The Moderating Effect of Digital Literacy between Extramural Informal Digital Learning of English and L2 Willingness to Speak

The current study investigated the predicting effect of receptive extramural informal digital learning of English (IDLE) activities (RIA) and productive IDLE activities (PIA) on Chinese-foreign cooperation education program (CEP) students' L2 willingness to speak (WTS), and examined the moderating effect of digital literacy on the relationship between RIA/PIA and L2 WTS. Quantitative data (N = 172) were collected through a questionnaire from a university in China, and the subsequent interviews provided supplementary information. The results indicated that RIA and PIA were significant predictors of CEP students’ L2 WTS, and digital literacy moderated PIA’s effect on L2 WTS. This suggests that CEP students with higher frequency of participation in extramural IDLE tend to initiate speech in English more often in English speaking classes. A more significant role of RIA than PIA was discovered, owing to low frequency of PIA caused by inaccessibility and self-perceived task difficulty. In addition, L2 WTS of CEP students with high digital literacy increased as the frequency of PIA rose. The current study is distinct from previous ones as it investigated the potential moderating role of digital literacy in the effect of RIA/PIA on L2 WTS. For future research, the moderating effect of digital literacy should be further examined as the findings across relevant studies remain inconsistent.