Implications for language teachers

Although some national curricula make provision for the development of digital literacies within mainstream primary and secondary schooling, it is sometimes challenging for teachers to know how to operationalize these literacies in the classroom. This is particularly true for teachers who may not feel confident with technology themselves or have received little or no training in how to use technology in a principled manner with learners. As English language teachers, we can help our learners acquire not only the language skills needed for communication in an increasingly globalized world but also some of the digital skills that they will inevitably also need. It is increasingly difficult for us to separate language from the digital environment in which it is being used. As such, one could argue that by integrating new technologies into our classroom, we can also help learners develop key digital literacies and that it is indeed our duty as language teachers to do so. But the question remains: how?

Digital literacies in the English language classroom

Below are five activities that focus on a number of Pegrum’s digital literacies. These activities can be integrated into most, if not all, English language teaching syllabi, even when these are coursebook driven, by tying the activity to the current topic being explored in class.

Txtng (texting literacy)

Learners decode sample text messages into standard English. They then decide in which contexts text messaging is acceptable, and in which contexts it is not, from a series of prompts/situations. Discuss the linguistic norms and the appropriate use of texting language, in both English and in the learners’ L1. In what ways are they similar or different? Even if you do not expect your learners to produce texting language, familiarity with norms in the target language is useful as it becomes an increasingly common genre.

Follow the link (hypertext literacy)

Find two online texts of a similar length on the same topic (for example a news item): one text with few or no hyperlinks and one text with many hyperlinks. Ask learners to read each text online and to follow any hyperlinks. Give a one- or two-minute time limit for learners to read each text. Discuss which text was easier to read and why. Hypertext literacy includes not just knowing when to ignore hyperlinks in the text so as not to lose the thread, but also knowing how many hyperlinks to include in one’s own text, in the interests of readability and credibility.

The tree octopus(information literacy)

Ask students to visit a spoof website, such as that dedicated to the Pacific Northwest tree octopus (http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus). Set a comprehension task on the website content without telling students it is a spoof. Ask them to choose one of the ways they could show support for this endangered species. Finally, ask the class if they think this is all true. Analyse what makes this site look believable (layout, links to real sites such as the World Wildlife Fund, links to other research, informational style of language, maps, etc.). Point out the clues (apart from the content!) that show

the site is a spoof (URL, headers and footers, tagline ...). Pairs can then examine less obvious spoof sites (see http://www.philb.com/fakesites.htm) and real sites, and then report back to the class on which is which and how they know. A key element of information literacy is the ability to evaluate the veracity, reliability, and source of information on websites.

Copycat (visual/multimedia literacy)

Choose a topic/theme that you are currently working on with the class (for example animals). Ask students to search Google images of a given animal and to choose the three images they like the most. In pairs, they compare their images and explain their choices. Ask students to then prepare a short blog entry about the animal/topic, which they will illustrate with one of the images. Ask students to look again at their chosen images online and the copyright license for each. With a Google image search, the percentage of ‘all rights reserved’ copyright images will usually be high. In Google Advanced search, show learners how they can filter their image search results to include only images that can be reused. Ensure that everyone is familiar with Creative Commons licensing. Tell learners to also search popular image banks such as Flickr (http://www.flickr.com), where there is a higher percentage of creative commons images. Learners make a final choice of (copyright free) image with which to illustrate their blog post. Show students how to acknowledge the source of creative commons images in their post. Knowledge and appropriate use of copyright is an essential part of participatory literature; if students are creating their own online content, they need to know what images they can legally reuse in their digital contributions and how to acknowledge the source.

Teachers and digital literacies

The activities briefly outlined above assume that the teacher herself is digitally literate or at least willing to become so. Teachers may need to take part in staff development or training for this. Futurelab has some excellent resources in the field of digital literacies, which could be integrated into a staff development plan or used by teachers as part of a self-study plan for professional development (see http://www.futurelab.org.uk/resources/ digital-literacy-professional-development-resource). So, if you are a teacher who feels less confident with technology, do not despair: rather, skill up.