The development of digital literacy in adapting to the UK learning environment

The Development of Digital Literacy in Adapting to the UK Learning Environment-A
Learner Experience Study on Chinese International Postgraduate Students
Mengjie JIANG (mjj16@le.ac.uk)
School of Education TEL sig
University of Leicester, 23 June 2017
Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Outline
• Research background
• Methodology
• Results
• Implications

Ubiquitous learning and substantial efforts invested in developing
and promoting digital literacy.
• European Projects
• JISC funded research
Research Background

What is digital literacy?
‘As the chapters that follow attest, the
most immediately obvious facts about
accounts of digital literacy are that they
are many of them and that there are
significantly different kinds of concepts
on offer.’
(Lankshear & Knobel, 2008, p. 2)
Research Background

DL as
engagement in
digital cultures
and social
practices
DL as the
acquisition of
‘information age’
skills
Conceptualisation on digital literacy
DL as the
cultivation of
‘habits of mind’
Meyers, Erickson and Small (2013)

DL as the acquisition of ‘information age’ skills
SCOUNL (2011)

DL as the
acquisition of
skills
DL as the
cultivation of
DL as
engagement in
social practices
‘Information literacy is a way of thinking rather than a set of
skills…It is a matrix of critical and reflective capacities, as well
as disciplined creative thought, that impels the students to range
widely through the information environment…when sustained
through a supportive learning environment at course, program,
or institutional level, information literacy can become a
dispositional habit… ‘a habit of mind’ that seeks ongoing
improvement and self-discipline in inquiry, research and
integration of knowledge from varied sources (the Centre for
Intellectual Property in the Digital Environment, 2005, viii-ix).’

 ‘Representation.’ Digital media provides specific interpretations of the world, and selectively represents reality in such a manner as to
express implicit values and ideologies. This requires Internet users to be able to evaluate the material they come across, for instance, by
questioning the authority and reliability of the texts – assessing the motivations of the authors and validating the information with
multiple sources (Buckingham, 2007).
 ‘Language.’ As an integral part of the Internet, language functions in certain ways to compensate for the communication modality and
the impact of interactivity. This requires one to develop analytical as well as meta skills so as to understand how language works in the
online environment, and to understand “conventions of particular genres” as well as “how digital media are constructed” with the use of
particular rhetorics. For example, using the Internet may involve understanding “how sites are designed and structured, and the rhetorical
functions of links between sites” (Burbules & Callister, 2000, p. 85-90, cited in Buckingham, 2007).
 ‘Production.’ Digital content is neither politically nor socially neutral and too little attention is paid to the commercial environment in
which media content is created, marketed and circulated (Dowdall,2009). Therefore, literacy practices demand readers to develop their
awareness towards the growing commercial influences that often seem ‘invisible’ to them. Specifically, young people need to be able to
tell how information is presented by commercial organisations. In a broader aspect, these need to be aware of “the global role of
advertising, promotion and sponsorship, and how they influence the nature of the information” presented (Buckingham, 2007). These
meta-skills can also be extended to the assessment of content by non-commercial interest groups.
 ‘Audience’. This includes building understanding of the ‘nature of online participation’, ranging from Web polls to bulletin boards to
user-generated content. It also involves “how media are targeted at audiences, and how different audiences use and respond to them”
(Buckingham, 2007). It also means being able to recognise various ways in which the media is used in everyday life by different groups.
DL as the cultivation of ‘habits of mind’

DL as the
acquisition of
skills
DL as the
cultivation of
DL as
engagement in
social practices
‘A way of reading a certain type of text is acquired only
when it is acquired in a ‘fluent’ way, by one’s being
embedded in (apprenticed as a member of) a social
practice wherein people not only read texts of this type
in these ways but also talk about such texts in certain
ways, hold certain beliefs and values about them, and
socially interact over them in certain ways…. (Gee, Hull
& Lankshear, 1996, p. 3)

Internationalisation within higher education and mobility of students.
• Mobilities perspective for the conceptualization and research on digital literacies-
JISC funded project ‘Digital Literacies as a Postgraduate Attribute’.
• China is the top non EU sending country (UKCISA, 2016).
Research gap

Figure 2. The Chinese media landscape (CIC, 2015)

Adaptation both in physical and in digital learning context

Elements of digital literacy Drawn on the literature
Individual literacy landscape UK Society of College, National and University Libraries (SCONUL, 2011)
Critical thinking Calvani et al (2009); ACRL (2000); SCONUL (2011); Martin and Grudziecki (2007); Jenkins et al (2006); Hauge and Payton (2010)
Intercultural understanding ‘Negotiation’- Jenkins et al (2006, p. 8)
Social participation Jenkins et al (2006)
Identities ‘Performance’- Jenkins et al (2006, p.8); Weller (2011, p. 99)
Problem solving ‘Play’- Jenkins et al (2006, p.8); ‘Intellectual capabilities’- the US National Research Council (NRC, 1999)
Ethical Calvani et al (2009); ACRL (2000); SCONUL (2011)
E-safety Hauge and Payton (2010)
Technological skills NRC (1999); Martin and Grudziecki (2007)
Distributed technologies ‘Distribution intelligence’- Jenkins et al (2006)
Functional concepts NRC (1999); Martin and Grudziecki (2007)
Creative appropriation Hauge and Payton (2010); Martin and Grudziecki (2007)

Conceptual framework
Individual digital
literacy landscape
Problem
solving
Ethical
Identities
E-safety
Technological
skills
Social
participation
Intercultural
understanding
Critical
evaluation of
information
Functional
concept
Distributed
technology
Creative
appropriation
Figure 3: The proposed conceptual framework for this study

Working definition of digital literacy
In the context of this study, digital literacy is conceptualised as
behaviours, habits and attitudes acquired, developed and presented by
learners over a period of higher education studying experience, in
relation to digital media. This constitutes diverse knowledge and skills
developed by interacting with different social and cultural practices.
Also, it is understood as underpinning practices that construct students’
learning development, as a method by which a student approaches
learning (Hampton-Reeve et al., 2009; Chaka, 2009; Pope & Walton,
2009).

The research explores the adaptation of Chinese international
postgraduate students during the transition from undergraduate in China
to postgraduate study in the UK, with particular reference to their digital
literacy practices and development of their digital literacies, with following
main research questions:
• What are digital literacy practices among Chinese international students during the transition
from undergraduate study to master’s studies?
• How have Chinese international postgraduate students’ digital literacy skills developed
during master’s study?
• How can Chinese international students be supported in enhancing their digital literacy
practices to adapt their learning in a UK university?
Research questions

Pragmatism
Research strategy (Mixed methods)
Research design (Convergent parallel design)
Quantitative data collection and analysis
Qualitative data collection and analysis
Relate
Sampling: Convenience;
Snowball; Typical
Data collection: Survey;
Interview; Observation with
artefacts
Data analysis: Statistics; Descriptive
analysis, Thematic analysis
Interpretation
Research method

Data Collection (Quantitative data)
• Questionnaire was designed using Word Processing
• Online questionnaire administered from 11th July 2014
• Printed copies were sent out several times
• Questionnaire was translated into Chinese version
• Online survey closed on 31st January 2016
• Piloting and revising

• 14 mind maps about participants’ uses of digital technologies that
construct their own digital learning environments
• 14 day line maps about participants’ uses of digital technologies within
a typical day
• Photographic journaling and observation with 4 participants
• 30 semi-structured interviews
Data Collection (Qualitative data)

Profile of survey
participants

Digital device Number and percentage of
respondents who owned it for
undergraduate study
Number and percentage of
respondents who owned it
for postgraduate study
Desktop 221 (54%) 137 (33.5%)
Laptop 339 (82%) 350 (85.6%)
Digital camera 251 (61.4%) 131 (32%)
Phone with Internet 362 (88.5%) 358 (87.5%)
MP3 player/iPod 220 (53.8%) 135 (33.0%)
iPad/Tablet 313 (76.5%) 323 (79.0%)
Amazon Kindle/other
e-reader
79 (19.3%) 166 (40.6%)
Gaming device 75 (18.3%) 73 (17.8%)
Ownership of digital devices (n=409, questionnaire item 1)

8.60%
4.90%
4.90%
4.40%
4.40%
6.10%
5.10%
6.60%
4.60%
3.90%
6.40%
4.40%
4%
3.90%
4.40%
3.90%
4.90%
3.70%
20.80%
23.20%
19.80%
21.50%
18.60%
19.30%
10.80%
13.20%
9.50%
14.40%
13.00%
10.80%
13.00%
14.70%
18.30%
15.60%
16.50%
17.20%
14%
13.80%
11.70%
14.70%
18.40%
19.30%
17.10%
17.60%
14.40%
17.40%
20.90%
19.10%
23.50%
22.70%
23.20%
22.20%
28.40%
24.20%
26.40%
27.90%
27.90%
25.20%
22.10%
19.20%
23.50%
29.90%
26.50%
19.80%
23%
26.40%
57.20%
57.50%
62.60%
63.10%
60.60%
56.20%
58.20%
59.40%
53.80%
56.50%
47.90%
51.10%
50.90%
52.90%
59.10%
62.40%
58.70%
50.70%
31.90%
36.40%
36.90%
32.50%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
opening websites by entering URL
navigating between pages
uploading files to websites or email
saving files
downloading files
bookmarking websites
entering keywords in the proper field
conducting the search operation
opening search results
submitting online forms/assignments
using hyper links embedded in different formats
synchronising email to phone
navigating within a website
browsing through search results
selecting appropriate websites for information need
searching information using multiple keywords
selecting useful information from search results
evaluating the source of the information
paraphrasing other people's ideas
giving credit to the author
using suitable reference styles
remixing media for new production
Participants self-perceived digital literacy skills (n=409)
Extremely weak Weak Generally ok Well Extremely well

Interpretation from interviews

Digital literacy practices during the transition from undergraduate study to master’s study.
Digital technologies mentioned by students fall into but not limited to the following:
• Search engines and databases (Baidu, Google, CNKI, University database; discipline databses)
• Institutional VLEs (Moodle and Blackboard)
• Email (communal email; university email; personal email)
• Microsoft office packages (Word; Excel; PowerPoint)
• Social Networking tools (WeChat; Facebook; Sina Weibo; Twitter; Linkedin; WhatsApp; Instagram)
• Bibliographic tools (RefWorks)
• Online encyclopaedia (Baidu Baike; Wikipedia; Zhihu; MBA lib)
• Web editing (Dreamweaver)
• Image editing (Photoshop; Procreate)
• Statistics software (SPSS; NVivo)
• Online lectures (YouTube)
• Podcasting (BBC news)
• Mooc (Coursera; Harvard open learning initative; NetEase)
• Online forums (Pute)
• Mobile apps

The nature of using digital technologies among research participants (n=30)
The rationale of using digital technologies comes down to six broad categories:
• Information searching and management;
• Communication and collaboration;
• Participation;
• Entertaining and online shopping;
• Specific education/professional development and accomplishment of assignment;
• Improving English.

‘I watch YouTube because I am interested in political topics so I
watch political videos on YouTube. It is also related to my study.
For example, when the tutor is talking something about
management and if I do not understand those concepts very well, I
then search them on the YouTube. I also found some lectures about
them and watched them’ (P4, male, age 26, Management, line 346).

Digital literacy practice during the transition:
• Ongoing reliance on the authority of the institution when it
comes to using digital technologies and use web-based resources
(e.g., CNKI in China, quick uptake of Wikipedia, Google Scholar
and University database, Email in the UK).
• Slow uptake of the Western social media that are used for
communication
• Variations of experience, uses of technologies that shaped in
different contexts and discipline difference
• Discursive technical issues

Out of 30 students, 5 students reported using VLE for their undergraduate study in
China, such as ‘Moodle’ and ‘Zhengfang’ Learning Management System. The uses of
VLE for undergraduate study was mainly for selecting courses and submitting
assignments (e.g., P5; P8). Out of 30 students, 24 reported using Blackboard
frequently for postgraduate study and most students hold positive attitudes towards
Blackboard. Students also show quick uptake for Wikipedia, Google Scholar and
University database. Some students developed knowledge of discipline-based database
during PG study, such as using Lexis to search for news. The majority of students also
motioned about previously they mainly contacted their tutor face to face and they
started to contact their tutor more often through Email during PG study.
Ongoing reliance on the authority of the institution when it comes
to using digital technologies and use web-based resources

Students’ digital literacy practices and their decisions on using digital technologies are
shaped in different contexts and influenced by different factors.
Internal
Individual
preferences/Beliefs
Motivation
Expectation of the study
External
Institutions/Departments
Tutor
Technological/Wider
context
Students talked about various
things, such as:
• Political and critical social issues-Internet
censorship
• Difference of institutional cultures,
technological conditions
• Different focus of learning and
assessment
• Different role of their tutors
• Different practices across different
disciplines

‘Most of the time, I asked questions face to face before or after the class time. Sometimes I also sent emails. My tutors
[referring to the undergraduate tutors in Macau] liked sending emails and they also prefer students sending emails to them.
They are very similar to UK tutors (P24, female, age 23, Media and Communication, line 81-85).’
‘I usually went to the office to meet tutors. I feel undergraduate tutors did not have the habits of using email to
communicate with students (P12, male, age 23, Financial Mathematics and Computation, line 63).’
Literacy practice is shaped by context, and understood through people’s networks
‘we were studying hard science, so sometimes verbal explanation online was not adequate and we may need to do
demonstrations or deductions. For example, if I made a mistake when designing a programme and the programme
did not work. I may need to get one classmate to help me with this problem by looking at these codes line by line
(P5, male, age 23, Management, line 67).’

‘I have Facebook and many other accounts. But I often use certain social networks such as WeChat
and Facebook. We often use them for groupwork. You can set up a group on Facebook and use it
for discussion (P15, male, age 25, New media, line 63).’
‘Facebook. It has some educational uses. For example, because it is an international environment, like
we have Japanese, Hungarian students and students from other countries in the group. And they might
not use Wechat, so we use Facebook and Messenger to discuss about the group assignment and arrange
time for group meetings (P10, female, age 23, Public Relation, line 296).’
P15 did undergraduate study in the UK and had previous experience with Facebook:
P10 did undergraduate study in China, when asking whether she began to use any new digital technologies. She
could perceive the educational usefulness of Facebook:
Social media for intercultural communication-different experience

‘I attended a workshop about career seeking and the workshop tutor introduced some social media such as
Linkedin…I build my profile on the Linked in, but the companies that I keep an eye on are mostly Chinese company
because I am going back to China to look for a job after finishing my degree. For the Facebook, we have a group.
Because I did a course ‘academic media’ at the ELTU. There were 14 people in the group. The tutor named it as ‘new
media’, and we used it for discussion. I do not use it very often. There are too many Chinese students now in the
university. So, I still use Wechat for communication as a dominant tool. And even some foreign students have been
influenced by us to start using Wechat (P14, female, age 24, Media, line 172).’
Cultural factors-it is not just about Facebook and Twitter!
And different belief as well as preferences:
Example- P20, female, age 24, Data for Business in Technology.
And language insufficiency, anxiety, stressors that impair intercultural adaptation and communication:
I did not register for any [new] accounts such as Facebook and Twitter [in the UK]. Because I do not think they are
useful for my study and they take up your time. I prefer to communicate face to face (P21, female, age 25, Media and
Advertisement, line 222).

video
editing
designing/editing
poster/picture
animation
modelling
web
editing
Discipline difference-Students from media and communication mentioned more about
 editing posters using Photoshop (e.g. P13, P17,
P18)
 making, editing and remixing videos using
Adobe Premiere (e.g. P15, P17, P18, P21),
Abode After Effects (e.g. P14, P15, P21)
 producing animations using ‘Dreamworks’
(http://www.dreamworksanimation.com/) and
Maya 3D max (e.g. P14, P21)
 making electronic magazines using iebook
(Chinese electronic journal platform,
http://www.iebook.cn/) (e.g. P14);
 designing graphics using Adobe Illustrator (e.g.,
P18);
 using Procreate to draw digital paintings (e.g.,
P16).

Discipline difference-students from computer science and mathematic discipline mentioned more about
• Using software for
programme making
(e.g., 23)
• Statistical analysis and
modelling (e.g., P12)
• Looking for open
source code (e.g., P5)

Discipline difference-students from business discipline mentioned more about
‘I had experience with ERP (Enterprise resource planning) software. It is like a simulation, and it is very
similar to the Monopoly. You have the factory houses and so on. It was quite useful and helpful (P7,
female, age 23, Management Finance and Accounting, line 201).’
‘We used a simulation…that is the assignment for marketing. The tutor divide the class into different
groups…each group would be formed by around three people and they run a company virtually together. We
need to consider...for example…we decided to sell backpack bags…we need to consider how many bags to
produce and whom would be the targeted consumers. It is like a competition. We compare to see who sell
the most of the products then that group would win. Each group has an account for the company. We discuss
about the strategy together and operate the company together. We discussed questions like: what to produce?
what to sell? How to design the products? how to advertise? and so on. We would be warned by tips of the
game. On every class for every week, the tutor would report all the situation of different companies during
the class like the rankings of different companies. And the tutor would use some companies as good
examples to explain what are the strategies that they have used, and also provide some feedback for other
companies which are not in good situations (P5, male, age 23, Management, line 164).’
And discursive difficulties….

Discursive difficulties
‘I still do not know how to insert table of contents. Because I did not have to do it often before. For
undergraduate study, I only had to insert a table of contents for the dissertation. Actually, many of us in the
class did not know how to insert a table of content. We went to the print shop. We paid some money to the
staff in the print shop and asked their help to insert a table of contents for us. Now I am experimenting with it
and if I do not know any functions I ask my peers (P10, female, age 23, Public Relations, line 156).’
In another case, during the observation, P3 demonstrated that he had difficulty in writing financial models in a piece of an
essay. For the purpose of demonstrating the problem, he took some contents from his essay. The first example is ‘Cost of
liquidation (normal market) = ∑Si α i/2= 1.438*3343.25*0.0004487/2=1.0785’. While showing this example, P3
described that he did not know how to insert an ‘α (alpha)’ or ‘β (beta)’. Sometimes, he typed an ‘a’ in the word document
then put an Italic so that it became an ‘a’, which looks like an ‘α (alpha)’. Also, he said that he could only type, for
example a ‘√10’ in the word document, which does not look quite right. He was not aware that when inserting an
equation ‘√’, it can be formatted through chosing the ‘professional’ icon to make it into a ‘ 10’. He then describe how he
cope with this with the help of his peers and learnt to use scientific Word and LaTex.

Situated practice, meaning-making
inside and outside of education
institutions

For undergraduate
study
For postgraduate
study
For undergraduate
study
For postgraduate
study
Meaning making and appropriation

Meaning making and appropriation

‘Once I decided the topic for my essay, I search for the literature using different approaches. Google Scholar I use it
definitely, and I still like Chinese database CNKI because it is the biggest and the most comprehensive Chinese
database. Together with the University library database. And we also had specific database for translation studies. I
normally use these approaches to look for literature (P1, male, age 23, Translation, line 133).’
‘I use both Chinese and Western recourses. But I will turn to Chinese resources if I read something in English and I feel I
do not understand it. Because Chinese literature is in Chinese normally (P2, female, age 23, Translation, line 166).’
Meaning-making inside and outside of education institutions
‘I was writing the essay outline about tourism translation [during postgraduate study]. I needed the data about
tourists who travelling from aboard to China. I search it on Baidu and I found some official websites to look for
and validate data (P1, male, age 23, Translation, line 151).’

‘I knew about Bloomberg (a website that delivers business and markets news, data and analysis,
https://www.bloomberg.com) during postgraduate study. For undergraduate study, we mainly used Chinese database. Now
sometimes I need to find information using Bloomberg when doing project (P12, male, age 23, Financial Mathematics
and Computation, line 232).’
‘I had a class called ‘the politics of digital media.’ Because I have seldom experienced Western media when I was in
China but we must use case studies for that class. But I feel I know nothing about the Western politics so I could not
come up with any cases. I could only use Chinese cases. Fortunately, one of my tutors is doing Asian related studies and
he encourages me to use cases in my own country as he thinks I know better about the domestic cases. But again, the
problem is that many political cases have not been reported by the Western media so I had to translate many content
from the Chinese media (P14, female, age 23, New Media, line 137).
Meaning-making inside and outside of education institutions
‘I found there are many useful answers provided by people on Zhihu. On Zhihu, people ask questions and then there are
other people who provide answers below these question. It is a real network of Q&A community. It enjoys a friendly
atmosphere. It connects elite people from all areas of life. They are sharing their expertise, experience and insights, and
contributing to a high-quality platform (P28, female, age 22, TESOL, line 54).’

Wider contexts and cultural factors: students’ digital literacy
practices are shaped in different contexts and influenced by social
and cultural factors
Textuality, convergence

‘two bottles of water, two calculators, I
am not fighting alone. Working hard for
exams!-to cheer each other up’ .
‘reading papers for my dissertation at home
alone, with a phone at hand to look up terms’
‘working on an assignment with my
classmate in the café. We discuss things but
it is a little bit difficult to concentrate on
writing’
‘I am in the library reading journals. I feel my brain
has not been accustomed to the fact that I am already
a postgraduate student. It is so much efforts to read
academic journals’.
‘exam time, the library is so full. I am thinking
to use this picture to take up a seat’
‘I was writing my essay to meet the deadline. It is
so late now, I feel tired and hungry’

Challenges- Not just digital (the majority of students mentioned concerns about academic writing)
‘My tutor say that there is something wrong with my reference. For translation, sometimes there are original text.
I only provide reference for original text, which I quoted directly. But the university has a system called ‘Turnitin’
to check the repetition of the content of your work, so I don’t want to use too much direct quotation as it will
increase the repetition rate. I seldom use direct quotation; therefore, I think I don’t need to put references (P2,
female, age 23, Translation, line 137).’
‘It is hard to search for literature. Most of the cases, I found the literature [referring to English literature] I searched
are not relevant to my research topic. For literature about the theoretical concepts. I only search for Chinese
resources. I can understand better if they are in Chinese. I often search for Chinese articles and then translate the
main idea into English when writing essays (P24, female, age 23, Media and Communication, line 133).’

‘I had some sessions at the English Language Teaching Unit (ELTU), the tutor taught us how to deconstruct the
keywords for a topic for literature search. How to filter the resources and so on. The tutor taught us in details. In
China, we only had supervisor and students; and the supervisor only told us what you should write and what
should you not write. They did not offer much practical help. It is useful to know how to conduct literature search.
For example, like the topic ‘the influence of financial opening upon the national economy in Vietnam’, the tutor
taught us how to deconstruct the sentence and use the key words for searching. we search from big scope to small
scope. For Vietnam, I searched southeast Asian first…financial opening is related to the government control and
financial freedom. These are alternative keywords. Maybe not only deconstruct the sentence but also use some
interconnected words as the replacements and you may get some useful articles (P4, male, age 26, Management,
line 206).’
Supporting…

‘I found it is not very useful to read the conclusion first for the English journals, but it is the best to read the abstract in
the first place. Before when reading Chinese literature, I think the conclusion contains more useful arguments and
summary, so it is useful to read the conclusion first. But for English journals, the abstract summaries what did the
researchers found out but the conclusion is very short. The abstract use the very simple words to display the key points
of the articles, including its methodology and the major findings. (P9, female, age 23, TESOL, line 94).’
Reflecting…
‘Before [referring to undergraduate study in China], I thought what I read is right and I just used the ideas. Now when I
am reading I read with question. And consider different people’s viewpoints (P28, female, age 22, TESOL, line 120).’

At the beginning of the course of ‘the politics of digital media’, many Chinese students often felt
unpleasant when the tutor was critiquing about China. This offended Chinese students as they are feeling
great about China. For instance, when the tutor was talking about the Fa Lung Gong [often understood as a
spiritual practice in the Western context], he thinks the Chinese government is controlling the freedom of a
normal organization. But some students argued that Fa Lung organization is an evil threat because some
members did many destructive things. I think it is because we have different mind-set. For them, they may
think people have the free rights to do things to court others’ attention. But for us Chinese people, we think
social order should not be disturbed. But because that course, I read many Western comments about the
Chinese politics which make me feel it is difficult to say which one is real and I started to be critical about
the Chinese politics. The Chinese media always say something in a different way compared to the Western
media. I think maybe media is propaganda which serves the purposes of a government (P14, female, age
23, New Media, line 137).
Conflicts and tensions…

There are something missing from most accounts of digital literacies which are capability
or competence based models, such as :
• Learning contexts in which technology uses is shaped
• Cultural and social factors, and lack of address on engagement
• Students’ agency
• Explanations on how literate practice is achieved and enacted
While, the danger is
‘Removing the agency of texts and tools in formalising movements risks romanticising the
practices as well as the humans in them; focusing uniquely on the texts and tools lapses into
naïve formalism or techno-centrism. (Leander and Lovvorn 2006: 301)’

What does the data say？
‘How learners interpret their experience is highly influenced by prior experiences
of learning, and the interpretations that have arising from those. Digital literacies
cannot be bolted onto existing practices and prior conception: these must be
recognised, incorporated and (if necessary) reconceptualised. (Goodyear & Ellis,
2008).
Most accounts of literature on affordances of digital technologies that described technology
can be used for certain educational purpose are framed on Western perspectives with a
focus on Western Web technologies, while it overlooked cultural factors such as linguistic
aspects, and international students’ own capacity to make informed choices. Developing
literacy pedagogy needs to research learner’s experience, and look at the funds of
knowledge that learners bring to education to inform pedagogies.

‘Literacy is not and never has been a personal attribute or ideologically inert ‘skills’
simply to be ‘acquired’ by individual person…It is ideologically and inert ‘skills’
simply to be acquired by individual persons…It is ideologically and politically
charged-it can be used as a means of social control or regulation.’ (Hartley, 2002)
Developing literacy pedagogy among international students need to move beyond the cognitive model
at individual levels. Focusing on generic skills hides the complexity of the tensions occurs when
sojourners move from a familiarised place (which could be home) to a unfamiliarised place (when
studying aboard). In this sense, digital literacy constitutes identities and learning. Educators ought to
observe discursive conflicts that take place during the classroom, understanding different worldviews
and negotiating them with students (for example, try not to take a stance when discussing sensitive
topics in the classroom, but providing students with resources that offer different interpretations on the
topics, and help students to reflect and become more open-minded to multiple perspectives.)

Reconceptualising digital literacies for the present study:
• Context-specific, unstable, in flux
• Emergent from situated social and cultural practices of meaning-making
Digital literacies are emergent through networks of human and
nonhuman actors. It is constitutive of ‘context’, space and place. It is
locally negotiated and created. It relies on resilience and creativity.
(Lesley and Martin, 2014).
We see themes in terms of:

Implication for further research
Understanding students’ digital literacy practices through tracing their socialmaterial uses
Trace ‘the multifarious struggles, negotiations and accommodations whose effects constitute the ‘thing’ in education:
students, teachers, learning activities, spaces, knowledge representations such as texts, pedagogy, curriculum, content and so
forth. Rather than take such concepts as foundational categories, or objects with properties (Fenwick et al., 2011, p.2 ).’
‘Humans, and what they take to be their learning and social process, do not float, distinct, in container-like contexts of
education, such as a classroom or community sites, that can be conceptualised and dismissed simply as a wash of
material stuff and spaces. The things that assemble these contexts, and incidentally the actions and bodies including
human ones that are part o these assemblages, are continuously acting upon each other to bring forth and distribute, as
well as to obscure and deny, knowledge (Fenwick et al., 2011, vii).’
More longitudinal and ethnographic research, and also have a take on identity

The development of digital literacy in adapting to the UK learning environment

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