Exploring English Preservice Teachers’ Digital Competence Perceptions Regarding the C3 Matrix-cyber Ethics, Cyber Security and Cyber Safety: An Empirical Study Executed in China

Abstract

This study was executed with an attempt to figure out Chinese English preservice teachers’ digital competence perceptions pertaining the C3 Matrix, namely cyber ethics, cyber security and cyber safety. 221 senior students majoring in English Education in a normal university in northern China participated in the data collection process. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed in this study, which contained four latent variables: cyber ethics, cyber security, cyber safety and digital competence. Major findings suggest that how English preservice teachers perceive the C3 Matrix exerts mixed impacts on their digital competence perceptions. First, English preservice teachers’ cyber ethics perceptions have great positive impact on how they perceive cyber security and cyber safety. Cyber security and cyber safety then exert similar positive effects on how they perceive their digital competence. What’s worth noticing is that although cyber ethics exerts positive influence on digital competence via the agency of cyber security and cyber safety, it alone exerts minor negative effects on the participants’ digital competence perceptions, which is thought-provoking since no previous research so far echoed with this outcome.