Embracing students’ digital literacies in our teaching

Students of today are engaged in a range of activities outside of school which use new technologies, thus creating new literacies. Life as a teenager has been digitally updated – a new generation now exists that expects a constant stream of new media to stay alert and focused. They no longer need to remember facts; they are stored at their fingertips on the mobile devices that they all carry.
Students have different expectations and bring with them experiences and identities that also require education to have a new and updated approach. This study provides an example of our challenge, as language educators, to find creative and effective ways to use our students’ investment in social networking to promote and facilitate language learning.