Features of measuring soft skills in a saturated digital environment: Exploring the relationship between cognitive control and digital literacy at the individual level

British educational research journal. 2026. Vol. 52. No. 2. P. 1492–1511.

Ksenia V. Tarasova, Kustova T., Anna V. Popova, Machnev E.

This study investigates the association between adolescents' digital literacy (DL) and cognitive control using ecologically valid, scenario-based tasks developed within an evidence-centred design (ECD) framework alongside a modified Stroop-like verbal–spatial test. The research was conducted at scale with 2860 students in years 7–8 (aged 13–14) from 102 schools across four regions of the Russian Federation, as part of a school-based administration. DL was assessed with performance tasks emulating authentic digital activities; scores were analysed in the Rasch framework. Cognitive control was indexed by response correctness speed (RCS) – a composite of accuracy and time – from incongruent trials of the verbal–spatial test. Associations between RCS and DL (overall and subconstruct scores) were estimated using Spearman's ρ with 10,000-iteration permutation tests and Bonferroni adjustment. Overall, DL showed a significant positive correlation with cognitive control (ρ = 0.407, pBonf <0.01). Stronger correlations were observed for cognitively demanding subconstructs – computational literacy and information creation – followed by information analysis and search, whereas weaker or non-significant relationships were found for domains reflecting procedural or socio-normative knowledge (e.g., digital security, digital communication). These results indicate that executive functions selectively underpin DL performance under realistic cognitive demands, supporting the use of scenario-based, process-sensitive assessments for both measurement and instruction. The findings have implications for the design of DL assessments that minimize construct-irrelevant variance and for pedagogies that combine explicit digital strategies with the fostering of attentional regulation and inhibitory control.

Keywords: Digital Literacy, assessment, cognitive control, evidence-centred design

Publication based on the results of: Features of assessment and development of soft skills in view of different levels of attention fixation (2024)