Precarious Participation: Chinese International Students’ Transnational Digital Literacies
Abstract
For many transnational students in North America, digital literacies entail precarious participation—the adaptive engagement in digital literacy practices under conditions of systemic vulnerability and instability. This multiple case study examines how Chinese international students at a Canadian university perceive and navigate the precarity of their digital literacy practices across national and cultural boundaries. Findings reveal that the four participants exhibit tacit sensitivity to transnational digital precarity, employ strategic adaptation, and engage in measured resistance that cautiously transgresses digital norms. These insights contribute to broader discussions on digital literacies, transnational literacies, and digital precarity, extending and complicating existing frameworks in writing studies, literacy studies, and media studies.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Literacy
Media
and Education
Global Education and Multiculturalism
Discourse Analysis in Language Studies
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Written Communication
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Volume
- 43
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 319–353
- Publication date
- 12 February 2026
- Language
- EN