Media Education in the Instruction of Czech Language and Literature Teachers

Author(s):

Dagmar Strejčková(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2012

Network:

27. Didactics - Learning and Teaching

Format:

Poster

Session Information

27 SES 05.5 PS, General Poster Exhibition

General Poster Session during Lunch

Time:

2012-09-19

12:30-14:00

Room:

FCEE - Poster Exhibition Area

Chair:

Contribution

The increasing importance of the media in our society is reviving debate on the need for educational changes that respond to new social needs. Media education and literacy becomes more necessary than ever, as evidenced in numerous official documents in developed countries. In the Czech Republic Media Education is a new topic which was established in accordance with The Framework Education Programme for Elementary Education (2007). Media education aims to develop both critical understanding and active participation. It enables young people to interpret and make informed judgments as consumers of media. But it also enables them to become producers of media in their own right, and thereby to become more powerful participants in society. Media education helps to develop young people’s critical and creative abilities (Buckingham, 2002, 2003). Media literacy is a set of perspectives that we actively use to expose ourselves to the media to interpret the meaning of the messages we encounter. Active use means that we are aware of the messages and are consciously interacting with them (Potter, 2005). It’s evident that media education improves critical thinking, understanding and producing media contents (Mihailidis, 2009; Manuel, 2002; Scharrer, 2009; Hobbs, Frost, 2003).

The media literacy is defined as the ability to access, analyse and evaluate the powerful images, words and sounds that confront us in our daily lives as well as to communicate fluently in all old and new media. There are specific skills to cope with the vast amount of information to which we are exposed (Martín, Hottmann, 2006). From this perspective, media education is now no longer defined as a matter of automatic opposition to students’ experiences of the media. Media education is seen not as a form of protection, but as a form of preparation (Buckingham, 2002).

This proposal deals with the realization of a cross-section theme in the Media Education of Czech language and literature teachers in the upper elementary schools with seats in the Brno-city district. Apart from the main aim of this proposal, which focuses on the realization of this cross-section theme, the partial aims are oriented to finding out the mode of realization, benefits, frequency and participation in cross-section theme of Media Education in the upper elementary schools by teachers. The research directs at the use of educational methods and teaching forms of Czech language and literature teachers at instruction of the Media Education.

Research questions:

Which is the form of realization of Media Education of Czech language and literature teachers?

Is there any difference in the results with respect to the form of realization of Media Education?

Is there a significant difference between using receptive and productive topics by teachers?

Does the training course of Media Education have a significant effect on the results?

Do teachers of Czech language and literature use the cross-section theme of Media Education in their instruction to the same degree?

Method

The sample consisted of Czech language and literature teachers on the upper elementary schools (n = 173). Empirical research had selection character. The research was carried out in the quantitative method, using the questionnaire of its own structure. Some complementary items of the questionnaire had the character of qualitative research. The issue has a mixed design with dominance, using the quantitative methodology. The instrument was divided into three basic parts. The first part included demographic variables such as gender, age, length of praxis, attending training course etc. The second part contained largely Likert type items focused on the realization of Media education. The third part included complementary information. The items from second and third part of the instrument were coded in the number form (totally agree = 5; slightly agree = 4, I don’t know = 3, slightly disagree = 2, totally disagree = 1). The reliability was determined (Cronbach’s α = 0.77). In this part the statistics procedure was utilized. Inductive statistical methods, such as Student’s t-test and ANOVA, were used to answer the research questions. Summarized results of research were presented and analysed fulfilment of aims and assessment of hypothesis. On the basis of these results there were expressed recommendations and conclusions for educational theory and practice.

Expected Outcomes

The research brought findings in the form of realizations of cross-section theme of Media Education by teachers of Czech language and literature on the upper elementary schools. It was found out that the form of implementation of cross-section theme of Media Education is prevailing in education subject of Czech language and literature (163 respondents, 93.06 %). The effect of the form of realization of Media Education was significant in all dimensions. The effect of the attending training course of Media Education was significant in dimensions, such as thematic topics (F = 3.96; p < 0.05), educational methods (F = 4.11; p < 0.05) and production of media contents (F = 3,43; p < 0.05). Teachers of Czech language and literature implement receptive thematic topics (x = 3.51) to the same degree as productive thematic topics (x = 3.17) of cross-section theme of Media Education (t = 1.94). The most frequent is implementation of Media education in stylistic education (x = 3.30) than in literature (x = 2.62) and linguistic (x = 2.25) education (F = 15.32; p < 0.001; F = 17.68; p < 0,001; F = 12.97; p < 0.001).

References

BUCKINGHAM, D. Media Education – A Glogal Strategy for Development. UNESCO: Youth Media Education. The Seville Seminar, Feb. 2002. Seville 2002. [cit. 8. 7. 2011]. Accessible from . BUCKINGHAM, D. Media Education: Literacy, Learning and Contemporary Culture. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2003, 219 p. HOBBS, R., FROST, R. (2003) Measuring the acquisition of media-literacy skills. Reading Research Quarterly, 38 (3), p. 330–355. MANUEL, K. (2002) How First-Year College Students Read Popular Science: An Experiment in Teaching Media Literacy Skills. Studies in Media & Information Literacy Education (SIMILE), 2 (2). [online]. 2002. [cit. 8. 7. 2011]. Accessible from . MARTÍN, A. G., HOTTMANN, A. (2006) Media Eduction across the Curriculum. Kulturring in Berlin e.V. [online]. 2006. [cit. 8. 1. 2012]. Accessible from . MIHAILIDIS, P. (2009) Beyond Cynicism: Media Education and Civic Learning Outcomes in the University. International Journal of Learning and Media, 1 (3), p. 19–31. POTTER, W. J. Media Literacy. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications, 2005, 467 p. SCHARRER, E. (2009) Measuring the Effects of a Media Literacy Program on Conflict and Violence. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 1 (1), p. 12–27. The Framework Education Programme for Elementary Education (2007) [online]. 2010. [cit. 10. 8. 2011]. Accessible from .

Author Information

Dagmar Strejčková (presenting / submitting)

Masaryk university, Faculty of Education, Czech Republic

Brno

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