Pre-service English Language Teachers’ 21st Century Skills: A Mixed-methods Study on Digital Literacy

Abstract

Despite an increasing number of studies on pre-service teachers' digital literacy, there are few studies on pre-service English teachers, especially regarding samples, methodology, and including variables. Hence, this study recruits more participants from different institutions and studies the effects of 5 variables. The participants were 186 pre-service teachers. The quantitative data were collected via the Digital Literacy Scale and analyzed by Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 25.0 via independent samples t-test and one-way variance analysis. The qualitative data were collected via semi-structured interviews and analyzed by Descriptive Analysis. The findings showed that the participants had a medium to high level of digital literacy, while they reported higher levels in the interviews. The analysis of the survey indicated that the most used device and year of digital platform use had a significant effect on the participants’ digital literacy levels. The interview results combined with the survey implied that the vital point in digital literacy training is to ensure "learning how to exploit digital skills" rather than learning all the available tools, applications, and resources.