Digital literacy of EFL students in a junior high school in Iran: voices of teachers, students and Ministry Directors

Abstract

Promoting students’ digital literacy has become a significant challenge for educational authorities and course designers. However, very limited attention has been directed toward junior high school students’ digital literacy in the literature of computer-assisted language learning (CALL). Thus, this mixed-methods study explored junior high school teachers’ and students’ perspectives on the students’ digital literacy level and issues pertaining to it. A total of 364 junior high school students, 20 junior high school teachers, and three Directors of the Ministry of Education of Iran participated in the study. Exploratory factor analysis was run to ensure the construct validity of the questionnaire. The results of the Mann–Whitney U test showed significant differences between the perceptions of the teachers and students. While the students and teachers reported that students had an acceptable level of digital literacy in the interviews, the questionnaire results showed that the students had a low to moderate level of digital literacy. The teachers and students believed that the junior high school students used technology for recreational and non-educational purposes. The junior high school students did not use a wide range of computer applications and software tools. The interview with the Directors of the Ministry of Education depicted that they did not have consensus on the issues related to junior high school students’ digital literacy and that the Ministry did not have clear plans for promoting students’ digital literacy levels. The study proposes implications for the renewal of the English as a foreign language (EFL) curriculum of junior high schools and the integration of CALL in EFL programs in Iran and other similar contexts.