An investigation on non-academic digital literacy practices of university students with implications for English academic writing

• Main Authors: Idrus, Faizah, Abdul Mujib, Siti Sarina
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English; English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: H65 Schools. Institutes of social sciences; L Education (General); LG Individual institutions (Asia. Africa)
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/37225/1/Binder1.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/37225/3/Non_Academic_Digital_Literacy.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/37225/
• Institution: Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia

An Investigation on Non- Academic Digital Literacy Practices of University Students with Implications for English Academic Writing A corollary of the advent of technology is that university and college students have somewhat shifted in their presentation and writing of assignments on their courses. This topic of investigation is important because the terrain of teaching and learning of literacy practices have changed in the 21st century (Walsh, 2011). Thus, the purpose of the study is to investigate the existing non-academic digital practices of the respondents and describe ways in which they envision on bringing their digital literacy practices into their English academic writing assignments. In achieving the objectives of the study it is imperative to investigate the respondents’ engagement of non-academic digital literacy practices. Then examination of how these respondents think their non-academic digital literacy practices could effectively aid their English for Academic writing assignments will be performed. A mixed method study employing the semi-structured interviews, document analysis and a survey questionnaire are carried out with 200 university students of various courses and levels. A sample of each of the respondent’s assignments are analyse and is compared to their non-academic digital products such as posts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and the like. The results in which the identification of students non-academic literacy practices evidently support English academic assignment writing will point to the direction of how digital practices in general could be valuable in supporting students academic writing. Concurrently, it may also indicate students’ use of digital tools as a mediation of cognitive engagement in content reception of the course in which their non-academic digital practices is perceived as productive in helping them to excel in their academic writing afforded by various digital technologies.