Constructing Global Selves through Discursive Strategies in English Facebook Posts of a Vietnamese Private University

Abstract

This study investigated how global selves are constructed through discursive strategies in English Facebook posts shared by FPT Education, a Vietnamese private educational institution. The framework of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), particularly the Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA), was used in the paper to explore how social media discourse contributes to constructing globally oriented identities in the context of higher education internationalization, technological modernity, and digital communication. The data set included 13 purposively selected English-language Facebook posts about FPT University, which were published in April 2026. A qualitative Discourse-Historical-Approach was applied in the study to identify recurring discursive strategies, which are nomination, predication, argumentation perspectivization, and intensification/mitigation strategies. The findings indicated that the institution is consistently represented as internationally competitive, qualified in technology, innovation-oriented, and future-ready. These selves have a strong connection with artificial intelligence, international competitions, global partnerships, entrepreneurship, and cross-cultural engagement. The paper also discusses that English in the posts functions not only as a communicative medium but also as a symbolic resource for expressing international legitimacy and constructing the institution’s cosmopolitan identity. This investigation into English Facebook discourse in a Vietnamese private education context is expected to contribute to raising discussions on higher education discourse, globalization, and identity construction in the digital age.