The recent rapid expansion of digital technologies has influenced everyday communication and language use among adolescents in the world. With digital technologies readily available, adolescents are engaging in new ways of reading, writing, and communicating by integrating different and often quite complex aspects of digital texts in their daily lives. To address the needs of English language learners in a digital age particularly in the Philippines, where English is a second language, the Philippine Government through the Department of Education (DepEd) launched the most “comprehensive basic education reform initiative ever done in the country since the establishment of the public education system more than a century ago” (Okabe, 2013, p. 2). The new curriculum has the potential to provide education to the Filipino students at least on a par with the rest of the world. Hence, the shift to a K to 12 curricula became far more urgent for the Philippines.However, English language classrooms in the Philippines are often not adequately prepared to meet the new literacy and language needs of learners.  Some teachers use a traditional approach to teaching English language lessons (Correos, 2014; Dela Rosa, J. P. O., 2016).  There is a strong focus on grammar and language skills which views language as an abstract system through traditional ways of teaching the English language (Flores, 2010; Friginal, 2009).

In this study, I aim to explore Filipino adolescents’ everyday digital literacy practices for English language use and learning, how these practices provide opportunities for English language use and learning, and how they view the role of digital technologies for English language use and learning in digital spaces. I explore their experiences to gain a better understanding of and contribute knowledge about what they value and appreciate in these experiences. Additionally, exploring these practices helps to understand what they are interested in, what they are mainly passionate about, and what they enjoy the most in these experiences. It is important that English language teachers have a greater understanding of these experiences of Filipino adolescents with digital technologies for English language use and learning in their everyday lives.  

The study will focus on the following questions:

1. What are the everyday digital literacy practices of Filipino adolescents?
2. What languages do the Filipino adolescents use when engaging with everyday digital literacy practices?
3. What everyday digital literacy practices facilitate their English language learning?

Theoretical framework

Informed by perspectives offered by literacy studies – which analyses literacy practices within the social and cultural contexts in which they occur – this research investigates Filipino adolescents’ everyday digital literacy practices to explore their informal English language learning experiences.

Literacy has been viewed traditionally as an ability associated with reading and writing, mainly to code and decode written texts (Pahl & Rowsell, 2012; Wasik & Horn, 2012). Consistent with this view, people are considered literate if they have cognitive and linguistic skills which means that literacy practices that happen outside the classroom are quite insignificant.

Another significant issue that Literacy Studies is concerned with, is the close relationship between literacy and digital technologies. Outside school literacy practices of adolescents are now mediated by digital technologies. The Philippines has a unique context regarding the use of digital technologies. As one of the countries that considers English as a lingua franca, despite its linguistic diversity, it is important to explore Filipino adolescents’ everyday digital literacy practices in the English language. Specifically, this study examines what shapes and constrains adolescents’ everyday digital literacy practices.

This qualitative, multiple case study, involving eight junior high school students uses semi-structured one-on-one interviews, home observations, a drawing activity called Identity Text, and a collection of artefacts such as screenshots of students’ digital activities. Qualitative research design which is concerned with “how the complexities of the sociocultural world are experienced, interpreted, and understood in a particular context at a particular point in time” (Bloomberg & Volpe, 2016, p. 169). Driven by an assumption that there are multiple views about reality (Creswell & Poth, 2018), my study is based on a constructivist epistemic stance. In a constructivist worldview, it is believed that researchers desire to achieve understanding of the world where they exist and work (Creswell, 2013, 2014). According to Bloomberg and Volpe (2016), researchers who take a constructivist paradigm study and understand multiple realities constructed by the participants. This paradigm shapes the research questions and informs the way the researcher will represent the knowledge gathered. The nature of qualitative research supports the aim of my research as I seek to explore the everyday digital literacy practices of Filipino adolescents who studied in two different school contexts in the Philippines— a public high school and a private high school. In this study, data collection methods were informed by the methodology, research questions, research problem under investigation and the Literacy Studies Framework. I also considered some methods commonly used in previous case studies in digital literacy practices and my skills to utilise these methods within the two-month frame and constraints of my doctoral study. Hence, the data were collected from several sources and in three phases within a period of two months. In this study, the identity texts used by Cummins and Early (2011) were adapted, modified, and simplified. Firstly, I introduced and explained to each participant the activity. The participants were asked to make a drawing showing how they use digital technologies in their everyday lives. They were asked to illustrate the different activities they undertake related to the use of the English language, with the various types of digital technologies in their everyday lives. The activity took 15 minutes during the first interview. In making the identity text, the participants freely chose the type of drawing, shapes, and graphic organisers to use. I provided blank A3 size papers, markers, rulers and colouring materials to illustrate their everyday digital literacy practices in the English language in any way they preferred.

The data showed that the participants engaged in everyday digital literacy practices for various purposes such as social networking, information seeking, entertainment and leisure purposes, and shopping. These practices were generally associated with what they loved to do and their personal interests which were mainly informed by their desire to be socially connected with other people. To connect globally and locally, the participants mainly used the English language. However, the multilingual participants also engaged in translanguaging practices. In addition, participants believed that some of their everyday digital literacy practices have supported their English language learning. It is important that English language teachers have a greater understanding of these experiences of Filipino adolescents with digital technologies for English language use and learning in their everyday lives. It is hoped that English language teachers can use this knowledge to inform and guide their teaching practices. As Weninger (2019) posits, teachers have the agency to enact the curriculum in the classroom. The expected findings on Filipino adolescents’ everyday digital literacy practices for English language use and learning will be relevant for English language teachers, schools, and policy-makers to generate some principles in enhancing and developing their practices, pedagogy, and English language curriculum in the Philippines. From a review of the literature, this topic has not been well understood nor reported in the Philippines to date. This study can also provide insights relevant to the European context. It is important that English language teachers in the European context have a greater understanding of their students' everyday digital literacy practices for English language use and learning to address their needs in this digital age.

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