Exploring language learners’ new media literacy: Instrument development and validation

Purpose: Today, foreign language majors need to be able to actively and critically participate in the new media environment. This includes retrieving, comprehending, and evaluating information from new media sources. However, many lack the requisite skills. To support learners to become new media literate, the first step is to develop a reliable scale to evaluate their new media literacy (NML).
Design/methodology/approach: In this research, we have developed an NML scale for foreign language majors, which we validate via reliability and validity tests.
Findings and originality: The results show that the scale is reliable and valid. We also measured the NML level of a sample of foreign language majors. The students exhibited higher scores in prosuming and consuming skills, demonstrating their strengths in manipulating new media. However, their understanding, analysis, evaluation and creation scores were lower.
Value: This study furnishes future inquiries with a reliable and valid NML scale for foreign language majors. It also highlights the need for more support and guidance to help students consume and create new media content.

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