Digital Competence as Outlined in Online Prospectuses for Taught Postgraduate TESOL Degrees in Scotland: A Preliminary Study

This contribution focuses on how training in digital competence for future students of postgraduate degrees in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) is presented in online university prospectuses. Taking the offerings of eight Scottish tertiary institutions as a case study, this analysis examines the websites of eleven postgraduate TESOL programmes to obtain information about if and how digital skills are embedded in the relevant postgraduate curricula. As demonstrated by the mandatory move to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, digital competence is becoming more and more necessary in pedagogical and training-related contexts. Indeed, this has been illustrated at the international level through European initiatives such as the DigCompEdu framework. Accordingly, in analysing the relevant data, this study adds not only to the general literature on digital competence relating to foreign language teaching, but also more specifically on digital competence in the context of future teachers who are considering embarking on a professional career in TESOL.