Abstract:

In recent years, new information and communication tools have impacted social life. Specifically, the rapid developments in digital technology and the Internet have been providing many benefits for transferring information and communication. These changes and developments are directly related to literacy because they have created new environments and opportunities for people to use their literacy skills. However, having basic literacy skills is not enough to adapt to this new information and communication era. In addition to basic literacy skills, 21st century citizens are expected to have digital literacy skills. In this study, I reviewed 19 experimental studies. These studies addressed the impact of digital tools that were used in the middle school language arts classes and digital literacy practices. The results show that digital tools help teachers to integrate literacy practices, provide different literacy practices for students, and improve students’ writing skills. Additionally, digital tools positively impact the teaching and learning process by creating opportunities to create, share, and collaborate or students. Students also use and create multimodal hybrid texts by using digital tools, which also helps students to improve their abilities to use digital tools. However, there is no consistency between studies about the effects of digital tools on increasing students’ academic achievement. The review ends with suggestions for future studies.

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