URN_NBN_SI_doc-1D4XMATL

Lyn Robinson, David Bawden 178 Knjižnica, 2018, 62 (1–2), 169–185 Hughes, Bruce and Edwards (2007, p. 66) identified issues arising in trying to raise the information literacy levels of linguistically and culturally diverse stu- dent groups: “difficulties in understanding often arise due to limited vocabulary, academic and technical linguistic styles, unfamiliar literary, religious, historical or political allusions … [which] often compound with significant differences in teaching and learning styles experienced by an international student”. There is also evidence that different national cultures show different extent and pattern of engagement with digital materials, with obvious implications for IL train- ing (see, for example, Helsper, 2011). There are also indications, from a study of Wikipedia variants in different languages, that there are distinct differences between different linguistic groups as to what is thought optimal in the num- ber of words, images, and references used in Wikipedia articles (Jemielniak & Wilamowski, 2017). Many students, and professionals, whose first language is not English, find it necessary to use English language databases (see, for example, Hicks, 2014; Ferrer-Vincent, 2015); this may pose a problem for examples in non-English in- structional materials. Beyond simple understanding of vocabulary, there may be problems in the expression of IL concepts, typically formulated in English, in other languages. Simon (2013) notes the difficulties faced by Israeli students in converting Hebrew concepts into the kind of formalised keyword approach neces- sary for database searching, while Boolean searching itself may be problematic for non-English speakers (Zhao & Mawhinney, 2015). There are relatively few examples of multi-lingual IL provision. The INFLOW IL model, developed within the EC 7 th Framework Programme between 2010-14, and mainly intended for younger students though with some applicability to univer- sity students, was developed in English and translated into French and Spanish (McNicol & Shields, 2014). Digital IL instructional games with a multilingual in- terface (English, Bulgarian, Italian and Swedish) are being produced by the four partners (Gävle, Milan, Parma, Sofia) in the Erasmus+ project ‘Transforming in- formation literacy instruction in the university environment through the serious games approach (tiLIT)’, commencing in 2016 (Encheva, 2016). The IKomp IL MOOC from the Artic University of Norway is available in Norwegian and English, as is the ‘Search and write’ tutorial from the Universities of Oslo and Bergen, while the ‘Improve your research skills’ MOOC from the Vrije Universieit Brusse is available in English and Dutch, and UNESCO is planning to implement IL MOOCs in Arabic, Greek, Spanish, and Hindi, as well as in English. Although there have been many descriptions of IL education in various countries and regions there have been few accounts of what differences local culture may