Are educators digitally competent? Investigating digital literacy among English as a foreign language teachers in Vietnamese universities

Abstract The study aims to explore the digital literacy (DL) of EFL teachers at Vietnamese universities using both a questionnaire and in-depth interviews. Teachers’ DL is a critical issue in the digitalization of education systems worldwide, including in Vietnam, as technology integration in education is only effective when teachers are digitally competent. In this regard, DL is one of the key factors influencing technology adoption and driving innovation within educational institutions. The questionnaire was used to evaluate teachers’ DL and was proven to be reliable and valid for use in the current study, demonstrating construct validity through confirmatory factor analysis. The findings indicate that the majority of EFL teachers exhibited good levels of DL. Although teachers’ competence in assessment was the highest, their competence in digital self-learning and updating was the lowest. Qualitative data from the in-depth interviews partially support the quantitative findings by reinforcing the questionnaire results and enabling a more comprehensive understanding of teachers’ DL within their teaching context. Regarding gender differences in DL levels, male teachers demonstrated higher digital literacy than female teachers, although the difference was not statistically significant.