Media Literacy and Civic Engagement: Report from the Field

Media Literacy and Adolescent Civic Engagement: Report from the Field
Hans Martens
Renee Hobbs
Shay Taylor
Montgomery Blair High School
Presentation at the
National Association for Media Literacy Education, July 24, 2011

Goals for this Session
Learn about how media literacy is integrated into a high-functioning American high school
Share research results examining the relationship between news analysis and civic engagement
Explore the opportunities and challenges of empirical research in media literacy education

Blair Network Communications (BNC)

Selective Admission Programs
Communication Arts Program (CAP)
Science, Mathematics and Computer Science Magnet Program
Open Admission Programs
Media Literacy
Entrepreneurship
International Studies and Law
Human Service Professions
Science, Math and Technology

GRADE 9
INTERDISCIPLINARY
INTERDISCIPLINARY PROJECTS
The projects synthesize information from various disciplines into comprehensive presentations that highlight the events of the era assigned.
MOVIE REVIEWS
Each quarter the
students will watch a movie in the auditorium that relates to the historical period focused on in History class. They write a movie review and for homework, watch movies from a list compiled by the faculty.
CRITICAL THINKING PAPER
The project entails an in depth argument and analysis for a major social issue facing humanity.
A comprehensive program that connects the humanities to the media, now in its 24th year

Crystal Ball
Students research demographic and voter characteristics and then predict the Presidential, US Senate, US House of Representatives, and gubernatorial races throughout the United States.

Critical Thinking Essay
The Critical Thinking Essay requires students to select an issue of national importance and write a persuasive essay arguing one side of that issue, supported by documented and cited sources. In 10th grade, each student will support the issue from the side opposite to the one advocated in the 9th grade essay
CAP Congress – Foreign Policy
Students research foreign policy issues concerning seven “hotspots” from around the world, draft resolutions, debate the issues, and prioritize the foreign policy needs of the US.

CAP Court
Students hold mock trials on court cases drawn from each of the four 10th grade subjects: English, Government, Journalism and Media. Students will act as lawyers trying the case and also role-play the defendants and witnesses.
GRADE 9
INTERDISCIPLINARY

Open Admission Programs

MEDIA LITERACY ACADEMY
Students in the Media Literacy Academy develop the ability to read, analyze, evaluate, and produce communications in written text, moving images, still images, and sound. Students will learn to read critically, interpret analytically, communicate effectively, and produce messages for both meaning and persuasion. Any field involving art, music, film, radio, video, television, theater, literature, journalism, or photography requires an understanding of effective communication.

Research Design
Quasi-experimental study
2 x 2 factorial
Treatment
Media Literacy
No ML
CAP
ML ACADEMY
CONTROL
CONTROL
Academy Level
Open Selective
Admission Admission

MEASURES
To distinguish between students’ actual use of the Internet and their motives for using the Internet to seek information, we first asked respondents to identify how much they use the Internet on an 8-point scale ranging from never to every day.
Internet use
Information Motives (U&G)
Civic Engagement
News Analysis
Ad Analysis
Media Knowledge

MEASURES
To assess students’ motives to seek out information as a part of daily life, we used an instrument developed to assess Internet uses and gratifications by Papacharissi & Rubin (2000). Using a five-point scale, students were asked to respond to four statements:
I use the internet to search for information
to see what is out there
to keep up with current events and issues
because it provides me with a new and interesting way to do research
Internet use
Civic Engagement
News Analysis
Ad Analysis
Media Knowledge

MEASURES
Students were asked to report if they expect to engage in the following activities when they become an adult:
vote in national elections
get information about candidates before voting in an election
join a political party
writeletters to a newspaper about social or political concerns
be a candidate for a local or city office
volunteertime to help poor or elderly people in the community
collect money for a cause
collect signatures for a petition, and participate in a peaceful rally or protest.
A 4-point scale was used, scaled as certainly will not do, probably will not do, probably will do, and certainly will do.
Internet use
Civic Engagement
News Analysis
Ad Analysis
Media Knowledge

MEASURES
In the news analysis task, students were given a short Time magazine piece (Van Biema, 2007) and asked to read it, responding to open-ended questions including:
summarize the main point of the article
identify the target audience & explain what specific information from the reading supports your answer
identify the message purpose
identify what techniques were used to attract and hold attention
list some different points of view presented
Identify omitted information
Scores were summed to form an additive index which ranged from 14 to 0.
Internet use
Civic Engagement
News Analysis
Ad Analysis
Media Knowledge

MEASURES
In the ad analysis task, students were given a print ad and asked to respond to open-ended questions including:
identify the target audience & explain what specific information from the reading supports your answer
identify the message purpose
Identify the ad’s implied message or subtext
identify what techniques were used to attract and hold attention
list some different points of view presented
Identify omitted information
Scores were summed to form an additive index which ranged from 14 to 0.
Internet use
Civic Engagement
News Analysis
Ad Analysis
Media Knowledge

MEASURES
We asked students to complete short tests relating to different facets of the media industry, including information about history, economics, institutions, audiences and effects.
MULTIPLE CHOICE (6 items):
identify the main purpose of photos in a newspaper
recognize the most common kind of economic control over mass media
name the system of financing used to pay for commercial radio.
TRUE FALSE (11 items)
The number of companies that own mass media outlets is growing
Newspapers make most of their money through the price paid by the consumers who buy them
Internet use
Civic Engagement
News Analysis
Ad Analysis
Media Knowledge

TheoreticalFramework
Media literacyeducation
->activelyconsuming and producing media messages
->seek out information on relevant issues, evaluate the quality of information available, engage in online publishing, debate and more
RQ1: Are differences media knowledge and media analysis skills associated with participation in a media literacy program?

Media literacycompetencies
->notequallydistributedamong adolescents
->variety of both informal and formal learning experiences as well as through family, peer, social class and other influences
RQ2: Are differences in media knowledge and media analysis skills associated with student’s academic level?

Motivationsfor digital media use
->Putnam: Decline in civic engagement
->Uses and gratifications research: Differential media effects. Informational media use patterns are positively related to civic engagement.
RQ3: What is the relationship between participation in a ML program, Internet use, information motivation, media literacy and civic engagement?

Data Analysis
Comparison of means

Data Analysis
Comparison of means
->Students in the Selective Admission Program score better on measures of media knowledge and media literacy than students in the Open Admission Program

Data Analysis
Comparison of means
->In both the Open Admission Program and the Selective Admission Program, the ML group scores better than the other group on media knowledge and media literacy measurements

Data Analysis
->Both educational level and participation in a media literacy program influence media knowledge and media literacy measurements

Data Analysis
Correlation matrix

Data Analysis
Correlation matrix
->Academy level is positivelyrelatedwithinformationmotive, media knowledge, newsanalysis and ad analysis. Note the negativerelationwithfrequency of Internet use

Data Analysis
Correlation matrix
->Participation in a ML program is positivelyrelatedwith media knowledge, newsanalysis and ad analysis

Data Analysis
Correlation matrix
->Frequency of Internet use is negativelyrelatedwithinformationmotive, media knowledge, newsanalysis, and ad analysis

Data Analysis
Correlation matrix
-> Informationmotive is positivelyrelatedwithnewsanalysis

Data Analysis
Correlation matrix
->Media knowledge, newsanalysis, and ad analysis are positivelyrelatedbutdistinctconstructs

Data Analysis
Multiple regression

Data Analysis
Multiple regression
->Participation in a ML programindependentlycontributes to civic engagement

Data Analysis
Multiple regression
-> Aftercontrollingforgender, academy level, and ML program, informationmotive, media knowledge and newsanalysiscontribute to civic engagement

Summary
RQ1: Are differences media knowledge and media analysis skills associated with participation in a media literacy program?
RQ2: Are differences in media knowledge and media analysis skills associated with students’ academic level?
RQ3: What is the relationship between participation in a ML program, Internet use, information motivation, media literacy and civic engagement?

Summary
News analysis and media knowledge are associated with civic engagement
Media literacy programs activate ML competencies differentially depending on the type of instructional program and the characteristics of the student body
Information-seeking motives, not time spent online, is associated with both media literacy and civic engagement

Limitations of the Study
Research design: no random assignment to condition
unobserved factors may be causing the differences between the two groups
What led to some people to select the ML treatment and others not?
Link between instructional treatment and outcomes
what specific dimensions of the learning environment contributes to skills of news analysis and media knowledge?
Need for additional measures
what about media production?
broader patterns of media use?
how should we measure civic engagement in a digital age?

Next Steps: Research Agenda
What are the next questions that need to be answered about the relationship between media literacy and civic engagement?

Renee Hobbs
Email: renee.hobbs@temple.edu
Hans Martens
Email: Hans.Martens@ua.ac.be

Media Literacy and Civic Engagement: Report from the Field

by Renee Hobbs

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