Volume 4, 2026 – Issue 2
Critical Digital Literacy and Students’ Attitudes Toward Social Media Integration in Higher Education
Abdel Moula El Guermat 
1 *, Oussama Moussaoui 2, and Abdellah El Boubekri 3
Applied Communication in Context Laboratory, English Department, Mohammed First University, Oujda, Morocco
* Corresponding author: abdelmoula.elguermat@gmail.com
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20291071
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between students’ attitudes towards integrating social media in higher education and their level of critical digital literacy (CDL). To achieve this, the study draws upon several models and theories such as Technology Acceptance Model and the Expectancy Value Theory. An online questionnaire was distributed to 65 undergraduate students. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS version 23, employing three types of analyses: descriptive analysis, exploratory comparison analysis and Spearman’s correlation. The findings revealed a positive correlation between students’ level of critical digital literacy and their attitudes towards incorporating social media in higher education (r = 0.337, p = .006).
Keywords: critical digital literacy, higher education, students’ attitudes, social media, digital competence
Published
2026/06/01
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Section
Research Papers
How to Cite (APA)
Download Citation: EndNote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS)
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About the authors
- Abdel Moula El Guermat is pursuing doctoral studies in the English Department at Mohammed First University. He completed his MA in Communication, Culture, and Translation in 2023. Now, supported by the “PhD-Associate Scholarship (PASS)” program, his research interests include Media Studies, Intercultural Communication, English Language Teaching, and Information and Communication Technology integration.
abdelmoula.elguermat.d24@ump.ac.ma
↩︎ - Oussama Moussaoui is a third-year PhD student at Mohammed First University. His academic interests include translation studies, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, and language education. He has coauthored several research papers and focuses his work on issues related to digital literacy, transversal competences, and the sociopragmatic aspects of religious translation.
moussaoui.acd@gmail.com
↩︎ - Abdellah El Boubekri is a researcher in Moroccan cultural studies. He got his Master’s degree in colonial/postcolonial discourses from the University of Mohammed I, Oujda, in January 2007. He got a Ph.D. degree in Moroccan cultural studies from the University of Mohamed Ben Abdellah, Fez, Morocco, in November 2013. He is a former Fulbright FLTA at Drury University, Missouri State from 2007-2008. He is also a former full-time trainee trainer at the Teacher Training Center (CRMEF), Oujda. Currently, he is a full-time professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Mohamed I, and a part-time instructor of English at the American Language Center, Oujda. He has taken part in Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), spring and fall 2017. Currently, he is the ETII coordinator and teacher trainer at the Oujda ALC.
elabdellah27@hotmail.com
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