Focusing on sociolinguistic attitudes and media literacy: A correlational study on pre-service English language teachers

Abstract

Information and communication technologies have developed rapidly; however, studies focusing on what is both pedagogical and digital are lacking. Although there are studies that focus on 21st-century digital literacies and sociolinguistic aspects individually, there are few studies that study digital literacies, such as media literacy, in relation to sociolinguistic attitudes. Accordingly, this paper examined the relationship between sociolinguistic attitudes and media literacy. The participants were 306 pre-service English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers. The data were collected via the Sociolinguistic Attitudes Test and Media Literacy Skills Scale, which were preceded by audio recordings taken from the British Library. Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis were undertaken to analyze the data. The analysis revealed that the participants had an undecided attitude towards the non-native variety of English (i.e., Pakistani English) in focus, yet they had a high level of media literacy. A lack of significant correlation between sociolinguistic attitudes and media literacy was also revealed. The findings demonstrated that digital literacies may not lend themselves to sociolinguistic phenomena directly. This implies that further research regarding potential variables, including moderating and mediating variables, may clarify the relationship between digital skills and sociolinguistic attitudes.