The Effect of Global Digital Citizenship Education on Intercultural Communicative Competence and Learners’ Perceptions

Ajideh, Parviz; Zohrabi, Mohammad; Mohammad Pour, Roqayeh

doi:10.22049/jalda.2024.28957.1603

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

¹ Professor of Applied Linguistics, Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Persian Literature and Foreign Languages, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

² Associate Professor of TEFL, Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Persian Literature and Foreign Languages, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

³ PhD Candidate in ELT, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22049/jalda.2024.28957.1603

Abstract

Misuse of technology and lack of enough skill and knowledge about using technological devices may lead to several complications; thus, it could appear mandatory to offer citizenship education and digital knowledge. Hence, individuals are expected to gain the knowledge about their position in the world as global citizens and be able to understand intercultural issues. The aim of the current study is to inspect the effect of global digital citizenship on EFL learner’s intercultural communicative competence and examine their perceptions toward the applicability of global digital citizenship. The participants of the quantitative phase comprised 60 female EFL learners classified randomly into one experimental group and one control group. For the qualitative phase, 20 learners were interviewed. The instruments included the Oxford Quick Placement Test to ensure the homogeneity, Intercultural Communicative Competence questionnaire, and a researcher-made questionnaire to provide qualitative data. Cronbach’s alpha was used ensure the reliability. The validity of the questionnaires was ensured through content validity. The quantitative data was analyzed through MANCOVA test. The results revealed that global digital citizenship has significant effect on EFL learner’s intercultural communicative competence. The results of semi-structured interview revealed five main themes including the most important qualities of global digital citizenship, the general advantages and disadvantages of global digital citizenship, the benefits and shortcomings of digital literacy, strategies to stay safe in social media environments, and the popular applications used for learning English. The findings have significant theoretical and practical significance for teachers, teacher educators, curriculum designers and researchers.

Keywords

Main Subjects

1. Applied Linguistics (Language Teaching and Learning)

Article Title [Persian]

تأثیر آموزش شهروندی دیجیتال جهانی بر قابلیت ارتباطی بین فرهنگی و ادراک زبان آموزان

Authors [Persian]

دکتر پرویز آژیده ¹
دکتر محمد ظهرابی ²
رقیه محمدپور ³

¹ استاد زبانشناسی کاربردی، گروه زبان و ادبیات انگلیسی، دانشکده ادبیات فارسی و زبانهای خارجی، دانشگاه تبریز، تبریز، ایران

² دانشیار آموزش زبان انگلیسی، گروه زبان و ادبیات انگلیسی، دانشکده ادبیات و علوم انسانی، دانشگاه تبریز، تبریز، ایران

³ دانشجوی دکتری آموزش زبان انگلیسی، دانشگاه تبریز، تبریز، ایران

Abstract [Persian]

امروزه استفاده از فناوری یک عمل رفتاری متمایز در جامعه است که به محیط های آموزشی نیز گسترش یافته است. با این حال، فقدان مهارت و دانش کافی در مورد استفاده از دستگاه های تکنولوژیکی می تواند تأثیر مثبت آن را کاهش دهد. اگرچه استفاده نادرست از فناوری چندین پایه اساسی را در بر می گیرد، اما ارائه این نکته که فقدان آموزش شهروندی و دانش دیجیتال ویژگی های مسبب هستند، می تواند جامع به نظر برسد. بنابراین از افراد انتظار می رود که به عنوان یک شهروند جهانی در مورد موقعیت خود در جهان آگاهی کسب کنند و بتوانند مسائل بین فرهنگی را درک کنند. هدف بررسی تأثیر شهروندی دیجیتال جهانی بر قابلیت ارتباطی بین فرهنگی زبان آموزان زبان انگلیسی و بررسی ادراکات آنها نسبت به کاربرد شهروندی دیجیتال جهانی از طریق مرحله کیفی است. شرکت‌کنندگان در مرحله کمی شامل 60 زبان‌آموز زن بودند که به‌طور تصادفی در یک گروه آزمایش و یک گروه کنترل طبقه‌بندی شدند. برای مرحله کیفی با 20 فراگیر مصاحبه شد. ابزارها شامل آزمون آکسفورد برای اطمینان از همگنی، پرسشنامه شایستگی ارتباطی بین فرهنگی و پرسشنامه محقق ساخته برای ارائه داده های کیفی بود. برای اطمینان از پایایی از آلفای کرونباخ استفاده شد. روایی پرسشنامه ها از طریق روایی محتوایی تأیید شد. داده های کمی با استفاده از آزمون تحلیل واریانس چندگانه مورد تجزیه و تحلیل قرار گرفت. نتایج نشان داد که شهروندی دیجیتال جهانی تأثیر معناداری بر قابلیت ارتباطی بین فرهنگی زبان آموزان زبان انگلیسی دارد. نتایج مصاحبه نیمه ساختاریافته مهمترین ویژگیهای شهروندی دیجیتال جهانی را به طور کلی و در یادگیری زبان نشان داد.. یافته های این پژوهش برای معلمان، مربیان معلمان، طراحان برنامه درسی و محققین از اهمیت نظری و عملی قابل توجهی برخوردار است.

Keywords [Persian]

آموزش شهروندی دیجیتال جهانی
قابلیت ارتباطی بین فرهنگی
ادراکات

References

Abu El-Haj, T. R. (2007). “I was born here, but my home, it’s not here”: Educating for democratic citizenship in an era of transnational migration and global conflict. Harvard Educational Review, 77(3), 285-316.

Alavijeh, K., & Abdollahi, A. (2021). Awareness and incorporation of digital citizenship by the Iranian EFL learners and teachers. The Journal of Applied Linguistics and Applied Literature: Dynamics and Advances, 9(1), 33-63. https://doi.org/10.22049/jalda.2021.26985.1222

Alazemi, A. F., Sa’di, I. T., & Al-Jamal, D. A. (2019). Effects of Digital Citizenship on EFL Students’ Success in Writing. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, 18(4), 120-140. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.18.4.7

Balistreri, S., Di Giacomo, F., Noisette, I., & Ptak, T. (2012). Global education: Connections, concepts, and careers. College Board.

Banks, J. A. (2008). Diversity, group identity, and citizenship education in a global age. Educational Researcher, 37(3) 129-139. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X08317501

Bengtsson, M. (2016). How to plan and perform a qualitative study using content analysis. Nursing Plus, 2, 8-14.

Berson, I. R., & Berson, M. J. (2003). Digital literacy for effective citizenship. Social Education, 67(3), 164-167.

Brookfield, S. (1995). The getting of wisdom: What critically reflective teaching is and why it’s important. National Louis University.

Byram, M. (1997). Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence. Multilingual Matters.

Byram, M. (2008). From Foreign Language Education to Education for Intercultural Citizenship: Essays and Reflections. Multilingual Matters.

Byram, M., & Grundy, R. (2003). Context and culture in language teaching and learning. In M. Byram & P. Grundy (Eds.), Context and culture in language teaching and learning (pp. 1-3). Multilingual Matters.

Cates, A. K. (2022). Global education as a cross-curricular approach to language teaching for democracy. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, 10(3), 75-96. https://doi.org/10.30466/ijltr.2022.121227

Chirciu, A. R. (2020). Global citizenship in the English Language Classroom: Student readiness for critical reform. Critical Issues in Teaching English and Language Education, 2(4), 123151. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53297-0_6

Choi, M. (2015). Development of a Scale to Measure Digital Citizenship Among Young Adults for Democratic Citizenship Education. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Ohio State University.

Clifford, V., & Montgomery, C. (2014). Challenging conceptions of western higher education and promoting graduates as global citizens. Higher Education Quarterly, 68(1), 28-45. https://doi.org/10.1111/hequ.12029

Deardorff, D. K. (2006). Assessing intercultural competence in study broad students. In M. Bryam, & A. Feng (Eds.), Living and studying abroad: Research and practice (pp. 232-256). Multilingual Matter.

Dower, N. (2003). An introduction to global citizenship. Edinburgh University Press.

Farmer, L. (2011). Digital citizen. Retrieved from http://ecitizenship.csla.net.

Fantini, A., & Tirmizi, A. (2006). Exploring and Assessing Intercultural Competence. World Learning Publications.

Ghaffari, M., Kuhi, D., & Aslrasouli, M. (2022). Iranian EFL learners’ and teachers’ attitudes toward critical cultural awareness model of validation. Issues in Language teaching (ILT), 11(1), 67-93. https://doi.org/10.22054/ilt.2021.60485.592

Gence, B., & Bada, E. (2005). Culture in language learning and teaching. The Reading Matrix, 5(1), 73-84.

Ghasemi Mighani, M., Yazdani Moghaddam, M., & Mohseni, A. (2020). Interculturalizing English language teaching: An attempt to build up intercultural communicative competence in English majors through an intercultural course. Journal of Modern Research in English Language Studies, 7(2), 77-100. https://doi.org/0.30479/jmrels.2020.11474.1426

Gollob, R., Krapf, P., & Weidinger, W., (2010). Education for democratic citizenship and human rights in school practice Teaching sequences, concepts, methods and models. Council of Europe.

Graddol, D. (2006) English Next: Why Global English May Mean the End of English as a Foreign Language. British Council.

Gudykunst, W., & Kim, Y. (2003). Communicating with strangers: An approach to intercultural communication. McGraw-Hill.

Hasan, M. M., & Hoon, T. B. (2013). Podcast applications in language learning: A review of recent studies. English Language Teaching, 6(2), 128 -135. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v6n2p128

Hassanzadeh, M., & Alizadeh, M. (2018). Iranian EFL teachers’ cultural identity in the course of their profession. Issues in Language Teaching, 7(1), 111-134. https://doi.org/10.22054/ilt.2019.39282.369

Jiang, Y. (2009). On the integration of culture into EFL teaching. Asian Culture and History, 1(2), 144-156.

Johnson, P. R., Boyer, M. A., & Brown, S. W. (2011). Vital interests: Cultivating global competence in the international studies classroom. Globalization, Societies and Education, 9(3), 503-519. https://doi.org/519.10.1080/14767724.2011.605331

Lazaraton, A. (2003). Incidental displays of cultural knowledge in the nonnative‐ English‐ speaking teacher's classroom. TESOL Quarterly, 37(2), 213-245.

Lee, T. Y., Ho, Y. Ch., & Chen, Ch. H. (2023). Integrating intercultural communicative competence into an online EFL classroom: an empirical study of a secondary school in Thailand. Asian-Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education, 8(4), 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40862-022-00174-1

Lourenco, M., & Simoes, A. R. (2021). Teaching and learning for global citizenship in the EFL classroom. Teaching and Learning Practices That Promote Sustainable Development and Active Citizenship Advances in Educational Technologies and Instructional Design, 2(11), 86-106. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-4402-0.ch005

Lütge, C., & Merse, T. (2022). Digital Citizenship in Foreign Language Learning and Teaching. In Routledge eBooks (pp. 226–247). https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003183839-14

Mattson, K. (2016). Moving Beyond Personal Responsibility: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Digital Citizenship Curricula. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Northern Illinois University.

McKay, S. L. (2003). Toward an appropriate EIL pedagogy: Re-examining common ELT assumptions. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 13(1), 1-22.

Modiano, M. (2001). Ideology and the ELT practitioner. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 11(2), 159-173.

Mudra, H. (2020). Digital literacy among young learners: How do EFL teachers and learners view its benefits and barriers?. Teaching English With Technology, 20(3), 3–24. http://cejsh.icm.edu.pl/cejsh/element/bwmeta1.element.desklight-b96ae22d-d0db-4654-8326-ff613391cb2a/c/ARTICLE1.pdf

Oxley, C. (2010). Digital citizenship: Developing an ethical and responsible online culture. In Diversity challenge resilience: School libraries in action proceedings of the 12th biennial school Library association of Queensland (pp. 1-11). Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Peach, S., & Clare, R. (2017). Global citizenship and critical thinking in higher education curricula and police education: A socially critical vocational perspective. Journal of Pedagogic Development, 7(2), 46-57.

Piasecka, L. (2011). Sensitizing foreign language learners to cultural diversity through developing intercultural communicative competence. In A. Janusz, & W. Adam (Eds.), Aspects of culture in second language acquisition and foreign language learning (pp. 21-33). Springer.

Pike, G. (2000). Global education and national identity: In pursuit of meaning. Theory Into Practice, 39, 64-73. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15430421tip3902_2

Pishghadam, R., & Sadeghi, M. (2011). Culture and identity change among Iranian EFL teachers. Ozean Journal of Social Sciences, 4(3), 147-162.

Rezaei, S., & Naghibian, M. (2018). Developing intercultural communicative competence through short stories: A qualitative inquiry. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, 6(2), 77-96. https://doi.org/10.30466/ijltr.2018.120561

Rhoads, R. A., & Szelenyi, K. (2011). Global Citizenship and the University: Advancing social life and relations in an interdependent world. http://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BB06026336

Ribble, M. (2011). Digital citizenship in schools. International Society for Technology in Education, 32(4), 34-47.

Sancho, J., Hernandez, F., & Rivera, P. (2016). Contemporary visualities, citizenship and digital wisdom: face the possibilities without avoiding the tensions. RELATEC: Latin American Technology Magazine Educational, 15(2), 25-37. https://doi.org/10.17398/1695-288X.15.2.25

Scarino, A. (2010). Assessing intercultural capability in learning languages: A renewed understanding of language, culture, learning, and the nature of assessment. The Modern Language Journal, 94(2), 324-329.

Sharif bad, Z., Fazilatfar, A., & Yazdanimoghaddam, M. (2021). Exploring Iranian pre-service English teachers’ intercultural communicative competence (ICC) identities and the role of mentor teachers. Journal of Modern Research in English Language Studies 8(3), 93-123. https://doi.org/10.30479/jmrels.2020.12239.1521

Sevimel-Sahin, A. (2020). A survey on the intercultural communicative competence of ELT undergraduate students. Eurasian Journal of Applied Linguistics 6(2), 141-153. https://doi.org/10.32601/ejal.775793

Spencer‐Oatey, H., & Franklin, P. (2009). Intercultural interaction. In Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230244511

Subedi, B. (2010). Critical global perspectives: Rethinking knowledge about global societies. Information Age Publishing.

Sumaryono, K., & Ortiz, F. (2004). Preserving the cultural identity of the English language learner. Voices from the Middle, 11(4), 16-19.

Winn, M. R. (2012). Promote digital citizenship through school-based social networking. Learning & Leading with Technology, 39, 10-13.

The Effect of Global Digital Citizenship Education on Intercultural Communicative Competence and Learners’ Perceptions

References

References

Volume 12, Issue 2 - Serial Number 24October 2024Pages 59-86

Volume 12, Issue 2 - Serial Number 24
October 2024
Pages 59-86