Media Literacy: Theory And Practice

Media Literacy is regard as literacy for 21st century. It provides a framework to access, analyze, evaluate and create messages in a variety of forms - from print to video to the Internet. Media literacy builds an understanding of the role of media in society as well as essential skills of inquiry and self-expression necessary for citizens of a democracy.In this thesis the emergence of the theories of Media Literacy and the development of two main theories of which are discussed. After that, with reference to some already-existing researches, the five core concepts and accordingly five key issues concerning Media Literacy are explored in detail. Great importance is attached to coming up with a practical framework for learning and teaching in media literacy. And a tentative framework with "inquiry" as its method, "access, analyze, evaluate, create " as its process skills, and "awareness, analysis, reflection, action" as the learning model is suggested. Besides, to provide a guideline for incorporating Media Literacy and Critical Thinking into any curriculum, twelve basic principles are put forward. For a closer study, a few fine teaching plans from Taiwan and Canada are presented and analyzed. Finally a catalog of the resources for Media Literacy in the U.S. is provided for future studies.To sum up, the thesis is to discuss the past and present of the theories about Media Literacy, and more importantly to probe into a practical framework for teaching and learning in Media Literacy.