Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The mediating effect of digital literacy in the relationship between media literacy and digital citizenship

  • Published:
Education and Information Technologies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Media literacy is a critical component for digital citizenship; however, the nature of this relationship and the role of other mediating variables such as digital literacy in this relationship are not empirically tested in various contexts. This paper examined the effect of media literacy on digital citizenship and tested the mediating role of digital literacy in this relationship. Mediation model was applied to analyze the relationships between the variables, based on data from 555 pre-service teachers in Turkey. This study revealed a direct relationship between media literacy and digital citizenship. In addition, digital literacy partially mediated the effect of pre-service teachers’ media literacy levels on their digital citizenship. Results are discussed and implications for practitioners and recommendations for future research are offered.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

References

  • Adler, R. P., & Goggin, J. (2005). What do we mean by civic engagement? Journal of Transformative Education, 3(3), 236–253

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adult and Community Learning Services (2019). Digital literacy: A guide for adult education programs

  • Anderson, S., & Balsamo, A. (2008). A pedagogy for original synners. Digital youth, innovation, and the unexpected (pp. 241–259). The MIT Press

  • Aufderheide, P. (1993). Media Literacy: a report of the national leadership conference on media literacy.

  • Berson, I. R., & Berson, M. J. (2003). Digital literacy for effective citizenship. Social Education, 67, 164–167

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen, D. T., Wu, J., & Wang, Y. M. (2011). Unpacking new media literacy. Journal on Systemics Cybernetics and Informatics, 9(2), 84–88

    Google Scholar 

  • Choi, M. (2016). A Concept Analysis of Digital Citizenship for Democratic Citizenship Education in the Internet Age. Theory & Research in Social Education, 44, 565–607

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Choi, M., Glassman, M., & Cristol, D. (2017). What it means to be a citizen in the internet age: Development of a reliable and valid digital citizenship scale. Computers & Education, 107, 100–112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2017.01.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Common Sense Media (2009). Digital Literacy and Citizenship in the 21st Century Educating, Empowering, and Protecting America’s Kids. https://www.itu.int/council/groups/wg-cop/second-meeting-june-2010/CommonSenseDigitalLiteracy-CitizenshipWhitePaper.pdf

  • Connecticut State Department of Education (2020). Digital Citizenship, Internet Safety, and Media Literacy Guidelines and Recommended Actions. https://medialiteracynow.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Approved_Digital_Citizenship_Internet_Safety_and_Media_Literacy_Guidelines_and_Recommended_Actions.pdf

  • Covello, S. (2010). A Review of Digital Literacy Assessment Instruments. Academic Press

  • De Abreu, B. S. (2010). Changing Technology = Empowering Students through Media Literacy Education. New Horizons in Education, 58(3), 26–33

    Google Scholar 

  • Egbert, J., & Neville, C. (2015). Engaging K-12 language learners in media literacy. TESOL Quarterly, 6(1), 177–187

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Erdem, C. (2018). Designing a media literacy curriculum for pre-service teachers. Anadolu University

  • Erdem, C., & Koçyiğit, M. (2019). Exploring Undergraduates’ Digital Citizenship Levels: Adaptation of the Digital Citizenship Scale to Turkish. Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Technology, 7(3), 22–38

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Erişti, B., & Erdem, C. (2017). Development of a media literacy skills scale. Contemporary Educational Technology, 8(3), 249–267

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eshet-Alkalai, Y., & Amichai-Hamburger, Y. (2004). Experiments in digital literacy. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 7(4), 421–429

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39–50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frau-Meigs, D., Brian O’, N., Soriani, A., & Tome, V. (2017). Digital citizenship education: volume 1: overview and new perspectives. Council of Europe Publishing

  • Gallagher, F. (2014). Media literacy education: A requirement for today’s digital citizens. In De B. S. Abreu, & P. Mihailidis (Eds.), Media literacy education in action: Theoretical and pedagogical perspectives. Routledge

  • Gilster, P. (1997). Digital literacy. Wiley Computer Pub

  • Guven, G. C. (2018). The lived experiences of secondary school parents in raising responsible digital citizens in a one-to-one learning environment. Liberty University

  • Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., Anderson, R. E., & Tatham, R. L. (2013). Multivariate data analysis. Pearson Education Limited.

  • Hayes, A. F. (2013). Introduction to Mediation, Moderation, and Conditional Process Analysis. Guilford Publications

  • Hermes, J. (2006). Citizenship in the Age of the Internet. European Journal of Communication, 21(3), 295–309. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267323106066634

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hobbs, R. (2010). Digital and media literacy: a plan of action. The Aspen Institute

  • Hobbs, R., & Moore, D. C. (2013). Discovering media literacy: Teaching digital mediaa and popular culture in elementary schools. Corwin Press

  • International Society for Technology in Education (2016). ISTE standards for students. https://www.iste.org/standards/for-students

  • Işıklı, S. (2015). Digital Citizenship: An Actual Contribution to Theory of Participatory Democracy. AJIT-­e: Online Academic Journal of Information Technologye: Online Academic Journal of Information Technology, 6(18), 21–38

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jenkins, H., Purushotma, R., Clinton, K., Weigel, M., & Robison, A. J. (2006). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century. The MacArthur Foundation

  • Jolls, T. (2008). Literacy for the 21st century: an overview & orientation guide to media literacy education (edition 2). www.medialit.org/medialitkit: Center for Media Literacy

    Google Scholar 

  • Kahne, J., & Bowyer, B. (2019). Can media literacy education increase digital engagement in politics? Learning Media and Technology, 44(2), 211–224. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2019.1601108

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kahne, J., Lee, N. J., & Feezel, J. T. (2012). Digital Media Literacy Education and Online Civic and Political Participation. International Journal of Communication, 6, 1–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Kline, R. B. (2011). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling. Guilford Publications

  • Koltay, T. (2011). The media and the literacies: media literacy, information literacy, digital literacy. Media, Culture & Society, 33(2), 211–221. https://doi.org/0.1177/0163443710393382

  • Lankshear, C., & Knobel, M. (2006). Digital literacies: Policy, pedagogy and research considerations for education. Digital Kompetence: Nordic Journal of Digital Literacy, 1(1), 12–25

    Google Scholar 

  • Lauricella, A. R., Herdzina, J., & Robb, M. (2020). Early childhood educators’ teaching of digital citizenship competencies. Computers & Education, 158(103989), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2020.103989

  • Livingstone, S. (2004). Media literacy and the challenge of new information and communication technologies. The Communication Review, 7(1), 3–14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacKinnon, D. P., Fairchild, A. J., & Fritz, M. S. (2007). Mediation analysis. Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 593–614

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martens, H., & Hobbs, R. (2015). How media literacy supports civic engagement in a digital age. Atlantic Journal of Communication, 23, 120–137

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin, A., & Grudziecki, J. (2006). DigEuLit: Concepts and Tools for Digital Literacy Development. Innovation in Teaching and Learning in Information and Computer Sciences, 5(4), 249–267

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mihailidis, P. (2018). Civic media literacies: re-Imagining engagement for civic intentionality. Learning Media and Technology, 43(2), 152–164. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2018.1428623

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • NETSAFE (2016). From literacy to fluency to citizenship: digital citizenship in education. www.netsafe.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/NETSAFEWHITEPAPER-%0AFrom-literacy-to-fluency-to-citizenship.pdf

  • Ng, W. (2012). Can we teach digital natives digital literacy? Computers & Education, 59(3), 1065–1078. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.COMPEDU.2012.04.016

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oxley, C. (2010). Digital citizenship: Developing an ethical and responsible online culture. School Library Association of Queensland and the International Association of School Librarianship Conference Incorporating the International Forum on Research in School Librarianship 2010. https://www.learntechlib.org/p/54525/

  • Park, Y. M., Chae, J. H., Kim, S. K., & Kwon, H. S. (2021). The Effects of Media Literacy Education and its Influence on Digital Citizenship: Focusing on CMF Education Programs in Korea*. The Journal of Information Systems, 30(3), 113–135. https://doi.org/10.5859/KAIS.2021.30.3.113

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pérez Tornero, J. M., & Varis, T. (2010). Media literacy and new humanism. UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education

  • Potter, J. (2017). Framing the terms and conditions of digital life: new ways to view ‘known’ practices and digital/media literacy. Learning Media and Technology, 42(4), 387–389. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2017.1397019

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Potter, W. J. (2010). The state of media literacy. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 55(4), 675–696

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2004). SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models. Behavior Research Methods Instruments & Computers, 36(4), 717–731

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ribble, M. (2012). Digital citizenship for educational change. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 48(4), 148–151

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ribble, M. (2022). Nine Elements: Nine themes of digital citizenship. https://www.digitalcitizenship.net/nine-elements.html

  • Ribble, M., & Bailey, G. (2011). Digital citizenship in schools. International Society for Technology in Education

  • Richardson, J. W., Martin, F., & Nick, S. (2021). Systematic review of 15 years of research on digital citizenship: 2004–2019. Learning Media and Technology, 46(4), 498–514. . : 10.1080/17439884.2021.1941098

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sarwatay, D., Raman, U., & Ramasubramanian, S. (2021). Media Literacy, Social Connectedness, and Digital Citizenship in India: Mapping Stakeholders on How Parents and Young People Navigate a Social World. Frontiers in Human Dynamics, 3(601239), https://doi.org/10.3389/fhumd.2021.601239

  • Schmidt, H. C. (2013). Media literacy education from kindergarten to college: A comparison of how media literacy is addressed across the educational system. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 5(1), 295–309

    Google Scholar 

  • Shelley, M., Thrane, L., Shulman, S., Lang, E., Beisser, S., Larson, T., & Mutti, J. (2004). Digital citizenship: Parameters of the digital divide. Social Science Computer Review, 22(2), 256–269

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simsek, E., & Simsek, A. (2013). New literacies for digital citizenship. Contemporary Educational Technology, 4(2), 126–137

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2013). Using Multivariate Statistics. Pearson

  • Thoman, E., & Jolls, T. (2004). Media literacy: A national priority for a changing world. American Behavioral Scientist, 48(1), 18–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thoman, E., & Jolls, T. (2005). Literacy for the 21st century: An overview & orientation guide to media literacy education. www.medialitkit.org/medialitkit: Center for Media Literacy Education

    Google Scholar 

  • Torres, M., & Mercado, M. (2006). The need for critical media literacy in teacher education core curricula. Educational Sciences, 39, 260–281

    Google Scholar 

  • UNESCO (2009). Empowering Citizenship: Media, Dialogue and Education. http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/events/prizes-and-celebrations/celebrations/international-days/world-press-freedom-day/previous-celebrations/worldpressfreedomday200900/themes/empowering-citizenship-media-dialogue-and-education/

  • Üstündağ, M. T., Güneş, E., & Bahçivan, E. (2017). Journal of Education and Future year: 2017, issue: 12, 19–29 Turkish Adaptation of Digital Literacy Scale and Investigating Pre-service Science Teachers’ Digital Literacy. Journal of Education and Future, 12, 19–29

    Google Scholar 

  • Westheimer, J., & Kahne, J. (2004). What kind of citizen? The politics of educating for democracy. American Educational Researcher Journal, 41(2), 237–269

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zait, A., & Bertea, P. E. (2011). Methods for testing discriminant validity. Management and Marketing Journal, 9(2), 217–224

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Afyon Kocatepe University, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey

    Cahit Erdem

  2. Bilecik Şeyh Edebali University, Bilecik, Turkey

    Eylem Oruç

  3. Sakarya University, Sakarya, Turkey

    Cihat Atar & Hakkı Bağcı

Authors
  1. Cahit Erdem
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Eylem Oruç
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Cihat Atar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Hakkı Bağcı
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cahit Erdem.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

None.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Erdem, C., Oruç, E., Atar, C. et al. The mediating effect of digital literacy in the relationship between media literacy and digital citizenship. Educ Inf Technol 28, 4875–4891 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-022-11354-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-022-11354-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation