Intercultural communicative competence in the digital age: critical digital literacy and inquiry-based pedagogy

ABSTRACT

Discourses surrounding digital technologies have often foregrounded their capacity to connect people however, in reality, online communication can also result in fragmentation, polarization and modes of exclusion. To address these issues, this paper highlights the need for learners to develop a critical digital literacy (CDL) that contributes to a greater understanding of how power and ideologies operate online. By proposing a two-pronged teaching strategy that integrates inquiry-based learning and digital activism, this paper seeks to demonstrate how the field of language and intercultural communication can help imagine a more equitable and inclusive online world through focused teaching strategies.

Els discursos sobre les tecnologies digitals sovint han posat de manifest la seva capacitat per connectar les persones, però, en realitat, la comunicació en línia també pot provocar fragmentació, polarització i modes d'exclusió. Per abordar aquests problemes, aquest article proposa que l'alumnat necessita desenvolupar una alfabetització digital crítica (ADC) que contribueix a una major comprensió de com són els poders i les ideologies digitals darrera del plataformes online. Amb la proposta d'una estratègia docent situada en dues vessants, l'aprenentatge basat en la investigació i l'activisme digital, aquest article pretén demostrar com la didàctica de les llengües i la comunicació intercultural pot ajudar a crear un món digital més equitatiu i inclusiu.

KEYWORDS:

• Critical digital literacy
• critical digital pedagogy
• inquiry-based learning
• digital activism
• intercultural communicative competence

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Melinda Dooly

Melinda Dooly is a Serra Húnter Full Professor, Chair in Technology-Enhanced Language & Intercultural Education in the Department of Language & Literature Education and Social Science Education at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Her principal research addresses technology-enhanced project-based language learning, intercultural communication and twenty-first century competences in teacher education. She has published widely in international journals and authored chapters and books in this area of study and is lead researcher of GREIP: Grup de Recerca en Ensenyament i Interacció Plurilingües (Research Centre for Teaching & Plurilingual Interaction).

Ron Darvin

Ron Darvin is an Assistant Professor at the Language and Literacy Education Department of The University of British Columbia. His research areas include digital literacies, identity and investment in language learning, and critical pedagogy. He has published in peer-reviewed journals such as Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, Language Teaching, and TESOL Quarterly. He is the recipient of the 2017 Emerging Scholar Award from the Language and Social Processes SIG of the American Educational Research Association (AERA).