Building Historical Narratives about Controversial Issues on Twitter: An Analysis of Digital Literacy Levels in Secondary School Students

Abstract

This research analyses the literacy levels of a group of Spanish secondary school history students (n = 42) in digital environments (Twitter), with the aim of providing educational clues about the ways in which social discourses are constructed on controversial issues, in particular those generated by the Spanish Civil War. From a qualitative research approach, the most recurrent digital narrative data has been emptied and analyzed, based on three a priori categories of social analysis: gender, historical empathy and social conscience. The results report the predominance of cognitive/inferential literacy skills and, consequently, the need to incorporate new scenarios for teaching-learning history from the theoretical principles of critical pedagogy and education for active, critical and committed citizenship with social participation.