A Review of the “Digital Turn” in the New Literacy Studies

Source: Review of Educational Research, 80(2): 246-271. (June 2010).

Digital communication has transformed literacy practices and assumed great importance in the functioning of workplace, recreational, and community contexts.

This paper reviews a decade of empirical work of the New Literacy Studies, identifying the shift toward research of digital literacy applications.

The article engages with the central theoretical, methodological, and pragmatic challenges in the tradition of New Literacy Studies, while highlighting the distinctive trends in the digital strand.
The paper identifies common patterns across new literacy practices through cross-comparisons of ethnographic research in digital media environments.
The paper examines ways in which this research is taking into account power and pedagogy in normative contexts of literacy learning using the new media.

Recommendations are given to strengthen the links between New Literacy Studies research and literacy curriculum, assessment, and accountability in the 21st century.