Development of the new media literacy scale for EFL learners in China: a validation study

The emergence of new media technologies has empowered individuals to not merely consume but also create, share and critique media contents. Such activities are dependent on new media literacy (NML) necessary for living and working in the participatory culture of the twenty-first century. Although a burgeoning body of research has focused on the conceptualization of NML, limited studies have explored English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ new media literacy. Considering the importance of NML for EFL learning and teaching, this quantitative study aims to develop and validate a research instrument for assessing EFL learners’ new media literacy (ENML) in China. Confirmatory factor analysis was employed to further examine the relationships among the different indicators of ENML. The sample consisted of 974 EFL learners (669 males, 305 females) from a comprehensive university in China. A comparison of the five proposed models indicated that all of them were acceptable, including a first-order model and four second-order models. The first-order model includes 10 indicators: consuming skill, understanding, analysis, synthesis, evaluation, prosuming skill, distribution, production, participation, and feedback. The other four second-order models describe the relationships among the 10 indicators of ENML. These results along with their implications for further research are also elaborated.