Critical Media Literacy: crucial policy choices for a twenty-first-century democracy (original) (raw)

Critical Media Literacy, Democracy, and the Reconstruction of Education

This chapter explores the theoretical underpinnings of critical media literacy and analyzes four different approaches to teaching it. Combining cultural studies with critical pedagogy, Douglas Kellner and Jeff Share argue that critical media literacy aims to expand the notion of literacy to include different forms of media culture, information and communication technologies and new media, as well as deepen the potential of literacy education to critically analyze relationships between media and audiences, information and power. A multiperspectival approach addressing issues of gender, race, class and power is used to explore the interconnections of media literacy, cultural studies and critical pedagogy. In the interest of a vibrant participatory democracy, educators need to move the discourse beyond the stage of debating whether or not critical media literacy should be taught, and instead focus energy and resources on exploring the best ways for implementing it.

Critical Media Education, Radical Democracy and the Reconstruction of Education

Educação & Sociedade, 2008

Critical Media Literacy as Transformative Pedagogy

This chapter provides a theoretical framework of critical media literacy (CML) pedagogy and examples of practical implementation in K-12 and teacher education. It begins with a brief discussion of literature indicating the need for educators to use a critical approach to media. The historical trajectory of CML and key concepts are then reviewed. Following this, the myths of “neutrality” and “normalcy” in education and media are challenged. The chapter takes a critical look at information and communication technologies and popular culture, reviewing how they often reinforce and occasionally challenge dominant ideologies. Next, this critical perspective is used to explore how CML interrogates the ways media tend to position viewers, users, and audiences to read and negotiate meanings about race, class, gender, and the multiple identity markers that privilege dominant groups. The subjective and ubiquitous nature of media is highlighted to underscore the transformative potential of CML to use media tools for promoting critical thinking and social justice in the classroom.

Critical Media Literacy as a Transformative Pedagogy

Literacy Information and Computer Education Journal, 2016

Critical media literacy is important because media's ubiquitous presence has become the digital wallpaper of life, and students need to learn how to use media responsibly for learning, communicating, and participating in democratic societies. Media literacy skills have been defined historically in uncritical ways: awareness of the dangers of (over) exposure to media; the study of media as an art form; or learning about the technical elements of media such as audience. The focus of this paper is on deeper, more complex conceptions of media literacy within its complicated social and educational contexts. The authors argue that critical media literacy can provide rich learning for students. Critical media literacy builds skills of analysis and critique in the deconstruction and interpretation phase where students learn to recognize hegemonic aspects of media. Deconstruction is only one side of the critical equation, however. During the media production phase, critical media literacy can give voice to students and empower them to take action to make changes in society. In the process, critical media literacy can lead students to deeper understandings of literacies and discourses in society than previously considered possible. This paper theorizes critical media literacy in both of these phases: its deconstructive, critical phase and its transformative and critical production phase. An analysis is provided also of some of the challenges associated with critical media literacy as a transformative pedagogy.

Critical Media Literacy is Not an Option

Abstract This article explores the theoretical underpinnings of critical media literacy and analyzes four different approaches to teaching it. Combining cultural studies with critical pedagogy, we argue that critical media literacy aims to expand the notion of literacy to include different forms of media culture, information and communication technologies and new media, as well as deepen the potential of literacy education to critically analyze relationships between media and audiences, information and power. A multiperspectival approach addressing issues of gender, race, class and power is used to explore the interconnections of media literacy, cultural studies and critical pedagogy. In the interest of a vibrant participatory democracy, educators need to move the discourse beyond the stage of debating whether or not critical media literacy should be taught, and instead focus energy and resources on exploring the best ways for implementing it.

Critical Media Literacy: A Pedagogy for New Literacies

2012

This paper was originally published in Voices from the Middle, Volume 19 Number 4, May 2012. It is reprinted here with the permission of the publisher. The CENTER XCHANGE is a repository of documents produced by and about UCLA students, alumni, and faculty on the work of transforming public schools. The CENTER XCHANGE is managed by an editorial board that meets monthly to review submission and develop new content. Access to these resources vary with copyright selection, however Center X strives to provide open and free access whenever possible.

Transforming Teaching and Learning Through Critical Media Literacy Pedagogy

LEARNing Landscapes, Vol 6, No. 2, Spring 2013 (109-124)., 2013

his article provides a framework and examples for critical media literacy pedagogy. More than simply guiding how students read and interpret the texts they encounter, critical media literacy pedagogy pushes to illuminate the underlying power struc- tures that are a part of every media text. Throughout this article, examples from working with high school youth and preservice teachers are provided. In recogniz- ing recent shifts in media production as a result of participatory culture, this article focuses on how youth-created media products are an integral part of a 21st century critical media literacy pedagogy.

The Need for Critical Media Literacy

This paper examines the glaring lack of critical media literacy -- both in formal education, as well as in informal education. The repercussions of continuing to remain media illiterate are discussed, as well as the varying ways in which critical media literacy can be approached.

Voices from the Field The Re-Politicization of Media Literacy Education

2012

Media Literacy Education and Politics Despite the efforts made by the media literacy movement in the U.S. to institute media education as a means of addressing social issues, there still exists the potential for a more politically empowering media literacy education. While media literacy scholars and practitioners’ avoidance of adopting particular political or social agendas is understandable, others have noted that while an apolitical media literacy curriculum might be easier to pitch to schools and parents, this approach is ultimately inadequate at addressing problems that plague modern society (Lewis and Jhally 1998; Kellner and Share 2005, 2007). This paper argues that by reexamining the foundational philosophies of Plato and John Dewey, tracing the development of their ideas in contemporary social theory and media scholarship, and identifying their application in media literacy scholarship, we may be able to create a media literacy education that more effectively confronts inju...

Critical Media Literacy: crucial policy choices for a twenty-first-century democracy (original) (raw)

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