In the current context of information society, the digital literacy of college English teachers has become an important issue in educational reform and development. In ethnic colleges of west China, due to geographical, cultural, and resource limitations, the digital literacy level of college English teachers is generally low, which has caused certain difficulties in improving teaching quality and cultivating students' comprehensive qualities. Therefore, how to improve the digital literacy of English teachers in ethnic colleges of west China has become an urgent problem to be solved. This article takes English teachers in ethnic colleges of west China as the research object. Through a survey and analysis of their digital literacy status, it is found that the main problems include inadequate digital technology application ability, insufficient development and utilization of digital teaching resources, and lagging updates on digital teaching concepts and methods. In response to these issues, this article proposes some effective improvement paths to strengthen teachers’ digital technology training to improve their practical ability, to optimize the allocation of digital teaching resources and fully utilize existing resources, and to guide teachers to improve their teaching philosophy and explore innovative teaching methods.