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Investigating Teenage Students’ Information Literacy in China: A Social Cognitive Theory Perspective

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Abstract

Based on social cognitive theory, this study aimed to examine the personal, behavioral, and environmental determinants of students’ information literacy in China. Participants in the study included 2127 students, 1432 parents, and 948 teachers. The research findings were as follows: (1) positive determinants were environmental influences from parents’ information and communication technology (ICT) usage and ICT interest, as well as teachers’ ICT self-efficacy and collaborative ICT usage; (2) students’ personal influences suggested that possessing higher levels of ICT self-efficacy or ICT interest was related to higher levels of information literacy; (3) students’ behavioral influences showed that in-school and out-of-school ICT usage did not significantly influence students’ overall information literacy level. Based on the findings, suggestions for improving students’ information literacy are presented.

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Acknowledgements

The work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFB1004504).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Engineering Research Center for E-Learning of Central China Normal University, NO.152 Luoyu Road, Wuhan, Hubei, People’s Republic of China

    Sha Zhu, Liqin Yu & Di Wu

  2. Department of Curriculum and Instruction, State University of New York, Oswego, USA

    Harrison Hao Yang

  3. The Dean of School of Educational Information Technology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China

    Harrison Hao Yang

  4. D’Youville University, Buffalo, NY, USA

    Jason MacLeod

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  1. Sha Zhu
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Correspondence to Di Wu.

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Zhu, S., Yang, H.H., MacLeod, J. et al. Investigating Teenage Students’ Information Literacy in China: A Social Cognitive Theory Perspective. Asia-Pacific Edu Res 28, 251–263 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-019-00433-9

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