Developing Digital Literacy in Online Grammar Teaching and Learning

The rise of network use as a global phenomenon entices language teachers and learners to modify acquisition patterns towards an increasingly learner centered approach, with grammar learning partly taking place outside the classroom. In this paper we present a digital literacy project which investigates the potential of audio-visual learning and teaching (L&T) resources for the acquisition of grammatical knowledge and understanding in mother tongue and foreign language education. We focus on evaluation literacy, the cognitive and social skills that determine the motivation and ability of individuals to gain access to, understand and use evaluative information in ways that contribute to achieving learning goals (adapted from Rogers, Kelly & McCoy 2019). To achieve this aim, we first administered two questionnaires to 28 linguists and EFL teachers to establish and adapt existing evaluation criteria for the selection of grammar resources. Second, we applied these evaluation criteria to 345 existing online audiovisual grammar videos. This resulted in illustrations of evaluation literacy, as well as ready-to-use information on such resources for both learners and teachers. This information includes learner level for both native and non-native speakers, previous knowledge required to benefit from the resources (e.g. terminology), and accessibility. Third, we developed concrete examples of learning activities which blend online instruction with face-to-face communication. This approach is expected to help learners generalize through use rather than memorizing, and thereby transform them from passive listeners to active learners. The concrete examples of L&T will furthermore function as a framework for further discussion about digital pedagogy i.e. ways of approaching digital L&T tools from a critical pedagogical perspective.