Contributing, creating, curating: Digital literacies for language learners

In today's globalized, connected world, fixed and stable identities are increasingly uncommon. The means and modes of online communication and engagement, themselves powerful contributors to identity formation, are likewise in a constant state of flux. Participating in emerging online communities may require users to develop new skills, acquire specific software or hardware, and/or learn particular conventions and behavior norms. In this column we will be looking at what that dynamic entails and what impact the ongoing need for new literacies and competencies has on language learning, both in formal instruction and in out-of-school environments. We will be looking at ways in which learners achieve language and literacy gains through participation in online communal spaces and how such activities relate to formal language instruction. Engaging with Internet-based communities is likely to involve the ability to interact with and to create or remix materials and resources in a variety of media and from a variety of sources. In addition to focused or incidental language learning through roles played in participatory Internet communities we will also look at the need for language learners to develop competence in searching out, evaluating, and collecting online materials, tools, and services. This includes the guiding role language teachers can play in the process. As language teachers, our ultimate goal is to enable and encourage our students to gain the knowledge, skills, and motivation to become autonomous language learners and culturally responsible participants in local and online communities. Capability in a full range of digital literacies is key to that process and vital today in education, personal life, and work environments: