Which media literacy do we mean

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Which media literacy do we mean?

• Prof. Dr. Alexander Fedorov

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Key Questions

• In Russia as well as in foreign countries we can
  witness sort of the confusion of the terms of
  media education and media literacy. There are
  quite a few differences in theoretical approaches
  to media education, to distinguishing of the most
  important aims, objectives, means of introduction
  into the teaching process, etc. These are the
  reasons why we addressed to the leading Russian
  and foreign media educators asking them to answer
  the special survey aimed at the clearing up of
  the following questions

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Key Questions

• which of the well known definitions of media
  education and media literacy are supported the
  most among the experts
• what media education aims and theories seem as
  the most important
• how these theories and purposes correspond to the
  modern socio-cultural context of different
  countries
• what way of the integration of the media
  education into schools and universities,
  supplementary educational and recreational
  institutions is seen as the most preferable
• in what countries at the present time the level
  of the development of media education is the
  highest?

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Experts supported the definition developed by the
UNESCO

• We are very grateful to all the Russian and
  foreign experts in the field of media
  education/literacy, who sent their answers. In
  the result weve collected data from 26 media
  educators from 10 countries.
• So, the first point of our questionnaire
  offered to the experts three variants of the
  definitions of media education (published during
  the past years by the authoritative editions),
  that they were supposed agree or disagree with.
  As a result it turned out that the majority of
  experts (96) supported the definition developed
  by the UNESCO conference seemed to the experts as
  the most convincing and complete.

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Media Education (96 of experts supported this
definition)

• deals with all communication media and includes
  the printed word and graphics, the sound, the
  still as well as the moving image, delivered on
  any kind of technology
• enables people to gain understanding of the
  communication media used in their society and the
  way they operate and to acquire skills using
  these media to communicate with others
• ensure that people learn how to
• analyse, critically reflect upon and create
  media texts
• identify the sources of media texts, their
  political, social, commercial and/or cultural
  interests, and their contexts
• interpret the messages and values offered by
  the media
• select appropriate media for communicating
  their own messages or stories and for reaching
  their intended audience
• gain or demand access to media for both
  reception and production.
• Media education is part of basic entitlement of
  every citizen, in every country in the world, to
  freedom of expression and the right to
  information and is instrumental in building and
  sustaining democracy
• Recommendations Addressed to the United Nations
  Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization
  UNESCO. In Education for the Media and the
  Digital Age. Vienna UNESCO, 1999, p.273-274.

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Media literacy Definition supported by 65 of
Experts.

• The media-literate person is capable recipient
  and creator of content, understanding
  sociopolitical context, and using codes and
  representational systems effectively to live
  responsibly in society and the world at large
  International Encyclopedia of the Social
  Behavioral Sciences. Vol. 14 / Eds.N.J.Smelser
  P.B.Baltes. Oxford, 2001, p.9494.

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Some experts proposed other definitions

• -Media literacy is the result of the process of
  media education, media literacy is the intended
  outcome of media education (S.Penzin, V.Gura,
  A.Korochenskyi, V.Monastyrsky, T.Shak,
  Ch.Worsnop, J.Pungente, L.Rother, D.Suess)

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• However, we also pay attention to the opinion of
  D.Lemish who says that originally there was a
  difference, with media education being more a
  wider concept and media literacy perceived as
  being more a specific translation of critical
  analysis of media. Media studies was more an
  academic term for theoretical studies. I think
  today it is almost impossible and unnecessary to
  separate between them.

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The experts attitude to the main purposes of
media education/media literacy

• to develop persons critical thinking/autonomy-
  84)
• to develop an appreciation, perception and
  understanding analysis of media texts - 69
• to prepare people for the life in the democratic
  society - 62
• to develop an awareness of social, cultural,
  political and economic implications of media
  texts (as constructions of media agencies) - 61
• to decode media texts/messages - 60
• to develop persons communicative abilities - 57
• to develop an appreciation and aesthetic
  perception, understanding of media texts,
  estimation of aesthetical quality of media texts
  - 55
• to teach a person to express him/herself with the
  help of media - 54
• to teach a person to identify, interpret, and
  experience a variety of techniques used to create
  media products/texts - 50
• to learn about the theory of media and media
  culture - 48
• to learn about the history of media and media
  culture - 38

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The main theories of media education/media
literacy

• Critical Thinking/Critical Autonomy/Critical
  Democratic Approach
  - 85
• Cultural Studies Approach
  - 69
• Sociocultural Approach
  - 65
• Semiotic Approach
  - 58
• Practical/Hands-On Production Approach -
  50
• Aesthetical/Media as Popular Arts Approach -
  46
• Ideological Approach
  - 38
• Uses an Gratifications Approach
  - 31
• Inoculatory/Protectionist/Hypodermic Needle/Civil
  Defense Approach
  - 15

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Three media education/literacy components

• I understand media literacy as the result of
  media education.
• In general, predominant among media educational
  concepts are the cognitive, educational, and
  creative approaches to the use of mass media
  potential.
• However, at the implementation level most media
  educational approaches integrate the three
  components. These are

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Three media education/literacy components

• acquiring knowledge about media history,
  structure, language, and theory the cognitive
  component
• development of the ability to perceive media
  texts, to read their language activation of
  imagination and visual memory development of
  particular kinds of thinking (including critical,
  logical, creative, visual, and intuitive)
  informed interpretation of ideas (ethical or
  philosophical problems and democratic
  principles), and images the educational
  component
• creative component acquiring practical creative
  skills of working with media materials

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The learning activities used in media
education/literacy are also different

• descriptive (re-create the media text,
  reconstruct the personages and events)
• personal (describe the attitudes, recollections,
  and emotions caused by the media text)
• analytical (analyze the media text structure,
  language characteristics, and viewpoints)
• classificatory (define the place of the text
  within the historical context) explanatory
  (commenting about the media text or its parts)
• or evaluative (judging about the merits of the
  text basing upon personal, ethical or formal
  criteria).
• As a result, the learners not only are exposed to
  the pleasurable effects of media culture, but
  they also acquire experience in media text
  interpretation (analyzing the authors
  objectives, discussingeither orally or in
  writingthe particulars of plot and characters,
  ethical positions of personages or the author,
  etc.) and learn to connect it with personal
  experience of their own or others (e.g. putting
  themselves in the place of this or that
  personage, evaluating facts and opinions, finding
  out causes and effects, motives and consequences
  of particular actions, or the reality of events).

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Table 1. Media Literacy/Competence Levels
Classification

• Motivation Motives to contact media flow genre-
  or subject-based, emotional, hedonistic,
  psychological, ethical, intellectual, esthetic,
  therapeutic, etc.
• Contact (Communication) Frequency of
  contact/communication with media flow
• Content Knowledge of media terminology,
  theory, and history
• Perception Ability to perceive media flow
  (including media texts)
• Interpretation Ability to analyze critically the
  functioning of media flows and media in society
  and media texts of various genres and types,
  based on perception and critical thinking
  development levels
• Activity Ability to select media and to
  create/distribute ones own information
  self-training information skills
• Creativity Creative approach to different
  aspects of media activity (perceptive, play,
  artistic, research, etc.)

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Table 2. Motivation Indicator Development Levels

• High A wide range of genre- or subject-based,
  emotional, hedonistic, psychological, creative,
  ethical, intellectual, and esthetic motives to
  contact media flows
• Medium A range of genre- or subject-based,
  emotional, epistemological, hedonistic,
  psychological, ethical, and esthetic motives to
  contact media flows
• Low A narrow range of genre- or subject-based,
  emotional, hedonistic, ethical, and psychological
  motives to contact media flows, including-
  entertainment information and media texts only-
  thrill- recreation and entertainment-
  compensation- psychological therapy
  Esthetic, intellectual, and creative motives to
  contact media are absent.

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Table 3. Contact Indicator Development Levels

• High Everyday contacts with various types of
  media and media texts
• Medium Contacts with various types of media and
  media texts a few times a week
• Low Contacts with various types of media and
  media texts a few times a month only

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Table 4. Content Indicator Development Levels

• High Knowledge of most of the basic terms,
  theories, and history of mass communication and
  media art culture, clear understanding of mass
  communication processes and media effects in the
  social and cultural context
• Medium Knowledge of some basic terms, theories
  and facts of history of mass communication
  processes, media art culture and media effects
• Low Lack of knowledge (or minimum knowledge) of
  basic terms, theories and facts of history of
  mass communication processes, media art culture
  and media effects.

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Table 5. Perception Indicator Development Levels

• High comprehensive identification (with the
  author of a media text). Identification with the
  author of media text with basic components of
  primary and secondary identification preserved
• Medium secondary identification (with a
  character (actor) of a media text).
  Identification with a character of an information
  message or a media text, i.e., the ability to
  empathize with a character of a media text, to
  understand his/her mentality, motives, and
  perception of certain elements of media text
  (details, etc.)
• Low primary identification (naïve perception
  of a media text). Emotional and psychological
  connection with the environment and story line
  (sequence of events) of a media text, i.e., the
  ability to perceive the sequence of events of a
  media text and naïve identification of reality
  with the content of any text.

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Table 6. Interpretation/Appraisal Indicator
Development Levels

• High Ability to analyze critically the
  functioning of media flows and media in society
  given various factors, based on highly developed
  critical thinking analysis of media texts based
  on the perceptive ability close to comprehensive
  identification
• Medium Ability to analyze critically the
  functioning of media stream and media in society
  given some most explicit factors, based on
  medium-level critical thinking ability to
  characterize characters behavior and state of
  mind, based on fragmentary knowledge ability to
  explain the logical sequence of events in a text
  and describe its components absence of
  interpretation of the authors views (or their
  primitive interpretation)
• Low Inability to analyze critically the
  functioning of media flows and media in society
  and to think critically unstable and confused
  judgments low-level insight susceptibility to
  external influences primitiveness of
  interpretation of authors or characters views

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Table 7. Activity Indicator Development Levels

• High Practical ability to choose independently
  and create/distribute media texts (including
  those created personally or collectively) of
  different types and genres active media
  self-training ability
• Medium Practical ability to choose and
  create/distribute media texts (including those
  created personally or collectively) of different
  types and genres with the aid of specialists
  (consultants)
• Low Inability (or very weakly expressed ability)
  to choose and create/distribute media texts
  inability or reluctance to engage in media
  self-training.

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Table 8. Creativity Indicator Development Levels

• High Expressed creativity in different types of
  activity (perceptive, play, esthetic, research,
  etc.) connected with media (including computers
  and Internet)
• Medium Creativity is not strongly expressed and
  manifests itself only in some types of activity
  connected with media
• Low Creative media abilities are weak,
  fragmentary or absent at all.

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media literacy/competence of personality

• is the sum total of the individuals motives,
  knowledge, skills, and abilities (indicators
  motivation, contact, content, perception,
  interpretation/appraisal, activity, and
  creativity) to select, use, create, critically
  analyze, appraise, and transfer media texts in
  various forms and genres and to analyze the
  complex processes of media flows and media
  functioning

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As for media illiteracy,

• I see its main danger in the possibility of a
  person becoming an easy object for all sorts of
  manipulation on the part of the media
• or becoming a media addict, consuming all media
  products without discrimination.

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Media Education Model (Fedorov, 2001 2005)

• Verification module (assessment of the level of
  students' media development and level of media
  perception)
• Module of practical creation perception
  (mastering creative abilities on the media
  material and the enhancement of the media
  perception of the structure of media texts
  (including Internet sites)
• Module of analysis (the development of abilities
  of critical analysis in the sphere of media)
• Module of media history (acquaintance with main
  events in the media culture history, with the
  contemporary social cultural situation).

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Selected Russian websites on Media Literacy

• Russian Association for Media Education
• http//www.edu.of.ru/mediaeducation
• IPOS UNESCO IFAP (Russia)
• http//www.ifap.ru
• Media Education on the UNESCO Bureau in Moscow
  website http//www.unesco.ru/rus/pages/bythemes/
  stasya29062005124316.php

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Thank you for your attention!

• www.edu.of.ru/mediaeducation
• Russian Association for Media Education
• Prof. Dr. Alexander Fedorov