An Analysis between Eastern and Western Countries in Implementing Digital Literacy Skills for Young Learners

Proceedings International Conference on Teaching and Education (ICoTE) Volume 3 English Language Teaching Research and Practices (2022) An Analysis between Eastern and Western Countries in Implementing Digital Literacy Skills for Young Learners Dieni Nurhasanah Dwihastuti1*; Muchlas Suseno2*; Ifan Iskandar3* Magister of English Language Education, State University of Jakarta, Jakarta, Indonesia 1,2,3 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.26418/icote.v3i1.56089 This article was presented orally at: 1st International Conference on English Language Teaching Research and Practices; organized by TEFLIN of West Kalimantan Chapter; 1-2 June 2022 Abstract To face the global era, students in the twenty-first century must master the English language confidently and critically. One of the techniques for improving students' English language abilities is digital literacy. This research will look at how digital literacy is implemented to improve students' ability to master the English language and what challenges learners face when participating in these activities for elementary school students. It is an analysis based on the cultural characteristics of the western and eastern countries. The research methodology was content analysis. The writer gathered information by reading articles about the use of digital literacy in learning English. The findings verified some facts, such as the notion that using digital literacy in the classroom increases primary pupils' motivation for learning English. It also encourages students to learn new languages. Second, some children continue to have difficulty with digital literacy. Not to mention, some schools do not provide enough tools for students to apply digital literacy, which has an impact on classroom teaching and learning. However, further research on providing appropriate digital literacy based on kids' age or level of learning is required. Keywords: Eastern and Western countries, digital literacy, English language learning, young learner ICoTE Proceedings is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 1. INTRODUCTION Everyone, especially the younger generation, has been confronted with the twenty-first century world. There are lots of challenges to be prepared for and mastered in competing with others in the 21st century era. They must be innovative in inventing something to generate new knowledge, as well as be able to share, communicate, and apply information to address multifarious problems. In such a situation, we, as educators, should get our students well prepared to face the era. Digital literacy skill is one of the crucial roles in the 21st century. The definition of digital literacy itself is Dieni Nurhasanah Dwihastuti, Muchlas Suseno, Ifan Iskandar knowing and being able to use a wide range of technical tools for a number of objectives (Mantiri, O., Hibbert, G. K., & Jacobs, J., 2019). They also added that a digitally literate individual may utilize technology to find and analyze information, connect and interact with others, create and distribute original content, and use the internet and technological tools to accomplish a variety of academic, professional, and personal objectives. Churchill (2016) stated that digital literacy is a set of skills that enable an individual to use technologies to work with information. Information in the context of this study is examined as digital information, which encompasses texts (e.g., articles published on websites), images (e.g., photographs and e-ISSN: 2685-1407 | 56 pictured on websites or taken by students), videos (e.g., multimedia products, animations, and broadcasts), and podcasts (e.g., recorded narrations published online or on students’ desktops) (p. 21). It can be concluded that digital literacy is the ability to use technologies for specific purposes. Digital literacy skill has become an important issue for both EFL teachers and students. There are various teachers who benefit immensely from digital literacy since it facilitates the learning and teaching process. Similarly, pupils, particularly young learners, are more motivated when they have access to a choice of teaching materials. The following are examples of digital literacy that can be used in an English classroom: an interactive white board (e.g., ACTIVBoard, SMART Board), b) webquests (e.g., Questgarden, Zunal, WebQuest, Fur.ly), c) digital storytelling (e.g., iMovie, Windows Movie Maker, Posterous, Dreamweaver), d) digital video sharing tools (e.g., TeacherTube, Videoegg, Selfcast), e) web-basedword processor / spreadsheet / presentation / form/ book/data storage services (e.g., Buzzword, Book Goo, BookRix, Etherpad, Peepel, OpenGoo, ZOHO, Google Docs, Google Apps), f) web-based photo sharing/uploading/managing (e.g., Flickr, Shutterfly, PhotoPeach Dropshots), g) digital mapping (e.g., Google Maps, Community Walk, ZeeMaps, Wayfaring, MapBuzz), h) audience response systems/audience clickers (e.g., iRespond, Qwizdom, TurningPoint), i) social networking (e.g., Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn), and j) online learning systems (e.g., Blackboard/Moodle/Vista/WebCT). Such digital tools are very helpful for young learners to familiarize themselves with the latest advances in technology for learning English (Mudra, 2020). In connection to the implementation of fostering English language skills, speaking ability, for example, is one of the most fundamental abilities to develop in order to communicate fluently in a foreign language because communication cannot exist without speech (Dionar & Adnan, 2019). Many students have difficulties expressing their ideas when speaking English in the classroom, especially elementary students. According to Prasetianing Jati et al. (2019), many students have trouble expressing their speaking skills in English due to incorrect grammar usage, a shortage of vocabulary, and challenges in pronouncing English words correctly. Implementing digital literacy will elicit students’ abilities in speaking and also encourage them to speak actively. There have been several studies conducted using digital literacy to improve English skills for young learners. Mantiri, O., Hibbert, G. K., & Jacobs, J. (2019), discussed digital literacy in the ESL classroom. The conclusion was that digital literacy empowers our children to think critically, encourages them to take ownership of their learning and build larger vocabulary with words that have meaning for them in context, and allows them to learn at their own speed through varied learning. Moreover, Mudra, H. (2020), stated that curricula and syllabuses must incorporate digital literacy, and this allows EFL teachers to plan some tactics for developing digital literacy in young learners. Sun, Z., Lin, C. H., You, J., Shen, H. Jiao, Qi, S., & Luo, L. (2017), also added that social-networking sites (SNSs) and mobile learning enable young learners to talk in low-stress, contextual situations. Young students have limited (...truncated)