Media Literacy Education in China: A Review of Recent Literature

Abstract

Two decades into the 21st century, an increasingly powerful and complicated media environment has gained an ever-growing influence on our lives. China has one of the largest, most vibrant, active, and sophisticated media landscapes globally. In such a vast and high-pace media environment, media literacy has quickly become a topic of interest for both academic and practitioner circles. In this paper, I set out to review the current body of English language literature on media literacy education in the Chinese context. I categorize the reviewed body of literature into three sequential major thematic clusters: (1) development, (2) integration, and (3) outcomes of media literacy education. This review contextualizes and maps the existing research per cluster and provides an overview of the status quo for researchers, practitioners, and other interested media literacy stakeholders. I conclude by identifying major findings across the reviewed literature along with recommendations for further research.