Are 'digital natives' really digitally competent? - A study on Chinese teenagers

Literature review has found that despite the considerable attention focused on ‘digital natives’, few studies have carefully investigated the characteristics of this group. The purpose of this study is to contribute to the debate on digital natives by providing a ‘piece of evidence’ on the digital competence status of a group of Chinese teenagers (ninth grade students) randomly selected from the Jiangdong District in Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province. An Instant Digital Competence Assessment (iDCA) tool, developed by a research group from the University of Florence, was adopted as the measurement tool for the study. Quantitative research was employed and the research design for the study was descriptive in nature. Data analysis results found that the majority of the participating ninth grade students (n = 317) had personal computers (PCs) and the Internet available at home and the average period of time owing a PC was about 5 years. The iDCA results indicated that (1) participants’ overall performance in the iDCA was just ‘pass’ rather than ‘good’ or ‘excellent’, which might imply that digital natives in China are not necessarily digitally competent; (2) there were big disparities among participants as regards their digital competence; (3) participants’ digital competence differed depending on their schools and their ages; (4) participants’ digital competence was not significantly influenced by such factors as having a PC or not, having the Internet or not at home, frequency of computers and Internet use. On the basis of the findings, the study concluded by highlighting the role of education in improving teenagers’ digital competence and by recommending the development of well-designed teaching and learning materials for the Chinese K-12 school system. Introduction Since the 1980s, information and communication technologies (ICTs), such as computers and the Internet, have been changing the world rapidly and fundamentally. Labelled as a digital era or an informational age, the 21st century brings new challenges for contemporary societies. Almost every nation is trying its best to optimise the use of ICTs to increase efficiency in various working organisations as well as to improve the communication ability of citizens and their standard of living. China is one of these nations. Taking into account the use of computers and the Internet for example, the 23rd ‘Statistical Survey on the Internet Development in China’ issued by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) indicated that, as of December 31, 2008, China had 298 million Internet users, accounting for 22.6% of the Chinese population. This percentage is a little higher than the global average level (21.9%) but is still far lower than levels in some developed countries (eg, Japan, 73.8%; the US, 72.5%). The majority of Chinese Internet users belong to the new generations: 35.2% are teenagers aged 10–19; 31.5% are young people British Journal of Educational Technology Vol 41 No 6 201