Power, Ideology and Identity in Digital Literacy: A Sociolinguistic Study

Fatima Zafar Baig,Fareeha Aazam,Sarah Shamshad,Wajeeha Yousaf,Muhammad Zammad Aslam,Iqra Fida

doi:10.5539/ijel.v9n4p252

Abstract

This study investigates the significance of digital media in terms of social implications. It draws its theoretical insights from the Darvin and Norton model of investment (2015) as it gives purely a new dimension to the concept of digital literacy. The study is designed in order to evaluate some important aspects of Social media, particularly Facebook, as an important digital literacy practice. Firstly, the study examines the way power is operated in the digital mediated construction of social identities. Certain social identities position other identities and accord or refuse them power. These even shape social ideologies and identities as English-language speakers hold a privileged position in society while Urdu-language speakers are marginalized all over the world. Secondly, it explores the role of digital media in the investment of language and digital literacy practices to represent social ideologies at three different angles of marriage, adulthood and family. Having established a sampling frame consisting of nine Facebook pictorial postings from three Facebook pages, the findings suggested that the text and visual representations of Facebook postings use various linguistic features like literary devices that are playing an evident role in the representation of social ideologies.

Highlights

Digital literacy was introduced as an attempt to capture the ways in which literacy has been changed in our digital society
Having established a sampling frame consisting of nine Facebook pictorial postings from three Facebook pages, the findings suggested that the text and visual representations of Facebook postings use various linguistic features like literary devices that are playing an evident role in the representation of social ideologies
It proves that certain social identities are positioned as dominant entities by virtue of gender and social relations. These dominant social identities are responsible for positioning other identities by refusing them power. It demonstrates how social identities like husband, mother-in-law, parents, relatives and English-language speakers hold a privileged position in society while making wife, single girls, children/daughter, adults and Urdu-language speakers marginalized respectively

Summary

Introduction

Digital literacy was introduced as an attempt to capture the ways in which literacy has been changed in our digital society. According to Martin (2006), digital literacy should be regarded as an umbrella term or “framework for integrating various other literacies and skill sets.”. Futurelab’s definition contains a subtle and situated understanding of digital literacy. It is largely about understanding and conveying meaning just like literacy, but this time mediated through a digital domain. “Digital literacy refers to the subtler and situated practices associated with being able to create, understand and communicate meaning and knowledge in a world in which these processes are increasingly mediated via digital technologies” (Futurelab, 2010)

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Methods

Conclusion