Researching Media Literacy

Author(s):

Sigrid JonesOystein GiljeAndrew BurnUrsula MutschDavid Buckingham Christian Swertz

Conference:

ECER 2009

Network:

6. Open Learning: Media, Environments and Cultures

Format:

Symposium

Session Information

06 SES 09, Researching Media Literacy

Symposium

Time:

2009-09-30

10:30-12:00

Room:

NIG, HS 3C

Chair:

David Buckingham

Discussant:

Barbara Comber

Contribution

This panel brings together researchers from three European countries conducting research in the field of media literacy education. While media education has a long history in some national education systems, it is still relatively marginal to the curriculum. However, there are some significant signs that this situation is changing, as policy-makers become more convinced of the need for constructive educational responses to children’s engagement in media and consumer culture. The key question to be addressed across the papers is to do with the issue of learning progression – that is, how do young people learn about media, and how does their understanding and competence develop over time? This issue in turn invokes questions about the contexts of learning, and specifically the relationships between the formal context of the school and the informal contexts of home and peer group. What is the nature of young people’s ‘informal’ knowledge about media, and how does this relate to the ‘formal’ knowledge they acquire in the context of schooling? The papers approach this issue from different but complementary perspectives, via case studies of young people’s learning (Scandinavia ), via interviews with teachers (UK) and via studies of children’s media use in the home (Austria). The research draws on broadly post-Vygotkyan learning theories and on perspectives from Cultural Studies and social semiotics, reflecting the fundamentally hybrid nature of research in this field. Learning about media is understood here in terms of a social theory of learning (e.g. Vygotsky’s distinction between spontaneous and scientific concepts) and in terms of social settings and social practices (e.g. the notion of ‘literacy practices’ in New Literacies research).

Method

UK: quantitative survey and in-depth interviews with teachers, plus document analysis. Scandinavia : quantitative survey of young film-makers, plus in-depth interview-based case studies (using electronic data-gathering methods). Austria: mixed method approach, (qualitative and quantitative) survey of media cultures in primary school students’ homes and schools, and among their teachers.

Expected Outcomes

The panel seeks to foster the development of an informal network of researchers in the field, and to share data emerging from research still in progress. Connections among the researchers are already established, but opportunities for dialogue afforded by the ECER conference will allow us to develop these further, and potentially look ahead to joint publications.

References

Buckingham, David (2003) Media Education: Literacy, Learning and Contemporary Culture Cambridge: Polity Buckingham, D et al. (2005) The Media Literacy of Children and Young People. A review of the research literature. OFCOM Buckingham, David (2007) Beyond Technology. Children’s learning in the Age of Digital Culture. Cambridge:polity Burn, Andrew and Durran, James (2007) Media Literacy in Schools: Practice, Production and Progression London: Paul Chapman Publishing Comber, B & Barnett, J. (Eds.) Look again: Longitudinal studies of children's literacy learning, Primary English Teaching Association, Newtown Jenkins Henry (2006) Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: University Press Jenkins, H. (2006) Fans, Bloggers and Gamers: Essays on Participatory Culture. New York: University Press Jenkins, Henry et al. (2006) Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture, Media Education for the 21st Century. (Building the Field of Digital Media and Learning) Chicago: MacArthur Foundation Jewitt, C and Kress, G (eds) (2003) Multimodal Literacy New York: Peter Lang Kress, Gunther / Theo Van Leeuwen (2001) Multimodal Discourse: The Modes and Media of Contemporary Communication. Hodder Arnold Kress, Gunther (2003) Literacy in the New Media Age. London: Routledge Kress, Gunther et al. (2006) Multimodal Teaching and Learning Continuum Intl Publishing Grp Lankshear, Colin and Knobel, M (2003) New literacies: Changing Knowledge and Classroom Learning, Open University Press, Buckingham, 2003. Lankshear, Colin and Michele Knobel (2006) New Literacies: Everyday Practices and Classroom Learning Open University Press; 2Rev Ed edition Livingstone, Sonia, Bovill M. (2002) Young People and New Media, London: Sage Marsh, J. and Millard, E. (eds) (2006) Popular literacies, childhood and schooling. London: Routledge Marsh, Jackie, , et.al. (2005) Digital beginnings: Young children’s use of popular culture, media and new technologies Report of the ‘Young Children’s Use of Popular Culture, Media and New Technologies’ BBC www.digitalbeginnings.shef.ac.uk/DigitalBeginningsReport.pdf Sefton-Green, J. and Sinker, R. (eds.) (2000) Evaluating Creativity: Making and Learning by Young People London: Routledge. Unsworth, L, Teaching multiliteracies across the curriculum: changing contexts of text and image in classroom practice, Open University Press, Buckingham, 2001.

Author Information

Sigrid Jones

Unversity of Vienna

Institut für Bildungswissenschaft

Wien

Oystein Gilje

University of Oslo

Institute for Educational Research

Oslo

158

Andrew Burn

Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media, Institute of Education, University of London, UK

Ursula Mutsch

University of Vienna

Department of Education and Human Development

Vienna

David Buckingham

Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media, Institute of Education, University of London, UK

Christian Swertz

University of Vienna, Faculty of Philosophy and Educational Sciences, Department of Education and Human Development

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