Theoretical and Conceptual

Frameworks Affecting the

Development of Media Literacy
Education in the United States

Renee Hobbs
Professor, Temple University
Philadelphia PA USA
Visual Competence Symposium
Jacobs University, Bremen
July 6, 2007
Rudolf Arnheim
Stephen Kosslyn
Howard Gardner
Nelson Goodman
Research on comprehension of film editing
techniques among African tribal villagers
 Media Literacy

Media literacy
is the ability to access, analyze,
evaluate and communicate messages
in a wide variety of forms.

--Aspen Institute Leadership Forum on

Media Literacy, Washington DC (1993)
 Media
Literacy
Education
The purpose of media literacy education is to
help individuals of all ages develop the habits of
inquiry and skills of expression that they need to
be critical thinkers, effective communicators and
active citizens in today’s world.

--Core
--Core Principles of Media Literacy Education, AMLA, St. Louis, (2007)
(2007)
 Media
Literacy
Education

The goal: 70 million children and teens in U.S.

public schools will get some exposure to media
literacy education.
 Why it Matters
Citizenship. The creation of a public sphere greatly
depends upon an engaged citizenry, whose members
are interested, willing and able to access information,
evaluate it, and make decisions in a collaborative fashion
in order to participate in civic and cultural life.
Media Saturation/Identity Development. Children and
adolescents spend more and more time consuming
entertainment media, including television, popular music,
movies, and participatory media like Internet, text
messaging and videogames.
Information Society. Knowledge workers use,
manipulate and create information. Visual, electronic and
digital media and technologies of communication (as
new forms of ‘text’) are emerging as the dominant
representational systems in the context of both school
and daily life.
 Continuing Progress in MLE
increasing diversity of media content, formats and genres
widespread access to digital tools for authorship and new
forms of distribution and exhibition
increased public awareness of need for critical thinking
about new forms of digital media
state curriculum standards (now in almost every U.S. state)
diverse stakeholders--- including academics, policymakers,
business leaders
recognized instructional practices
emerging scholarly literature and empirical research
implementation processes & models for teacher education
case studies of practice in school & after-school
graduate programs & coursework
Diverse Theoretical Frameworks
Education
adolescent literacy, critical literacy,
multiliteracies, constructivism
Public Health
media effects on youth, program evaluation
Media Studies/Cultural Studies
semiotics, media ecology, ideology/institutions,
interpretive communities, youth media
 Instructional Practices
Reflection on Media
Consumption
Behaviors

Critical Analysis

Creative Media
Production
Key Concepts of Media Literacy
1) Understanding that all messages are constructions, created by authors
for specific purposes

2) People use their individual skills, beliefs and experiences to construct

meaning from messages

3) Different forms and genres of communication make use of specific codes,

conventions and symbolic forms

4) Values and ideologies are conveyed in media messages in ways that

represent certain world views

5) Media and media messages can shape people’s perceptions of social

reality, thus influencing beliefs, attitudes, behaviors and the democratic
process

6) Media messages, media industries and technologies of communication

exist within a larger aesthetic, cultural, historical, political, economic and
regulatory framework.
 Media Literacy as
Analysis and Production:
Benefits & Risks

“The analysis-
production formula
creates a spiral of
success: analysis
informs production,
which in turn,
informs analysis.”

--Tyner, Literacy in a Digital World

(1998)
 Media Literacy as
Analysis & Production:
Benefits & Risks

“Vegetables and dessert” motivation

Teacher specialization: few have qualifications
in both analysis & production
Analysis is privileged in the context of schooling
Production viewed as mere vocationalism
 Media Literacy Focuses
on Mass Media
& Popular Culture

In order to be responsive to the cultural worlds of

children and youth, ML educators emphasize
specific ways of reading messages in the genres
of:
advertising
narrative & documentary film
print & TV news media
music and popular culture
Promoting Habits of Inquiry

Authorship: Who made this?

Authors & Purpose: Why was it made? Who
Audiences is the target audience?

Economics: Who paid for it?

Impact: Who benefits from this?

Why does this matter to me?

Response: What kinds of actions

might I take?
Promoting Habits of Inquiry

Content: What is this about? What

Messages & values and points of view are
Meanings expressed? What is omitted?
Techniques: How was this
constructed? Why were these
techniques used?
Interpretations: How might
different people understand this
message? What is my
interpretation and what do I learn
about myself from my reaction?
Promoting Habits of Inquiry

Representation: How does this

Representations & message represent its
Realities subject?
Context: When was this
made? Where or how was it
shared?
Credibility: What are the
sources of information, ideas
or assertions? What criteria
do I use to evaluate it?
 Simple Structures Help Teachers &
Students Internalize Analysis Skills

Authors Messages Representations

Audiences Meanings Realities
Problematizing Pleasure: How Critical?
 Visual Competence Media Literacy

Perception Access
Decoding/Interpretation Analyze/Evaluate
Production Communicate
Intra-intercultural action
 Visual Competence
vs.
Media Literacy

Many multimedia forms are not strictly “visual”

Competence suggests a state of mastery, with
implied or explicit hierarchies
Competence should be explicitly linked to the
concept of “habits of inquiry”
Visual competence implies (but does not
incorporate) an educational process
 Visual Competence
vs.
Media Literacy

Analysis is situated within decoding/

interpretation, emphasizing meaning-
making (and risking the loss of a “critical”
socio-cultural perspective)
 Visual Competence
vs.
Media Literacy

Four components of competence bring

together disciplines of art history,
psychology, sociology, media/cultural
studies
Challenges and Opportunities

Production competence has a significant

proportion of genre & medium-specificity
Intercultural action competence has a
significant proportion of cultural-specificity
New Media Literacy

Relationship between technology tools, symbol

systems, and cognitive practices.

Participatory Culture.

Collaboration.

Play.

Appropriation and Remixing.

Social networking / Distributed intelligence.

New Media Literacy

Relationship between technology tools, symbol

systems, and cognitive practices.

Participatory Culture.

Collaboration.

Play.

Appropriation and Remixing.

Social networking / Distributed intelligence.

 Media
Literacy
Education
The purpose of media literacy education is to
help individuals of all ages develop the habits of
inquiry and skills of expression that they need to
be critical thinkers, effective communicators and
active citizens in today’s world.

--Core
--Core Principles of Media Literacy Education, AMLA, St. Louis, (2007)
(2007)
Renee Hobbs
Professor
Temple University
School of Communications and Theater
Media Education Lab
http://mediaeducationlab.com
Email : renee.hobbs@temple.edu