Effects of Media Literacy Course On Prospective Teachers

What is it about?

The media literacy knowledge and skills of prospective teachers who take training to educate conscious generations are of vital importance. Therefore, this study aims to find out the perceptions of prospective Turkish teachers (N: 57) who took media literacy course as piloting for the first time and those of prospective English teachers (N: 65) who did not take such a course upon the terms of media and media literacy, to determine whether they see themselves as media literate or not, and whether media literacy course should be found in university education. This study is based on qualitative research methods, data were collected via open-ended questions and qualitative data analysis methods were adopted. Consequently, it was found that the total number of words (F: 5099) used by the prospective teachers taking media literacy course for answering the open-ended questions was nearly doubled that of the prospective teachers (F: 2915) not taking this course. In addition, when the participants’ definitions of media were examined, it was seen that 47 (38%) of the participants described the media as a tool. As for media literacy definitons, while the prospective English teachers mostly associated this term with conscious use (F: 16), the prospective Turkish teachers mostly did so with critical thinking (F: 22). In both groups, more than the half of the prospective teachers defined themselves as media literate. As to the inclusion of media literacy course in university education, it was seen that the prospective Turkish teachers stated positive opinions about it at a higher level than the prospective English teachers

Featured Image

Why is it important?

Effects of Media Literacy Course On Prospective Teachers

Perspectives