International Journal of Media and Information Literacy

40-52

Authors: Slimane Aboulkacem, Lory E. Haas, Abigail R. Winard

Part of being a 21st century citizen is experiencing the polarization and the divisiveness of the world, especially across digital social spaces. We live in a new media environment that is personalized for everyone. Additionally, today’s media life is characterized by the speed of information production, consumption, as well as and often absence of trustful information sources. Information is available in unprecedented amounts at the touch of a fingertip and finds us through an armada of digital services. Hence, the purpose of this research is to explore the perceptions and practices of 268 pre-service teachers from Algeria and the USA. Responses to four open-ended questions, which were part of a mixed methods survey, were analyzed for this study. These questions were posed to investigate pre-service teachers’ views of today’s news, its sources, and how they proceed into verifying and sharing information. The findings revealed that students indicate they verify information but did not share how they verify sources other than frequent use of Google search engine. Moreover, friends, family members, and Facebook comments were found to potentially sway the pre-teachers’ opinions or even sometimes determine their news believability.

66-71

Authors: Art Silverblatt

The ability to develop a critical distance from the messages being conveyed through the channels of mass communication is of vital importance. However, the value of Media Literacy education extends beyond media analysis, furnishing critical thinking skills for people who are in danger of losing the ability to come to independent conclusions based on the systematic assessment of evidence. According to Renee Hobbs and Richard Frost, media literacy education enhances critical thinking across a broad range of disciplines: The first large scale empirical study measuring the acquisition of media literacy skills in the United States concluded that incorporating media message analysis into secondary level English language arts curriculum … improved students’ reading, viewing and listening comprehension of print, audio and video texts, message analysis and interpretation, and writing skills. In addition, it should be emphasized that that the discipline of Media Literacy is essentially apolitical. Media Literacy educators teach people how to think, not what to think. What determines the validity of an analysis is the following: 1) the systematic application media literacy methodologies; and 2) the contentions must be supported with concrete examples (e.g., television episodes, films, and social media threads). Instead, the discipline of Media Literacy furnishes individuals with the skills to develop an independence of thought so necessary to the survival of democracy.