The Coming of Age of Media Literacy

Abstract

A decade into a new millennium marks a coming of age for media literacy education (MLE). Born from teaching the critical analysis of media texts, MLE has evolved into helping individuals of all ages "develop the habits of inquiry and skills of expression that they need to be critical thinkers, effective communicators and active citizens in today's world" (NAMLE 2007b, 1). This broadened scope and purpose of MLE was quickened by rapid evolution of communications technologies over the past several decades. In its infancy, the foci of study were print and electronic media texts. However, in its current post-digital stage of adolescence, MLE includes texting, gaming, blogging, and tweeting. Like an awkward teenager trying to locate his place in the world, MLE struggles to gain prominence as a discipline. Although it has gained entry into K-12 schooling in the United States (Hobbs 2005), standards and methods for its implementation vary considerably across all 50 states (Kaiser Family Foundation 2003). Even at the postsecondary level, media literacy lacks a common understanding and foundation for what, where, how, and among whom it is taught (Mihailidis 2008; Silverblatt, Baker, Tyner, and Stuhlman 2002). On the verge of adulthood in the Unites States, MLE is caught in a tense relationship with its siblings: technology and schooling. In this dysfunctional family of sorts, technology receives far more attention than it deserves, schooling is continuously blamed for the ills of society, and MLE is perpetually marginalized as extra-curricular. This essay emphasizes the potential for MLE to contribute to democratic education.