There is a perception that students transitioning to higher education, or preparing for their mobility programme are digitally literate.  However, being tech comfy does not mean being tech savvy, and students who can navigate effortlessly through social media sites in their first language, may not be sufficiently digitally literate to comprehend digital literacies in an intercultural context.

 

This section encourages students to think about social media for language learning, and the effects that distractive technologies can have on the daily lives of students of higher education.  We also explore the area of personal learning networks (PLNs) and personal learning environments (PLEs) for language teaching and learning.

 

In education, there is an opportunity to combine the digital literacies of the tech comfy student, with the experience of the tech savvy teacher, to build a sustainable, dynamic model of language teaching and learning.

 

As you know, in the context of language learning, being digitally literate in an intercultural context presents additional challenges to both teachers and learners.  Understanding and managing your online environment so that students may successfully transition to higher education language learning environments are among the main challenges. Equally important is the development of intercultural competence, autonomy, and life-long learning skills.

 

For teachers, this section offers practical methods to scaffold digital literacies in language learning environments, as well as supporting the four domains of language use, reading, writing, listening and speaking.

 

The table below gives you a list of topics under the theme of Transitions and Contexts. To learn more about a specific category, and to get an overview of activities available in your target language, click on the appropriate link.