Preparing preservice English teachers to teach digital literacies: Toward a GenAI-supported digital multimodal composing approach

Along with the increasing popularity of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) technologies and the ongoing crisis of disinformation, the importance of digital literacies (DL) and preparing preservice English teachers to teach DL is well documented. Yet little research has explored DL in preservice language teacher education. This study addressed the gap by conceptualizing DL as both functional skills and social practices and developing an innovative GenAI-supported digital multimodal composing (DMC) approach to prepare preservice English teachers to teach DL. Multiple sources of data were collected in two language teacher education programs in Hong Kong with preservice English teachers from diverse backgrounds. A combination of thematic and multimodal analysis reveals positive responses and a range of benefits, challenges and coping strategies from the participants regarding their learning to teach DL with GenAI-assisted DMC. Based on the findings, this study developed an evidence-based framework of DL pedagogies in language teaching. The framework comprises four essential components, i.e., fostering identity-based relationships, teaching meaning-making as multimodal design, unpacking GenAI biases, and supporting digital activisms. This framework contributes an important roadmap for preparing preservice English teachers to teach DL in language education in the era of GenAI.