Baslee, S. (2024). A Care Ethics Approach to Digital Literacies: Supporting Language Acquisition, Identity and Overall Well-Being of Adult EAL Learners with Refugee Experiences in Canada. BC TEAL Journal 9 (1), 49–59.
This thought-provoking article examines how the pairing of a Care Ethics approach in language instruction with supports and teaching strategies related to digital literacies can support language learning, the development of critical digital literacies, and the overall well-being for adults with refugee experiences as they settle in Canada.
The author considers two research questions:
- How can a care ethics approach to digital literacies for adult English language learners with refugee experiences promote language proficiency and learner identity?
- How does a care ethics approach affect the overall well-being of adult newcomers with refugee status in Canada?
Care ethics theory focuses on building trust and safe relationships between instructors and learners through recognition of the need for care, commitment to care, responding to identified needs and ongoing communication to ensure that needs have been acknowledged and met. The author contends that this approach is aligned with the existing values and practices of settlement language programs in Canada whereby instructors are already committed to providing a welcoming and supportive learning environment.
The article identifies and describes strategies of care ethics approach to digital literacies. These include Digital Storytelling in which learners can share their experiences, a focus on a Strengths-based Approach in which the instructor is guided by prior knowledge, and expressed needs of diverse, often multilingual learners in developing learning activities and scaffolding learning. Translanguaging in which the many assets diverse multilingual learners bring to the host country are recognized and multimodality in which learners use a range of modalities e.g., language, images and sound to express themselves.
The author notes that there is a need for future research in this area to better understand the needs and existing digital practices of learners with refugee experiences as they settle in the host country and to explore the effectiveness of translanguaging and multiliteracies in relation to language acquisition and digital literacies in the language classroom.
Retrievable from: https://ojs-o.library.ubc.ca/index.php/BCTJ/article/view/598