Digital Ethnopedagogy for Cultural Revitalization: A Quasi-Experimental Investigation of Multimedia-Based Electronic Teaching Materials on Malay Local Wisdom Literacy and Cultural Identity Formation

Abstract

Background Regional cultural knowledge is increasingly challenged by digitalization, creating a need for pedagogies that use technology without weakening cultural transmission. This study developed and tested a multimedia-based Electronic Teaching Material for Malay Culture (ETM-Malay Culture) for junior secondary students in Riau Province, Indonesia. Methods A two-phase Research and Development design combined ADDIE-based product development with a nonequivalent pretest-posttest quasi-experiment. The study involved 293 Grade 7–8 students from six schools representing urban, suburban, and rural contexts. Local Wisdom Literacy (LWL) was measured with a validated 36-item test, and Cultural Identity Formation (CIF) with an 11-indicator observation rubric. Product validity was assessed using Gregory agreement and Aiken’s V. Results Both validation approaches yielded a mean coefficient of 0.91. Two-way ANOVA showed a large instructional-group effect on LWL post-test scores [F(1, 287) = 287.43, p < .001, partial η 2 = .50; d = 1.19–1.27] and no Group × District interaction. The experimental group reached ‘Very Good’ on all 11 CIF indicators, whereas the control group reached none at that level. Conclusions ETM-Malay Culture improved cultural literacy and supported observable cultural-identity behaviors across the three sampled contexts. The study’s novelty is the integrated evaluation of cognitive LWL and affective-behavioral CIF within one validated digital ethnopedagogy intervention, offering a practical framework for culturally grounded digital curriculum development.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. F1000Research, 2026 · DOI ↗