Implementing media literacy education in the junior secondary English curriculum in Hong Kong: Reasons and limitations

Abstract

We live in a world that is saturated with mass media, consumed on a daily basis. Students spend a lot of time on media and they are susceptible to the messages conveyed by the media. What can teachers do? Schools must help students develop their analytical and critical thinking skills, so that they can evaluate critically information that relates to important issues that affect the community and the implementation of media literacy education is called upon (Cheung, 2004; Considine et al., 2009). Through the questionnaire survey and also interviews of teachers, this study identifies the major reasons and problems of implementing media literacy education in English curriculum at junior secondary level. Most of the teachers perceived the flexible content of English language and the close relationship between the teaching of English four skills and media literacy education were factors favoured the implementation in the English curriculum. And the major limitations observed by the respondents are: the lack of time, heavy workload and the lack of teacher training.