Digital literacy: a qualitative systematic review

This paper is a qualitative systematic literature review that seeks to identify definitions and usages of the concept of digital literacy in recent research within elementary and primary education. Whereas it is widely acknowledged that digital literacy is an ambiguous term, this paper investigates how and why this is the case. In the paper, we identify nine categories of definitions and usages of the term and argue that this diversity can be explained as two tendencies: 1) the lack of definitions and explanations of how the term is used, and 2) the fact that digital literacy is studied within a wide range of different theoretical perspectives that each shape the conceptualization of the term. We conclude by conceptualizing a model of standpoints in the definitions of digital literacy which may function as a tool for future research of digital literacy.