of a Matchathon, the hackathon's follow-up, carried out from May 22-25, 2020. The goal of the Matchathon was to connect the needs of selected projects with the opportunities made available by investors, corporate players, public authorities, academia, and research institutions.

35Because the scope of the hackathon was to develop innovative solutions for coronavirus-related challenges in a limited timeframe, participation was sought from experts in the six areas mentioned above. Communication tools included Slack and Miro (project management tools for many parallel working groups), AirTable (real-time visualisations for large groups), and a videoconference system.

36Many other examples of TMSP by expert groups exist, such as the OpenCovid19 Initiative within Just One Giant Lab (JOGL, https://jogl.io/​), a non-profit, decentralised open research and innovation laboratory; the Coronavirus Disease Research Community set up by researchers on Zenodo, the pan-European open access scholar repository.

5.3. Grassroots initiatives of digital hacktivism

37Grassroots activities belong in this category, initiated and sustained by local, national, or global communities. Covid19Italia Help (https://covid19italia.help/​) is one of the first and more robust examples of which the initiators adopt the term civic hacking, a synonym of digital hacktivism that emphasises the grassroots, citizen-driven character of the effort. This initiative serves to collect, verify, and disseminate useful information about the coronavirus emergency in Italy. It comprises news, solidarity initiatives, home shopping deliveries, fundraisers, and psychological support. The community results are released fully open access. Datasets are distributed as open data. The project is non-profit, managed by voluntary civic hackers, and is the only non-English nationwide initiative of which we are aware.

38Other examples of grassroots initiatives of digital hacktivism are maker communities that are formed locally and globally. The maker movement emphasises the value of an individual's ability to be a creator of things. The rise of the maker movement is often attributed to the rise of maker spaces–community centres where makers can access tools that would otherwise be inaccessible or unaffordable, such as 3D printers, manufacturing equipment, computer-aided design software, etc.

39Concerning the coronavirus outbreak, the maker communities were among the first to set up volunteer groups to offer clinical equipment and assist with material shortages. For example, Open Source Medical Supplies (https://opensourcemedicalsupplies.org/​) is an international volunteer-based initiative that helps local fabricators and institutions responsibly create and distribute sorely needed protective gear and medical equipment to local communities in crisis, sourcing open-source design plans to fabricators to community organisers of local support efforts for their regions. Open-source designs are being medically and technically reviewed by healthcare workers in each country. Moreover, the global community has created medical supply guides that provide links to 25 different supplies and devices that the maker teams can create locally, including oxygen masks, personal protective equipment, including face shields, and devices such as oxygen concentrators. The impressive Directory of organisations lists almost 500 maker communities engaged in medical supply provision around the world. As of August 27, 2020, the OSMS tally reported that makers had produced almost 17 million items in 55 countries (OSMS Global Dashboard, https://opensourcemedicalsupplies.org/​impact/​ ).

5.4. Citizen science projects

40Citizen science is understood as the participation of volunteers in one or more stages of scholarly research. Although it emerged last century, it became an increasingly popular movement in recent decades (Strasser et al., 2019). Because of mobility constraints during the pandemic, citizen science became more urgent: citizen science projects for air and light pollution, species observations, and other climate-related topics, even though they existed well before the pandemic, have become critical for the need to gather citizen observations during the period of limited human activity, thus allowing scientists to measure and better understand the impact of human activity. One of them is Globe at Night, an international citizen-science campaign to raise public awareness of the impact of light pollution by inviting citizen-scientists to measure and submit their night sky brightness observations. Citizen science project platforms (ie, Scistarter, GalaxyZoo) compare data before and during the pandemic.

41Finally, it is worth mentioning a citizen science project related to everyday life in coronavirus times. The project is called D-Mask (https://www.d-mask.org/​) and was initiated by French researchers (French Innovation Centre CEA Paris-Saclay, the Universities of Sorbonne, Bordeaux, St Étienne, and other research institutions). The team is currently working on validating a simple and rapid disinfection protocol for masks, making it possible to reduce the ecological footprint (waste because of single-use equipment) and increase the number of times a mask can be reused. Citizens are asked to assess the difference in temperature between one type of microwave (in disinfection mode) and another and from one household to another to adjust the disinfection method before validating it. This example of initiative highlights the co-creation process between scientists and volunteers engaging for a social purpose that citizen science initiatives have in its core.

6. Discussion

42From the examples highlighted in previous sections, civic participation to global challenges is a multifarious phenomenon, comprising a range of practices including the co-creation of medical equipment by maker communities, citizens observing climate change through air and light pollution, and online gamers solving real-time puzzles contributing to vaccination, and 48h expert hackathons to solve challenging emergencies. The power of individuals to form communities engaged for a social purpose and mostly the learning potential of these processes (peer learning, learning by doing, co-creation, negotiation, playful learning, self-motivated learning) offer a tremendous field for exploration for language education purposes.

43The discussion aims to depict key features across the four TMSP forms that emerged during the pandemic, for better visibility. Second, it connects CALL research on TMSP forms in general and on TMSP forms during the outbreak in particular. Thus, this mapping exercise is intended to represent current CALL research and to identify areas not yet explored at the crossroads of CALL and social participation in crises. We will first discuss each TMSP type in light of existing CALL research. In the end, we will address the connection between CALL research and the four TMSP forms in the current pandemic.

44MMOs are the most established TMSP among the four forms, judging by the number of publications and publication year. Game-based learning studies have explored, among other themes, the value of MMOs in L2 informal learning and the social and L2 communicative dimension of gameplay (indicatively only: Peterson, 2010; Hung et al., 2016; Sundqvist, 2019; Thorne & Fischer, 2012; Reinhardt & Sykes, 2014). What has not been explored yet, at the exception of Dubreil (2020), is game-based learning in crisis situations, which can act as a major motivation for L2 learners. Scholars in game-informed L2 teaching and learning, could further explore MMOs from both L2 communicative and agentive dimensions, namely gaming and problem-solving in MMOs for a social purpose in the current pandemic.

45Hackathons are the least explored TMSP form in CALL research because hackathons are common among participants with a background in Information Technologies and software development. (in education hackathons are rare, at the exception of DigiEduHack). Despite the current absence of CALL research, we claim that hackathons are likely to present some potential for language learning and use, from a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) for instance. This L2 pedagogical approach is designed to facilitate knowledge and skills in a given subject and a target language in parallel (Mayo & Basterrechea, 2017). Because hackathons address a very narrow pool of participants (experts in specific domains) and are short-duration events, a possibility for language education could be that language teachers encourage their L2 learners (eg, university students) to join hackathons in the target language. It is likely that learners can develop knowledge and skills in the subject they study during the hackathon. Pedagogical integration could include L2 resources or terminology in the subject area in the target language before the event.

46The range of practices under this TMSP form makes it difficult to offer an all-encompassing synthesis of Hackathons. The maker movement has started to be explored in CALL, with a timely collection of scholar papers (Lord & Dubreil, 2021). In addition, because maker communities flourish globally, the possibilities for interaction with maker communities comprised of speakers of the target languages are numerous.

47Finally, by definition, the maker movement adopts a learning approach based on co-construction and peer learning in communities of practice (Dubreil & Lord, 2021). The transferability potential of this approach to L2 learning is possibly high.

48Citizen science projects can further the CLIL approach by leveraging motivation and social participation: many citizen science projects are built to enable better living conditions in a neighbourhood or local community or can support global action for better societies. Social connectivity, either on a local or global level, can enhance L2 focus by situating language learning within the achievement of personal skills of L2 users and social actors. These achievements include active citizenship, solidarity, social responsibility, and civic engagement. It is hypothesized that the connection to the fight against Covid-19 can give a stronger impetus in co-achieving communication goals in the target language.

49We make the following concluding remarks encompassing all TMSP forms. Referring to pedagogy and locus of control (eg, decisions about learning and teaching; organisation of the learning activities, Chik, 2014), the TMSP forms that have been tried out in formal education settings so far are citizen science (Svendsen, 2018; Charitonos, 2017) and the maker movement (Dubreil & Lord, 2021; Lord & Dubreil, 2021).

50Therefore, we claim that these first implementations can serve as the basis for future occasions that bridge digital actions in crisis situations. The literature review indicates a limited number of studies at the crossroads of language learning and social participation, despite the wealth of digital actions in the fight against Covid-19. A possible reason is the unprecedented intensity of the pandemic to human activity, and the novelty of practices and initiatives explored in research. Another reason is that informal learning phenomena, such as TMSP, still lack a body of evidence-based research.

51Lampe et al. (2010), who see TMSP more broadly in formal education, claim that participation in civic activities help students reach their full potential as creative individuals. By giving an example at the high school level, the authors argue that TMSP, as forms of voluntarism and active citizenship, can be aligned with existing high school curricula, to provide motivating contexts for broadening social participation while deepening subject-matter knowledge. Lampe's et al. claim can be seen as an invitation to explore further from a language learning and use perspective.

Table 2–Mapping TMSP forms in CALL.

TMSP forms during the pandemic	Location	Formality	Pedagogy	Locus of control	CALL research on TMSP forms	CALL research on TMSP forms during the pandemic
MMOs	Exclusively online	Mostly informal	few examples of instruction involved	Self-directed	(indicatively) Sundqvist (2019); Peterson, 2010; Hung, Chang, & Yeh, 2016; Sundqvist, 2019; Thorne & Fischer, 2012; Reinhardt & Sykes, 2014	Dubreil (2020)
Hackathons	Can be physical, blended or exclusively online (especially during the pandemic)	Exclusively informal	No pedagogical framework	Self-directed	---	--
Digital hacktivism Civic hacking Maker communities Crowdsourced content creation	A: physical B: physical (maker spaces, fab labs, etc.) and online C: blended	A. Exclusively informal B and C: mostly informal C. Mostly informal	A and C: no pedagogical framework B and C: few examples of instruction involved	A: self-directed. B and C: self-directed and/or other-directed (if in schools)	A : -- B : Dubreil & Lord, 2021; Lord & Dubreil, 2021; Vuopala et al, 2020 C : Gajek, 2020; Zourou & Potolia, 2021	--
Citizen science	Can be physical, blended or exclusively online (especially during the pandemic)	Depending on the context: informal if community-driven, formal if teacher-driven. Several variations in between.	Depending on the education context: no if community-driven, yes if teacher-driven. Several variations in between.	Self-directed (if community-driven) and other-directed (if teacher-driven). Several variations in between.	Svendsen, 2018; Charitonos, 2017	--

7. Conclusion

52This study discussed four types of TMSP and the forms they took during the outbreak. We also discussed current CALL research. The mapping exercise helped identify gaps in current research regarding language learning and social participation in crises. Scholarly work collecting evidence from learners who partake in these forms of social participation is needed to build a body of research on language learning as agency embodied in digital action to tackle contemporary societal challenges.

53In addition, topics such as player-to-player online discussion forums (relevant to digital gaming), the assessment of linguistic complexity of player-generated texts, and, in general, a better understanding of the cultural and semiotic ecologies of informal practice (Thorne et al., 2012) can be further addressed in CALL research.

54The possibilities for L2 use and learning in bottom-up, self-organised ways of civic engagement such as the TMSP forms are yet to be fully perceived. This paper, largely exploratory and interpretative, can be seen as a call for research perspectives to deepen the accounts of TMSP in language learning. From a pedagogical perspective, acknowledging learners as social actors and embracing language practice in informal learning settings has never been timelier.