Navigating challenging digital literacy practices: the settlement experiences of adults from migrant and refugee backgrounds

Digital literacies are critical for adults from migrant and refugee backgrounds as they settle in a new country. However, institutions, leaders, and teachers often feel uncertain about how to teach digital literacies. Using the notions of digital literacy practices and assemblages, this article reports on a qualitative case study and explores how 30 adults from migrant and refugee backgrounds navigated challenging digital literacy practices related to settlement in Australia. This research found that to deal with challenges, the participants brought together different personal, social, material, symbolic, temporal, and spatial resources. However, sometimes the required resources were not available, which constrained the participants’ practices. Some participants were aware of the need to find new solutions but they often did not know how this might be done. In contrast, some participants were reluctant to take a risk. The article concludes with implications for EAL practice by suggesting strengths-based pedagogies for digital literacies.