Abstract
Communication technologies are playing an increasingly prominent role in facilitating immigrants' social networks across countries and the transnational positioning of immigrant youth in their online language and literacy practices. Drawing from a comparative case study of the digital literacy practices of immigrant youth of Chinese descent, this paper examines the cross-border social relationships that are fostered between the youth and their peers in their natal country through the use of instant messaging and other online media. Using Pierre Bourdieu's capital and field theory, and the concept of social capital, this paper considers how literacy development in transnational contexts constitutes the production of social and cultural capital. It argues that the youths' online literacy practices need to be understood within the particular social fields in which they are situated and how they allow the youth to navigate and take up position within social fields that cross national boundaries.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 488-506 |
| Number of pages | 19 |
| Journal | Learning, Media and Technology |
| Volume | 39 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Oct 2 2014 |
Funding
This work was supported by the National Academy of Education postdoctoral fellowship in the USA. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this work are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding agency.
Keywords
- adolescent literacy
- digital literacy
- migration
- social capital
- transnationalism
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Education
- Media Technology