Digital literacy practices and teacher identity construction: Effective digital practice in English-language teaching among pre-service teachers in Hong Kong SAR, China

This qualitative study examines the digital literacy competence among a group of pre-service teachers in an English-language education programme and investigates how their digital literacy competence and its deployment into teaching influence their professional identity construction. This study draws on semi-structured interviews and the theoretical concepts of digital literacies and teacher identity. It is found that the pre-service EFL teachers have been actively engaged with different digital tools and online social networking in their teaching practice, which have shaped the teacher identity. Furthermore, the participants experienced professional development when they employed the digital literacy competence such as searching, identifying, analysing, and evaluating digital content to gather teaching materials and incorporate them into learning activities in English-language lessons. They found that they need to work back and forth in dealing with digital content with all-around consideration of students’ learning, emotional, and social needs. The enhanced digital literacy competence, along with the stronger identification as a digital literacy learner, motivates the pre-service EFL teachers to try out different technological and digital tools to enhance language teaching/learning effect and students’ engagement and establish rapport. The educational challenges and educational needs of the participants have been explored and the implications discussed. Copyright © 2025 selection and editorial matter, Timo Ehmke and John Chi-Kin Lee; individual chapters, the contributors.