Content of Media Literacy Instruction - Class 6 PDF Download

Media literacy instruction involves teaching students to look behind the public face of messages. Students learn to consider the industries that created the messages, the profits involved, the immediate impact of the messages, and possible longer-term consequences. Lessons usually explore topics of current interest or relevance (such as local news stories) but can also focus on recurring media issues or themes.
These themes include: 

• ways in which people are represented (in terms of gender, culture, race, age, economic status, lifestyle, social status, job, appearance, body image, and ability); 
• locations in which media can be found (e.g., in the subway, at school, at home, at a ballpark, in the mall);
• ways in which media messages are disseminated (e.g., via the Internet, mass mailings, telemarketing, television, and cell phones); 
• ways in which different audiences are targeted; 
• ways in which the media encourage consumerism; 
• matters of ownership (who owns the various media? who owns the companies whose advertisements the media carry?); 
• the technology and business behind media production; 
• the role, influence, and effects of advertising; 
• the impact of the media on the environment; 
• bias in the dissemination of news; 
• issues of privacy, censorship, violence, and bullying; 
• ways in which the media treat social, political, and personal issues.

The sample media lessons included in this Volume are structured around two related frameworks:

• The Five Key Concepts of Media Literacy, which outline the main tenets of media literacy: that all media messages are constructions, that the media deliver belief and value messages, that everyone interprets messages differently, that media messages serve special interests, and that each medium has its own form and conventions. 
• The Media Triangle, which provides a framework for analysing media messages. By considering text, audience, and production, students gain insight into the deeper meanings of the messages.

Fostering a keen sense of inquiry is crucial if students are to analyse media effectively and participate in production activities. When students investigate or create media messages and products that are interesting and relevant to them, they ask questions, seek information, and reflect on their learning. Reflection can then lead to constructive action as a consequence of students’ new awareness.(Thoman and Jolls, 2005, p. 32).