Pixel International Conferences

Today’s university students, the so-called Net Generation, are exposed to a vast amount of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), both professionally at university and privately in their leisure time. Over the years, the convenience of the Internet and the availability of manifold kinds of technological gadgets have changed study habits of students across the globe. Especially in recent years, much research has focused on students’ and teachers’ information literacy, that means the lifelong need to be able to recognize when information is needed, to locate and to evaluate it and finally to use the electronically retrieved information correctly and effectively. This paper discusses first results of a small-scale study based on questionnaires that was conducted in summer term 2017 at the Department of Translation Studies at the University of Graz, Austria. The data were collected within the course German Language and Culture, frequented by learners with German as their first language (L1). The aim of this paper is twofold. First, it provides initial insights into first-year university students’ perceptions of their own information literacy competence. Second, it offers a better understanding of students’ perspective on the supply, the support, the requirements and the usefulness concerning the use of ICT when studying languages in the context of higher education.