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Using video-recorded classroom observations and interviews, it identifies three learner groups and analyzes differences through awareness, autonomy, and authenticity to propose differentiated pedagogical approaches.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & 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digital’ for adult migrants with limited or interrupted formal education  \nJulie Choi 1  \nYvette Slaughter2  \n1The University of Melbourne, Australia 2The University of Melbourne, Australia  \nAbstract  \nDigital technology has become essential for daily life, creating a complex challenge for adult migrants with limited or interrupted formal education who must simultaneously develop digital literacy, additional language, and basic literacy skills. This study examines how different groups of Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education (SLIFE) engage with digital tools, revealing a critical disconnect between digital access and genuine language acquisition. Through video-recorded classroom observations and interviews, three learner groups were identified: pre-literacy learners who rely heavily on speech-to-text features but struggle to develop independent skills; learners with some first language literacy who show more sophisticated tool use but often engage in what we term“translation without transformation”, and extended literacy learners who demonstrate strategic tool use but lack  \nCorrespondence  \nYvette Slaughter  \n[ymslau@unimelb.edu.au](ymslau@unimelb.edu.au)  \nPublication  \nReceived: 31 August 2025  \nRevision: 25 September 2025  \nAccepted: 30 September 2025  \nPublished: 29 October 2025  \nCopyright  \n©2025 TESOL in Context  \nThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution – ShareAlike 4.0 International License.  \nopportunities for authentic language production. Using van Lier ’s (1996) concepts of awareness, autonomy, and authenticity, we analyse how the affordances of digital tools vary across these groups. While digital tools provide immediate solutions to communication challenges, their current use often bypasses rather than supports genuine language learning processes. Our findings point to the need for differentiated pedagogical approaches that build on learners’ existing digital practices, integrate linguistic and digital knowledge development, and create opportunities for authentic language use through principled teacher-learner interaction.  \nKeywords: Adult SLIFE; affordances; digital literacy; language learning; pedagogy.  \nIntroduction  \nDigital technology has become an essential mediator of daily life, fundamentally reshaping how people access vital services and participate in society. For adult migrants who may be trying to learn the language of a new host country, this digital imperative creates a complex burden – they must develop digital literacy skills while simultaneously acquiring basic language and literacy competencies in the language of their host country. Some adult migrants, termed Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education (SLIFE), may also have limited experiences of schooling, low but developing literacy skills in their first language, and limited exposure to print-based literacy traditions (Slaughter & Choi, 2024; Tour et al., 2023b) . Limited print literacy skills can hinder both educators ’ and learners’capacity to use common strategies for language acquisition, for literacy development and for the development of digital literacy skills (Blackmer & Hayes-Harb, 2016; Slaughter & Choi, 2024; Tour et al., 2022a, 2023b) .  \nDeveloping proficiency in print literacy and in digital technologies is vital as those with limited language and literacy skills can face substantial challenges in securing employment and in integrating into society more broadly (Auer, 2018; Jenkinson et al., 2016) . In Australia, for example, newly arrived migrants must navigate government-operated social services such as myGov, Centrelink, Medicare, and child support through digital platforms. Failure to effectively engage with these systems can result in serious consequences, including financial penalties (Australian Tax Office, 2024; Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, 2022; Scanlon Institute, 2019; Slaughter & Choi, 2024; Tour et al., 2023b) ","cbCaidVOABJmIBqY","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaidVOABJmIBqY","pdf",675461,21,"English","# Abstract\n# Introduction\n## Digital technology and adult migrant language learning\n## Challenges for SLIFE and literacy development\n## Australian support systems and digital literacies initiatives\n## Related research and identified gaps","[{\"question\":\"What challenge do adult migrants with limited formal education face regarding digital technology?\",\"answer\":\"They must develop digital literacy while also acquiring basic language and literacy skills in the host country.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the study evaluate SLIFE learners’ engagement with digital tools?\",\"answer\":\"It uses video-recorded classroom observations and interviews to analyze how different learner groups use digital technologies for learning.\"},{\"question\":\"What main issue does the study find about digital tool use and language learning?\",\"answer\":\"Digital tool use often bypasses rather than supports genuine language learning processes, revealing a disconnect between access and language acquisition.\"}]","Affordances and Limitations of ‘the Digital’ for Adult Migrants with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education | PDF",1792042828,53]