Digital Infrastructure, Technological Self Efficacy, and Multiliteracy Pedagogical Practice Among Rural Non-Formal Early Childhood Educators in West Java: A Convergent Mixed-Methods Study
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Non-formal early childhood education institutions in rural Indonesia operate with limited funding, irregular connectivity, and restricted access to professional development. This study examined how educators in these settings understand and enact multiliteracy pedagogy and how digital infrastructure and technological self-efficacy relate to their reported pedagogical practice. A convergent mixed-methods design was applied in three regencies of West Java province. The quantitative strand surveyed 87 educators across 15 non-formal early childhood education institutions. Three instruments were used: the Multiliteracy Pedagogical Practice Scale (? = .88), the Digital Infrastructure Index (? = .67), and a Technology Integration Self-Efficacy scale (? = .79). The qualitative strand comprised 24 semi-structured interviews and 54 classroom observation sessions in six of these institutions over six months. Hierarchical regression indicated that digital infrastructure was positively associated with multiliteracy pedagogical practice (? = .78, p < .001) and that technological self-efficacy accounted for half of that association (indirect effect = 0.39, 95% bootstrap CI [0.24, 0.53]). No interaction between infrastructure and self-efficacy was detected. Because the survey data were cross-sectional, these results are reported as associations rather than causal effects. Thematic analysis identified four situated literacy repertoires: oral narrative inheritance, community?embedded symbol-making, participatory play-text construction, and nascent digital wayfinding. Subscale reliabilities were low and intercorrelation of the five subscales was high, so the instrument did not differentiate digital from non-digital practice in this population. Findings inform Sustainable Development Goal 4 by describing context?adaptive literacy practices in rural non-formal early childhood education.
Language: English
Subfield: Information Systems
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7224814798