Digital Object Identifier
10.18870/hlrc.v16i2.1885
ORCID
Thi My Hong Tieu, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4939-0460;
Thi Van Anh Le, https://orcid.org/0009-0000-7906-002X
Abstract
Objectives: This study examined digital competency levels and influencing factors among Vietnamese ethnic minority preservice teachers to test whether infrastructure transformation challenges deficit-based assumptions about ethnic minority students’ digital competency.
Methods: Using an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, we surveyed 1,405 preservice teachers across Vietnam (41.4% ethnic minorities) using a DigCompEdu-adapted instrument across five domains, followed by semi-structured interviews with 24 participants.
Results: Ethnic minority preservice teachers demonstrated competency equivalent to Kinh-majority peers (M = 3.57 vs. 3.59, p = .541, d = .02) across all five domains. Preparation pathway was statistically associated with competency, although the effect was small (p = .001; d = .15, small effect). Year level showed modest variance (η² = .038) concentrated at the first-year transition. Participants perceived ethnic groups as having equivalent access to infrastructure, which they attributed in part to near-universal smartphone ownership (99.8%).
Conclusions: Infrastructure access was associated with ethnic competency equivalence, challenging deficit-based characterizations of ethnic minority technological proficiency. Preparation pathway and year level were more strongly associated with competency variation than ethnicity or gender. Furthermore, ethnic differences were no longer evident within integrated programs but persisted within subject-area programs, indicating that program design may be a more proximate source of remaining differences.
Implications: The findings suggest a temporally dynamic extension of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological framework, in which policy-driven infrastructure investment may be associated with convergence in competencies across groups within a single generation. Teacher education programs should embed explicit, domain-specific technology requirements rather than assuming smartphone familiarity suffices for professional competency.
Recommended Citation
My Hong, T.,
&
Thi Van Anh, L.
(2026).
Infrastructure Versus Ethnicity: An Examination of Digital Competency Development Among Vietnamese Preservice Teachers.
Higher Learning Research Communications, 16 (2).
DOI:10.18870/hlrc.v16i2.1885
