- •Unit 1. Introduction to using technology in the language classroom
- •Introduction
- •1 Digital competence/literacy in using technology
- •Digital literacies Nicky Hockly
- •1 Language-based literacies
- •2 Information-based literacies
- •3 Connection-based literacies
- •Implications for language teachers
- •1 Answer the questions:
- •2 Match the digital skill with its definition:
- •Evaluate the level of your digital literacy:
- •Activities
- •4 Read the task from the article and do it according to age level(Young Learners and Young Adults).What language skills can be developed? Focus on them:
- •5 Read the extract from the following article and identify technology literacy competence. Compare and reflect the given information to the one in Digital literacies by Nicky Hockly.
- •6 Watch the video “Top 10 Reasons to Use Technology in Education- iPad, Tablet, Computer, Listening Centers” (available on YouTube and downloaded).
- •In your blog make a list of reasons, add your own reasons and write comments on what competences/literacis can be developed.
- •Assessment
- •2 Using and praticing ict terminology
- •The terms of group ‘I’
- •The terms of group ‘o’
- •The terms of group ‘r’
- •The terms of group ‘t’
- •The terms of group ‘w’
- •Activities
- •1 Answer the questions
- •2 Reread the article and fill in the table, making the terms.
- •3 Study the Figure 2 on the previous article and identify True or False from the comments on this figure below.
- •Digital
- •5. Use your background knowledge on ict terms and fill in the gaps with appropriate word from the box.
- •7 Watch the video (YouTube)
- •8 Project work
- •Assessment
- •Independent learning:
1 Language-based literacies
For Pegrum, these include not only traditional print literacy but also the skills to decode online text genres, such as blogs, wikis, or forum 108 ELT Journal Volume 66/1 January 2012; discussions. He also includes ‘texting literacy’: the ability to read and create the abbreviated forms used in text messaging or in taking part in real-time online text chat conversations. Another facet is ‘hypertext literacy’: the ability to navigate and read online texts which contain hyperlinks. Others are ‘visual and multimedia literacy’, ‘gaming literacy’ (a macro literacy involving ‘linguistic, multimedia, spatial and kinaesthetic skills’ (Dudeney et al. op.cit.), and ‘mobile literacy’: the skills needed to effectively use mobileor handheld devices. Finally, we have ‘technological literacy’ and ‘code literacy’, which include a basic understanding of coding so as to not be tied tothe exclusive use of commercial templates in online tools and gives one the ability to route around restrictions where deemed appropriate.
2 Information-based literacies
These are fundamental skills that help us navigate the flood of digital information provided by the internet. These include ‘search literacy’ (the ability to search effectively for information online), ‘tagging literacy’ (labelling or tagging online materials so they are findable), ‘information literacy’ (being able to critically evaluate sources and information), ‘filtering literacy’ (knowing how to manage information overload), and ‘attention literacy’ (knowing when to switch off as well as on).
3 Connection-based literacies
These include knowing how to manage your digital identity or online persona (‘personal literacy’) and ‘network literacy’, which helps you filter information received from your online networks while you yourself become a node in these networks by passing on relevant information or news (see
also Pegrum 2010). ‘Participatory literacy’ involves being able to create and produce digital content; this in turn includes ‘cultural/intercultural literacy’ when working with international virtual teams.
4 (Re-)design-based literacies
These consist primarily of ‘remix literacy’, a macro literacy which includes the ability to recreate and re-purpose already-made digital content in innovative ways. ‘YouTube’ parodies based on news or film clips are examples of this and include knowledge about related issues of copyright and plagiarism.
Belshaw (2011) outlines eight key elements that characterize digital literacies:
1 Cultural: the need to understand different online contexts and how to interact appropriately in them. For example, interaction in an online gaming environment such as ‘World of Warcraft’ is very different to interaction in a formal online course environment.
2 Cognitive: for Belshaw this ‘is about ways of conceptualizing ‘‘digitality’’ rather than the practice of using tools’. To develop this, we need to expose learners to ‘various ways of conceptualising digital spaces (and interactions within them)’ (Belshaw ibid.: chapter 9).
3 Constructive: this includes the ability to create remixes (Pegrum’s ‘remix literacy’) and also to take part effectively in online networks (Pegrum’s ‘network literacy’).
4 Communicative: this is ‘understanding how communications media work. It is, basically, the nuts and bolts of how to communicate in digital environments’ (Belshaw op.cit.: chapter 9).
5 Confident: Belshaw suggests that we need to be confident users of technology and have enough technical expertise to be able to use technology for our own ends, rather than to be manipulated by it. Experimentation and an open mindset is a plus in digital contexts and can lead to improved problem-solving skills (OECD 2001: 9, quoted in Belshaw op.cit.).
6 Creative: the ability to find new ways to do new things with new tools (in short, to be creative with new technologies).
7 Critical: Belshaw suggests that we need to learn to ‘curate’ and critically understand the resources that we find, not just superficially skim over oceans of information.
8 Civic: knowing how to use technology to increase civic engagement and social action.
Both Pegrum and Belshaw make clear that digital literacies are not a checklist of discrete skills that are simply acquired and then ticked off.
Although digital literacies do include procedural skills (such as how to insert an image into a word-processed document), they also include less clearly defined skills, such as communicating effectively in distributed virtual communities. Bawden (2008) suggests that it is more useful to conceive of digital literacies as a state or condition that changes over time. As technology evolves and changes, so new skills and literacies emerge and become increasingly important.