Abstract :
Literature review has found that despite the considerable attention focused on ‘digital
natives’, few studies have carefully investigated the characteristics of this group. The
purpose of this study is to contribute to the debate on digital natives by providing a ‘piece
of evidence’ on the digital competence status of a group of Chinese teenagers (ninth
grade students) randomly selected from the Jiangdong District in Ningbo City, Zhejiang
Province. An Instant Digital Competence Assessment (iDCA) tool, developed by a
research group from the University of Florence, was adopted as the measurement tool
for the study. Quantitative research was employed and the research design for the study
was descriptive in nature. Data analysis results found that the majority of the participating
ninth grade students (n = 317) had personal computers (PCs) and the Internet
available at home and the average period of time owing a PC was about 5 years. The
iDCA results indicated that (1) participants’ overall performance in the iDCA was just
‘pass’ rather than ‘good’ or ‘excellent’, which might imply that digital natives in China
are not necessarily digitally competent; (2) therewere big disparities among participants
as regards their digital competence; (3) participants’ digital competence differed depending
on their schools and their ages; (4) participants’ digital competence was not significantly
influenced by such factors as having a PC or not, having the Internet or not at
home, frequency of computers and Internet use. On the basis of the findings, the study
concluded by highlighting the role of education in improving teenagers’ digital competence
and by recommending the development of well-designed teaching and learning
materials for the Chinese K-12 school system
