Digital Literacy Practices in Everyday Life and in the Adult L2 Classroom: The Case of Basic Literacy Education in Swedish

Abstract

AbstractIn this chapter, I explore the digital literacy practices of an adult migrant in Sweden, and the digital literacy practices that are part of the curriculum of the Swedish for Immigrants (SFI) programme in which she takes part. The data on which the study is based were collected using an ethnographic methodology, including classroom observations and individual semi-structured interviews with the student and her teacher. Literacy is understood from a social practices perspective; the analysis explores interacting aspects of literacy events and practices. It was found that the learner has limited opportunities to participate in digital literacy practices in her everyday life and that most of these involve social interaction with family and friends. The teacher in the SFI programme encourages her only in limited ways to engage in digital literacy practices, though she and the student do engage in digital literacy practices of a semi-private nature. I suggest that learners’ digital literacy practices can be brought to bear for pedagogical purposes to better connect to the learner’s transnational practices and for the teacher to understand the learner’s entire linguistic repertoire and range of literacies for learning.KeywordsDigital literacyEthnographyLiteracyMigrantsSwedenSwedish