Exploring teachers’ stances regarding the development of digital literacy in the 6th grade textbook of the Greek Primary school
Stergios Roumeliotis & Alexandra Anastasiadou
The present paper investigates the promotion of digital literacy in the textbook “English 6th Grade” which is used in primary schools in Greece and explores whether this book should be revised to a certain extent. Eventually, suggestions are provided, based on the accrued data, on possible changes in the specific book. In particular, this study employed a mixed-method approach, as 89 teachers who work in the 6th grade of Greek state schools completed an online questionnaire and, later, 10 of them were interviewed. The participants’ responses yielded that the textbook lacks key features that could contribute to the development of students’ digital literacy skills and the teachers are not offered appropriate guidance on the practical integration of digital literacy in their teaching practice. Moreover, the digital platforms which have been developed to supplement the textbook are not widely used by teachers and no reference to them is made in the Teacher’s book. The findings indicate that the present textbook, as it is, fails to adequately promote digital literacy; thus, specific supplementation needs to be made.
Key words: digital literacy, young learners, textbook, ICT, teacher’s views