Tunisian High School Students and Digital Media Literacy: A Quantitative Study

Introduction

A plethora of definitions have been assigned to digital media literacy, and they revolve around Information and Communication Technology (ICT) literacy, ICT competence, digital literacy, and digital competence (Zhang & Zhu, 2016). To understand digital media and literacy, Ottestad et al. (2014) highlight the impact of the ever-changing nature of ICT which requires new competences and applications. But before dealing with a sound research gap in line with the main focus of this article, we have to find a common ground definition of what a digital media literate person is. Based on the Aspen Institute’s Report on the National Leadership Conference on Media Literacy, Aufderheide and Firestone (1993) consider that such person should have the ability of decoding, evaluating, analyzing, and producing both print and digital media. Being as such, a digital media literate person has to transcend technical skills and lands on understanding, creating, and critically comprehending media literacy. Calvani et al. (2010) claim that unless students are helped to develop a critical understanding of the digital media information, learning will be less efficient, and the positive impact of these technologies will be unreachable. Hobbs (2010) does not depart too much from Calvani as she merges cognitive, social, and emotional competencies with the use of technologies and the skills of critical thinking. Hobbs (2010) draws attention to the ability of how to be engaged in reflection and ethical thinking without forgetting about participating in teamwork. Livingstone (2003) refers to media literacy as the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create messages across a variety of contexts. She nearly crosses with Buckingham (2007) and ETS (2007) in her definition leaving, yet, behind the fact of communication. Many scholars (Claro et al., 2012; European Association for Viewers Interests [EAVI], 2011; Hatlevik & Christophersen, 2013; Ng, 2012) give prominence to higher-order learning processing to digital media literacy. They go beyond its basic technical skills to other dimensions as communication and evaluation. For instance, Costa et al. (2020) evaluated the effectiveness of game creation by youth for media and information literacy.

Several researchers and scholars (Alvarez et al., 2013; Hobbs, 2004; Zhang et al., 2014) focused on how to integrate digital media literacy in the school curriculum. Zhang et al. (2014), for instance, examined teachers’ attitudes toward that type of integration mainly in primary schools. They have proved that teachers give much attention to their role in digital media literacy education than students’ needs to be critically developed and well aware of such use of this technology. Arke and Primack (2009) endeavored to understand the student’s digital media literacy. They considered that fact as a prerequisite to effective education. They also proved that there are insufficient empirical studies that measure primary students’ digital media literacy. Kim et al. (2011) looked for the relationships between digital media literacy and students’ level, and other influential variables as the students’ age, community, and parental roles. The latter fact is more studied by Valcke et al. (2010) who have displayed the interconnectedness between the students’ internet use and the parents’ mediation. Consequently, this study tries to bridge the gap that previous researchers left behind by conducting an empirical study to find out about the student’s higher-order learning. The article, thus, is an attempt to reveal the degree of the students’ mastery of technical skills as well as their critical thinking. It purely targets Tunisian secondary school students with no emphasis on teachers or parents.

Objectives of the Study

The article conducts a quantitative study relying on a self-reporting approach to seek the extent to which Tunisian secondary students are able to reconcile between technical skills and critical understanding. It, thus, targets to bridge the gap that previous studies left as declared by Arke and Primack (2009). In doing so, this article tries to answer the following research questions:

Method

This study follows Zhang’s and Zhu’s (2016) model using a cluster sampling and relying on a self-report approach. However, this article sticks to the study of two dimensions of digital media literacy which are technical skills and critical understanding. As a first step, 150 paper-based questionnaires were distributed, and a total of 123 questionnaires were collected representing an 82% return rate. Then, 110 questionnaires from 15 to 19-year-old students were accepted as valid responses (see appendix B). Among the participants, 75% were from the 10th grade and 25% were from the 12th grade. Among them, 36% were male and 64% were female. The questionnaire includes 14 items divided into two sections: technical skills and critical understanding. Participants were invited to rate their agreement with each item on a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 “Strongly disagree” to 5 “Strongly agree” (Zhang & Zhu, 2016). The first section includes five items (see Appendix A) and aims at gathering information about the various students’ technical skills of digital media literacy. The second section is about the remaining nine items (see Appendix A) and looks for the extent to which the students critically understand digital media. Responses to each item are organized via Microsoft Excel Software and consequently all percentages and figures are sorted out.

Data Analysis

To test the instrument’s validity, the data were divided into two halves. The first five items were about technical skills, and the second nine items managed to find out about critical understanding. The reliability of the instrument was taken into consideration by facilitating the items to the participants while responding. Questionnaires were distributed to students while in class and reasonable time was allocated to finalize the task (see appendix B). All results were processed through Microsoft Excel to guarantee reliable analysis of all data and corresponding responses (see appendix C).

Results

After being processed via Microsoft Excel Software, results show that 12th-grade students scored higher than 10th-grade students in regard to critical understanding. Technically speaking, participants do not have major problems with digital media. Nearly 90% of them “strongly agree” or “agree” to most of the items belonging to “technical skills” as shown in Table 1.

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Table 1.

Responses to the First Five Questions on “Technical Skills.”.

Questions	Total	Strongly agree (%)	Agree (%)	Neutral (%)	Strongly disagree (%)	Disagree (%)	Total (%)
Question 1	110	86	14	0	0	0	100
Question 2	110	9	76	4	3	8	100
Question 3	110	55	40	1	1	3	100
Question 4	110	44	47	3	0	6	100
Question 5	110	24	55	7	2	12	100

Poor network variable may be taken into consideration when it comes to downloading movies online (item 2) which justifies the low “strongly agree” response by students in both grades: 10 and 12. The remaining items (1, 3, 4, and 5) display that students in both levels do not face major challenges with technical skills. Similarly, terms related to detecting viruses and knowing about the advertisements that pop up while surfing (items 9 and 12) are positively responded to though they belong to “critical understanding” group (Table 2). However, scores drastically decline (Table 2) when it comes to evaluation and judgment (items 6, 7, 8, and 14), and this weak response by “agree” or “strongly agree” becomes more severe with 10th-grade students which may be justified by age variable.

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Table 2.

Responses to the Nine Questions on “Critical Understanding.”.

Question 6	110	0%	13%	5%	24%	58%	100%
Question 7	110	0%	4%	2%	60%	34%	100%
Question 8	110	1%	6%	4%	15%	74%	100%
Question 9	110	36%	48%	2%	0%	14%	100%
Question 10	110	0%	17%	0%	42%	41%	100%
Question 11	110	15%	16%	0%	5%	64%	100%
Question 12	110	22%	49%	14%	0%	15%	100%
Question 13	110	1%	20%	5%	39%	35%	100%
Question 14	110	1%	10%	8%	28%	53%	100%

Students seem to be unable to judge the reliability of the information and news on the internet. Similarly, 21% of the participants are aware about the advertisements’ content (item 13), but they badly lack deep understanding of how to deal with that content (item 14). Participants are highly qualified in knowing about what digital media is but poorly skilled in doing with what they know (items 8, 11, and 14). The results also show that both dimensions of digital media literacy (technical skills and critical understanding) overlap when it comes to items related to the ability to read, search, detect, and protect as shown in Figures 1 to 7.

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Figure 1.

Response to question 1 (technical skills).

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Figure 2.

Response to question 2 (technical skills).

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Figure 3.

Response to question 3 (technical skills).

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Figure 4.

Response to question 4 (technical skills).

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Figure 5.

Response to question 5 (technical skills).

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Figure 6.

Response to question 9 (critical understanding).

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Figure 7.

Response to question 12 (critical understanding).

However, results sharply decline with items related to identification, evaluation, and judgment as shown in Figures 8 to 14.

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Figure 8.

Response to question 6 (critical understanding).

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Figure 9.

Response to question 7 (critical understanding).

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Figure 10.

Response to question 8 (critical understanding).

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Figure 11.

Response to question 10 (critical understanding).

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Figure 12.

Response to question 11 (critical understanding).

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Figure 13.

Response to question 13 (critical understanding).

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Figure 14.

Response to question 14 (critical understanding).

Both participants of grade 10 and grade 12 scored highest with items related to homework (items 1/5/9) and fail to achieve satisfactory amount of knowledge about class-unrelated issues (items 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, and 14). The main findings can be summarized in Table 3 and Figures 15 and 16.

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Table 3.

Areas of Interest of Tunisian High School Students.

Class-related items (1, 5, and 9)	Class-unrelated items (6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, and 14)	Entertainment-related items (2, 3, and 4)
80%	25%	90%

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Figure 15.

Response to class-related items and entertainment items.

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Figure 16.

Response to class-unrelated items.

Results also show total absence of difference in terms of gender as well as teachers’ and parents’ mediation role. As set at the premise, 12th-grade students are likely to have better critical understanding than 10th-grade students. Age variable seems important when dealing with judging and criticizing (Table 4).

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Table 4.

Relevance of Age Variable When Responding to Items.

10th graders	12th graders
Technical skills (90%)	Technical skills (80%)
Critical understanding (10%)	Critical understanding (20 %)

Technically speaking, technological and economic infrastructures are major variables in shaping students’ responses. However, these variables cannot justify students’ low achievement in terms of critical understanding. Being as such, this fact may be referred to the absence of parents’ and teachers’ role in guiding students to evaluate and judge digital media content. These factors hinder students’ progress technically and critically as shown in Table 5.

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Table 5.

Factors That Hinder Students’ Technical Skills and Critical Understanding.

Technological and Economic Factors (technical skills)	Social and Relational Factors (critical understanding)
e.g.,: Downloading movies (item 2)	e.g.,: Judging the reliability of digital data (items 6 to 8) e.g.,: Knowing how to deal with digital content (items 10 and 11)

Having dealt with the analysis of all data, we notice that Tunisian high school students somehow have easy access to digital media and could be labeled as technical users. However, they score low when they are faced by items related to judgment and evaluation. The overall results can be presented as such in Figures 17 and 18.

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Figure 17.

Response to the first five questions on “technical skills.”

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Figure 18.

Response to the last nine questions on “critical understanding.”

Discussion

It transpires from the aforementioned findings that the 10th- and 12th-grade students cannot be referred to as digital media literate people. They are unable to decode, evaluate, analyze, and produce digital media. The paper validates what Aufderheide and Firestone (1993) proposed as a definition for what a digital media person is. The paper also meets with Calvani et al.’s (2010) reference to the element of “engagement” as a paramount fact to identify anyone to be digital media literate. He calls for “reflection” and “ethical thinking” as necessary factors to achieve digital media literacy. These factors do not apply for the participants of this study as well as with what EAVI (2011) refers to as “communication and evaluation.” The students’ higher-order learning, in a Tunisian context, needs more mediation of both instructors and parents. The study proves that when eliminating this mediation, students become low-achievers and do not reach satisfactory results. This interconnectedness between the student’ internet use and the parents’ mediation as highlighted by Valcke et al. (2010) is deemed relevant after conducting this study. Simultaneously, there is an urgent need to integrate digital media literacy in the school’s curriculum that our students get rid of the surface understanding of digital media.

By conducting an empirical study, the paper, thus, fills the gap that Arke and Primack (2009) have called for. However, the study vows that there is a need to take other influential variables (technological and economic infrastructure/teachers’ and parents’ role) into consideration. These variables could not be excluded as Kim et al. (2011) claimed because the participants’ age just varies between 15 and 19 and they belong to the same community with no sharp differences. The results of this study reveal that the instrument used for measuring the digital media literacy of secondary students has adequate validity and reliability. The results also challenge what previous studies Tella and Mutula (2008) found that female students are more competent than male ones. The paper’s results are consistent with several studies (Calvani et al., 2010; Hobbs, 2004; Zhang et al., 2014), and it provides a sound background for further investigation as it is empirically conducted. It also challenges Zhang’s and Zhu’s (2016) view that four different dimensions of digital media literacy have to be tested to check students’ digital media literacy competency. The study confines itself to just two dimensions (technical skills and critical understanding) and major findings could be withdrawn. Indeed, it displays how different layers of both dimensions of digital media can overlap and intersect. Students scored high in two items (9 and 12) belonging to critical understanding.

Limitations and Implications

It should be noted that this study has a number of limitations. It is a quantitative-based study that needs to be linked to another qualitative study to reach more insightful results. The scope of participants is limited in age and community, and it does only stick to secondary students in Tunisia. The sample could have been more enlarged to encompass students from various educational levels and social classes. The fact of excluding the parents’ and the teachers’ mediation does not feed well the study’s objectives. These influential economic, technological, social, and relational variables have to be reconsidered in future studies and have to be gathered in one study. Despite the reliability and validity of the instrument, further samples could be targeted to teachers and parents to more verify the findings (Zhang & Zhu, 2016).

Regardless of these limitations, this article succeeds in highlighting and suggesting solutions to several issues in digital media literacy field. It first displays how lack of motivation to make students know about class-unrelated subjects badly affects students’ critical understanding. Second, this motivation is in dire relation with parents and teachers especially when we take age variable into consideration. This case study proves that students have to be guided during their critical age. Finally, the study gives a sample from a developing country where economic and technological platforms discourage students from acquiring high digital competencies. This poor infrastructure, though, could not be considered as an eminent factor in making students get unsatisfactory critical understanding. The study, consequently, calls for an urgent insertion of ICT in school-based initiatives along with parents’ and teachers’ digital training workshops. Achieving a fair amount of digital media literacy is confined to the interconnectedness of these factors: government, teaching staff, and parents.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the study paves the way for further empirical studies in the field of digital media literacy to be conducted. Its findings show that to deepen students’ development of digital media literacy in Tunisia, students should be given more chance to interact with each other and with other social members. This article calls for compiling all the variables (economic/technological/social/relational/age/gender) into one study to get an efficient approach that helps identify the definition of what a digital media literate student is.