Multilingualism, digital practices, and writing skills,Mehrsprachigkeit, digitale Praxis und Schreibfähigkeit

As a result of progressive digitalization, the literacy practices of reading and writing increasingly take place in digital modality. The present study aimed to provide insights into (1) whether adolescents with a migration background use their multilingual skills in digital practices and (2) how these digital practices relate to their multilingual writing skills. Questionnaire data on digital literacy practices and test data on multilingual writing skills from the study “Multilingualism at the transition to work and employment (MEZ-2)” were analyzed. The findings show that the adolescents examined (n = 277) use their multilingual skills for digital literacy practice. Four profiles of multilingual digital literacy practices were distinguished in the studied population. These profiles differ with respect to the number of languages used in digital reading and writing (monolingual, bilingual, or multilingual) and the frequency of the literacy practices. No systematic correlation could be found between digital literacy practices and multilingual writing skills.