Language Learning & Technology October 2015, Volume 19, Number 3

http://llt.msu.edu/issues/october2015/commentary.pdf pp. 1–7

DIGITAL LITERACIES AND LANGUAGE LEARNING

Christoph A. Hafner, City University of Hong Kong
Alice Chik, Macquarie University
Rodney H. Jones, University of Reading
The term digital literacies refers to the practices of reading, writing and communication
made possible by digital media. The articles in this special issue explore the impact of
such digital practices on language learning, examining a) new needs of language learners
in the digital age, and b) new globalized, online contexts for language learning. The topics
covered include language learners’ digital translanguaging in social networking sites,
evidence of language learning in out-of-class YouTube comments, language socialization
in Wikipedia writing projects, and the digital practices of language teachers both inside
and outside of the classroom.
Keywords: Digital Literacies, Second Language Learning, Multimodality,
Translanguaging, Online Spaces
APA Citation: Hafner, C. A., Chik, A., & Jones, R. H. (2015). Digital literacies and
language learning. Language Learning & Technology, 19(3), 1–7. Retrieved from
http://llt.msu.edu/issues/october2015/commentary.pdf
Copyright: © Christoph A. Hafner, Alice Chik, & Rodney H. Jones

INTRODUCTION
This special issue explores the need for language teachers and learners to understand and take into
account digital literacies: the modes of reading, writing and communication made possible by digital
media. The issue is premised upon the observation that, in recent times, communication tools and
associated literacy practices and patterns of social interaction have changed in significant ways. These
changes can be attributed to two inter-related sets of factors. The first relates to rapid advances in
information and communication technologies, which have facilitated: a) new forms of multimodal
representation based on interactive hypermedia and computer-mediated communication; b) new kinds of
joint text-making practices where remix and collaboration are common; c) the formation of globalized,
online affinity spaces where linguistically and culturally diverse participants interact with one another
about their shared passions, engaging in the amateur creation of knowledge and culture in online gaming
communities, in fan fiction sites or in the encyclopedia “that anyone can edit”. These advances have been
accompanied by a second set of social changes related to economic globalization, with increasing
migration leading to greater linguistic and cultural diversity in local communities.
As a result of these changes, we argue that what it means to learn a language—the kinds of skills and
social practices that one must develop in order to be a productive member of civic society—has also
shifted. Let's consider the example of reading. One way of looking at the development of reading would
be to focus on the comprehension of text: the way that language learners can employ top-down and
bottom-up processing strategies in order to make meaning. Reading also used to mean interacting with
one printed text at a time. However, in today's world, where a great deal of what we read (though by no
means everything) comes from the Internet, such an approach is no longer sufficient. Because barriers to
publication have all but vanished, a vast amount of information is now available in written form and this
writing varies tremendously in terms of quality and trustworthiness. When learning to read, language
learners need to develop a host of information management strategies: how to find texts online, evaluate
those texts, distinguish genuine from fake websites, and so on. To this we could add that learning to read
a webpage means developing the skills to understand not only the text on the page, but the whole
multimodal ensemble of writing, images, layout, graphics, sound, and hypertext links.

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Work on digital literacies has begun to address the issue of what it means to be a literate member of
society in the digital age. The term digital literacies is one of many that have been used to engage with
the changing landscape of digital media. Others include: new literacies (Lankshear & Knobel, 2011),
multiliteracies (Cope & Kalantzis, 2000), and electronic literacies (Warschauer, 1999). The term has so
far resisted precise definition. As Meyers, Erickson and Small (2013) note, “a unified definition of digital
literacy, or literacies, is yet to emerge” (p. 360). These authors go on to point out that digital literacies can
be seen as either: a) the acquisition of information age skills; b) the cultivation of habits of mind; or c) the
engagement in digital cultures and practices. It is this third approach that is most evident in the
contributions to this special issue, which focus on a range of digital contexts, including Facebook,
YouTube, and Wikipedia. They consider how language learners’ participation in these spaces both
mediates and transforms their language learning. Furthermore, the contributors share a perspective on
language learning as a sociocultural process, which sees reading, writing, and communicating as situated,
goal-oriented activities, intimately tied to their contexts.
According to Lankshear and Knobel (2008), the term digital literacies can be thought of as “a shorthand
for the myriad social practices and conceptions of engaging in meaning making mediated by texts that are
produced, received, distributed, exchanged, etc., via digital codification” (p. 5). They point out that these
practices go beyond mere technical competencies to include the development of a particular way of
thinking or “mindset” (Knobel & Lankshear, 2007). Similarly, Jones and Hafner (2012) provide a model
for digital literacies that shows how the affordances of digital tools facilitate not only ways of meaning,
but also ways of doing, relating, thinking, and being. Based on a theory of mediated discourse analysis,
this model can serve as a useful starting point for teachers who are interested in understanding digital
literacies and embedding them in the language curriculum. The main dimensions of the model are
summarized in Table 1, below, along with examples of digital practices and the kinds of questions that
they potentially raise for language educators.
Table 1. Dimensions of Digital Literacies and the Affordances of Digital Tools
Dimension Focus Example practices Questions for pedagogy
Doing Actions in the Sharing pictures with friends How can we effectively manage
physical world Searching for a place to eat information with digital tools?
online
Meaning Forms of Reading a web page How can we effectively communicate:
representation Posting to a social network site • using hypertext?
• using combinations of word, image,
graphics and sound?
Relating Patterns of Writing fan fiction for a How can we use digital tools to:
interaction massive online audience • manage relationships?
Commenting on a blog post • attract the attention of an online
Collaboratively writing an audience?
online article in a wiki • collaborate with peers?
Thinking Experiencing Communicating through CMC How should we think about our online
and thinking Participating in online affinity communications:
about reality spaces • as ephemeral conversations?
• as durable written products?
What are the mindsets that lead to the
most productive uses of digital media?

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Being Social identity Presenting oneself in a social How can we use digital tools to
network site manage impressions?
Adopting an expert role in an What identities are possible in digital
online (e.g. fan, gaming) spaces?
community How do these identities relate to those
that are possible in classroom spaces?

Within the field of language education, especially in the literature on language learning and technology,
we can identify two main research interests that address aspects of digital literacies, as it is conceived in
this special issue:
1. New needs of language learners: the idea that new modes of reading, writing, and communication
create new learning needs that can be addressed in second and foreign language education;
2. New contexts of language learning: the idea that globalized, online spaces create new, multilingual
contexts, within which second and foreign language learners can autonomously capitalize on learning
opportunities.
The contributions to this issue also address these themes. We take the second theme first, considering the
out-of-class, digital practices of language learners before discussing the possible role of such digital
practices in the language curriculum.

DIGITAL PRACTICES AND LANGUAGE LEARNING BEYOND THE CLASSROOM

In the work on language learning and technology, there has been considerable interest in the way that
globalized, online affinity spaces can act as contexts for language learning. Ethnographic investigations
have focused on the practices of young language learners in various kinds of fan communities, drawing
attention to the positive and empowering experiences they can have in such spaces. For example, Lam
(2000) provides a case study of Almon, a Hong Kong Chinese immigrant to the United States, who set up
and maintained a Japanese pop (J-pop) website, using English to communicate via ICQ chat software with
other J-pop fans from around the world. Interviews with Almon show how his experience of English
changed as a result of the interactions he had with his online peers, “from a sense of alienation from the
English language in his adopted country to a newfound sense of expressivity and solidarity when
communicating in English with his Internet peers” (p. 468).
Such observations highlight a possible disconnect between the in-class experiences of language learners
and their out-of-class experiences, particularly in such online spaces. It is especially important to note the
very different approaches to language use in the two contexts. School-based language use tends to focus
on standardized forms (e.g. standard English) and use so-called “native-speaker” norms as its taken-for-
granted benchmarks. In contrast, language use in online spaces is more fluid, often drawing on a form of
global English, which may be mixed with other codes. Unlike in school, multilingualism is often highly
valued in such contexts, allowing leaners to adopt identities as expert multilinguals (see Black, 2006) and
engage in translingual practices (Canagarajah, 2013) that allow them to creatively express themselves by
drawing on resources from a range of languages.
In view of this contrast, it is increasingly important to understand the translingual practices of language
learners in online spaces beyond the classroom. In this issue, Brooke Ricker Schreiber’s article on
multilingual identity and digital translanguaging engages with this question. Schreiber describes the
digital practices of Aleksandar, a Serbian university student and hip-hop artist, who makes use of
Facebook to construct a public, hip-hop identity for a linguistically diverse audience. In his interactions,
Aleksandar mixes his own local dialect of Serbian, standard Serbian and English, heavily influenced by
slang. The analysis shows how he is able to draw upon multimodal resources—linked images, video and

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music—in order to participate in an international hip-hop community, gaining uptake from members,
regardless of their own language proficiencies. For Aleksandar, the code-meshed use of English functions
as part of a coherent translingual identity, rather than as part of a separate second language identity or as a
tool to reach particular audiences. Schreiber’s work thus contributes to a more nuanced understanding of
translingual practices in digital spaces. She further points out that the creative, hybrid practices observed
diverge from literacy practices in the Serbian university context, which tend to focus on learning essay
structures, improving vocabulary and practising timed writing. The article ends with a renewed call for
classroom practices that take into account the reality of digital literacy practices outside the classroom.
Phil Benson’s article on YouTube commenting and learning practices also focuses on a translingual
context. Benson addresses the question, “what evidence of language and intercultural learning can be
found in comments on YouTube videos?” Previous research in the field of language education suggests
that interactions in such globalized, online spaces can provide opportunities for informal language
learning. For example, Thorne (2008) provides a case study of interaction within the massively multi-
player online role-playing game, World of Warcraft. Thorne analyzed the in-game chat between two
players, an American and a Ukrainian, and showed how some turns were overtly pedagogical, as the
American player ‘tried out’ some Russian phrases and received feedback from his conversation partner.
More recently, Chik (2014) has shown how game-external blogs and discussion forums also provide a site
where informal language advising between members of gaming communities can take place. Drawing on
nine different Chinese-language discussion forums and blogs identified by gamers, Chik described two
kinds of interaction particularly relevant to language learning. In the first, a discussant asked the
community for advice about using role-playing games for language learning and received detailed
suggestions, including a list of titles evaluated for their language learning potential. In the second, forum
participants collaborated in translating phrases from an English sports simulation game, leading to a lively
discussion of the term roaming in a football context.
Extending earlier work, Benson’s contribution to this issue focuses on comments on YouTube videos that
involve Chinese-English translanguaging. These include videos that mix Chinese and English, as well as
videos where use of language by second language learners becomes an issue: for example, a Chinese
singer performs a song in English or gives an interview in English and the use of language is picked up as
noteworthy by commenters. In the article, Benson develops a discourse analytical framework designed to
more systematically evaluate online discourse for evidence of language and intercultural learning. This
framework draws on analysis of exchange structure, interactional acts, and stance marking in order to
perform both quantitative and qualitative analysis of interaction. The findings show that the Chinese-
English translanguaging videos in question provide an interactionally rich environment, where learners of
those languages engage in the co-construction of knowledge on topics of language and culture. The article
contributes to our understanding of patterns of interactional learning in informal online spaces as well as
how these can be analysed—an approach which complements the case-based learning narratives
frequently found in digital literacies research. As Benson points out, more work that evaluates online
discourse in terms of constructs of learning is needed in order to advance inquiry into language learning
in informal, online contexts.

DIGITAL PRACTICES AND THE LANGUAGE CURRICULUM

As suggested above, there are now abundant calls for language educators to rethink the language
curriculum and develop pedagogies that cater to language learners’ digital literacies needs. One possible
approach, suggested by Thorne and Reinhardt (2008), involves the use of what they call “bridging
activities”. Learners are asked to find examples of new media communication that they themselves have
participated in such as instant messaging, blogs and wikis, remixing, and multiplayer online gaming. By
applying discourse analytical techniques, learners explicitly analyse these examples, with the aim of
developing metalinguistic knowledge relevant to their online interactions. Similarly, Hafner (2014)

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suggests that digital literacies can be strategically embedded within the existing language curriculum. In
this approach, the traditional range of genres and practices taught is extended to include practices that
draw upon the affordances of digital tools. For example, in addition to reporting projects in traditional
forms, learners are tasked with creating digital, multimodal compositions that they share with an authentic
YouTube audience (Hafner, 2013).
In this issue, Brian King's article on Wikipedia writing provides an excellent example of the inclusion of
authentic digital practices in the curriculum. Hong Kong university students taking an introductory
English studies course were tasked with writing and publishing an English Wikipedia entry on an aspect
of Hong Kong. King examines the ways that writing for an authentic audience on Wikipedia contribute to
language learners’ socialization into identities as competent writers. The analysis shows how learners, in
preparing their entries, invest in writing for an imagined community of Wikipedians, whether or not they
have direct interaction with this community. After publishing their entries, learners progress to legitimate
peripheral participation in the Wikipedia community. In some cases they engage in deletion debates with
community members, positioning themselves as experts on Hong Kong society as they attempt to defend
the value of their writing. Finally, writing for Wikipedia is usually constructed as writing for a public and
therefore perceived in terms of a contribution to knowledge and to the wider world. In this way, learners
construct identities as valid writers of English.
Naturally, effective classroom uses of digital practices depend heavily on the approach taken by
individual teachers, often based on their own digital experiences. As Chik (2011) points out, even when
teachers have rich out-of-class experiences with digital technologies, they do not necessarily draw on
these experiences in the language classroom. Ekaterina Tour’s contribution to this special issue further
investigates the inter-relationship between teachers’ personal and professional uses of digital
technologies. Tour provides a multiple case study of three language teachers, drawing on participant-
generated photography and open-ended interviews in order to understand teachers’ practices both inside
and outside the classroom. The analysis draws on Lankshear and Knobel’s (2007) concept of mindsets—
essentially the assumptions about the affordances of digital tools that people bring to digital practices.
Tour’s findings demonstrate a continuum of perceptions, with teachers perceiving a variable range of
affordances. At one end of this continuum is the perception that digital tools offer support and
improvement of existing practices; in other words, they are seen as useful teaching tools. As one
progresses along the continuum, teachers recognize digital media in more transformative terms,
perceiving affordances of connectedness, experimentation, sharing, collective intelligence, empowerment,
and multimodality. One implication of this study is that there is a need to address the issue of digital
mindsets in teacher education, providing trainees with opportunities to reflect on the affordances of digital
tools, and how they transform literacy practices.

FUTURE ISSUES
Taken as a whole, the contributions to this issue address important aspects of digital literacies in language
education. They advance our understanding of the nature of digital practices, the way that learning is
implicated in such practices, and suggest steps that must be taken in order to incorporate digital literacies
into language learning. Although the benefits of rethinking the curriculum to take digital literacies into
account are becoming increasingly clear, there are nevertheless obstacles that must be overcome. When it
comes to classroom practices, so far little has been said about assessment. One problem here is that it
remains unclear how students’ participation in innovative digital practices, such as the Wikipedia writing
project described by King, can best be assessed. A related problem is that relevant national language and
literacy standards reflected in public examinations remain largely unchanged. Until such high-stakes
examinations are altered, many teachers are likely to continue to perceive digital literacies as more of an
add-on than an integral part of the curriculum. When it comes to out-of-class practices, on the other hand,
unlocking the myriad learning opportunities that are observed in globalized online spaces requires active

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participation in such spaces. While research has showcased how enthusiastic language learners take
advantage of a variety of affinity spaces, it is equally clear that participation can be constrained by a lack
of access. However, the factors that promote access are currently poorly understood. What is the role of
social class? What is the role of informal mentoring? How can we ensure that all learners are empowered
to take advantage of the language learning opportunities that active participation brings? These and other
questions lie ahead of us as we move towards a deeper understanding of digital literacies and language
learning.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank the Managing Editor, Mónica Vidal, as well as the Editors-in-Chief, Dorothy
Chun and Trude Heift, for all of their support in compiling this special issue. We are also grateful to the
reviewers for their valuable feedback and the contributing authors for the care and attention that they put
into their work.

ABOUT THE GUEST EDITORS

Christoph A. Hafner is Associate Professor in the Department of English, City University of Hong Kong.
His research interests include specialized discourse, digital literacies, and language learning and
technology. In addition to his other publications, he is co-author (with Rodney Jones) of Understanding
Digital Literacies: A Practical Introduction (Routledge, 2012).
E-mail: [email protected]
Alice Chik is Senior Lecturer in the School of Education, Macquarie University. Her research interests
are digital practices in out-of-class contexts, language education and popular culture, and narrative
inquiry. She is the co-convener (with Hayo Reinders) of an AILA Research Network, Researching Digital
Games in Language Learning & Teaching.
E-mail: [email protected]
Rodney H. Jones is Professor of Sociolinguistics and New Media at the University of Reading. His
research interests include digital media studies, discourse analysis, health communication, and language
and creativity. He is co-author with Christoph Hafner of Understanding Digital Literacies: A Practical
Introduction (Routledge, 2012). His other books include Discourse and Creativity (Routledge, 2012) and
Health and Risk Communication: An Applied Linguistic Perspective (Routledge, 2013).
E-mail: [email protected]

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