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99 ERC SES 04 M: Open Learning: Media, Environments and Cultures
Paper Session
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99. Emerging Researchers' Group (for presentation at Emerging Researchers' Conference)
Paper Exploring Perceptions of Media Literacy of English as a Foreign Language Teachers in Kazakhstan Kazakh National Women’s Teacher Training University, Kazakhstan Presenting Author:Integrating media literacy into the existing school curriculum is of profound importance in order to challenge students’ critical thinking skills, creativity, and functional literacy. The aim of this paper is to explore the development of media literacy in Foreign Language classrooms by focusing on teachers’ media literacy perceptions and tensions. This research uses a qualitative approach by conducting semi- structured interviews with secondary school teachers of Kazakhstan. Media literacy as a concept and a teaching purpose is therefore corresponding with the perception of education as a socialisation process for active involvement in a democratic society (Tyner, 2014). Media-literate teachers will have enhanced capacities to empower students with their efforts in learning autonomously and pursuing lifelong learning. In the research about maximising impact on teacher professional development, secondary school teachers are identified as the most significant factor in the learning context (Hattie, 2012). This is specifically the case for teachers of foreign languages, who have a particular interest in the international community (Korona,2020). Teachers’ perceptions of ML The factors influencing EFL teachers’ perceptions of media literacy are nested within four supportive factors- professional development opportunities; classroom resources and materials; administrative support; and educational context (Pederson, 2023; Yavuz-Konokman,2020). The notion of media is large and it may mean different things to different people. Earlier scholars consider media both as print and traditional media types (Scribner & Cole, 1981; Sinatra, 1986), television (Masterman,1980; Bowes et al., 1990), multimedia and visual media including static and animated pictures (Buckingham, 1993; Messaris, 1994; Kress, 2003), digital media (Hartley, 2017; Tyner, 1998), a popular culture (Quinlisk, 2003), and all technologies that spread information (Brown, 2006; Hobbs & Frost, 1998; Potter, 2010). The National Association for media literacy (2007) notes that ‘the concept of literacy (i.e. reading and writing) includes all forms of media’ (p. 3). Challenges on promoting ML Professional development and leadership support are important factors in moderating teachers’ challenges and increasing their in integrating media literacy into the classroom (Zhang et al., 2014). Teachers are believed to face challenges in integrating media literacy, such as lesson planning, content adaptation, navigating the social and cultural contexts of institutions, and developing content knowledge (Manfra & Holmes, 2020). The controversial nature of media topics makes developing students’ media literacy even more difficult (Robertson & Hughes, 2011). The fear of being ideologically or politically partisan or wrong and their own conformational biases may hinder teachers from implementing media literacy in the classroom (Schmeichel et al., 2018). These concerns must be addressed in teacher education institutes through designing instruments and building faculty members’ capacity. Existing studies suggest that media literacy is a very complex term because there is no evidence for a commonly shared meaning (Potter, 2022). Some of those meanings vary from one another in minor details and some vary in a broader sense. But even small variations in meaning can cause problems when educators hold different perceptions of the same concepts. Therefore, before implementing larger-scale research in developing students’ media literacy, we must explore how teachers understand it. There are core issues in the formulation of the conceptual framework of media literacy education. We aim at identifying the attempts of teachers to formulate the definition of the key concepts such as “media”, “literacy”, and “media literacy”. With a better understanding of how teachers perceive the key concepts of media literacy, it will be possible to identify existing issues and suggest further research areas. The research was driven by the following research questions:
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources Used This paper analyses the current state of media literacy education and teachers’ perception of key terms relating to the concept and the existing tension to implement it. From the theoretical perspective, this is a qualitative study based on a constructivist worldview. As such, my research approach allows me to explore EFL teachers’ perceptions of media literacy as a phenomenon in interaction with research participants. Thus, I determine the object of study from the point of view of a subjectivist epistemology, in which the researcher and the object of research are interactively bonded so that the results are created as the research proceeds (Guba & Lincoln, 1994). It aims to generate knowledge grounded in the EFL teachers’ contexts, perceptions and attitudes. Data were collected through naturalistic observations, reflective journals, and semi-structured interviews. With the aim of getting clear data about teachers’ perceptions and challenges in implementing media literacy in the classroom, all the interview data collection tools focused on three wide areas. These were: (1) teachers’ perceptions of key terms, (2) checking existing needs and barriers to implementing media literacy education, and (3) providing feedback. Qualitative data were analysed through thematic analysis and deductive coding (Pope, 2000). Thematic analysis is a methodology for exploring, evaluating, and depicting common themes from the data (Vaismoradi et al., 2013), this process includes precise interpretation of the information. Then a check of interview participants was conducted to maintain the reliability of the results. I ran three semi-structured interviews with 15 teachers. Observation is an important instrument for the collection of live data through the study (Cohen et al., 2011), as it helped to generate information on knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions in promoting media literacy of the 15 teachers, and complementary information to interviews. It provides more detailed information and hence can complement data collected during interviews. It can facilitate the comparison of what is said with what is done (Robson, 2002). I aim to use open-ended unstructured observation to address my research questions (Hargreaves, 2012). In order to provide objective information during observations, I aim to triangulate data by discussing them with teachers, whose classes I observe. Hence, I aim to conduct a minimum of three observations of the teachers in different settings, such as lesson planning hours, parent meetings, and classrooms. I have developed an observation protocol, which I aim to confirm with teachers before observing their classes. Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or Findings The certain manner in which media literacy competencies are addressed remains not clear (Schmidt, 2013), hence warranting the necessity for further investigation of teaching strategies. Additionally, the results that media literacy is rarely addressed within primary grades suggest that including media literacy coursework in obligatory education at the primary and middle levels is important (Martens, 2010; Flores-Koulish, 2020). The factors influencing EFL teachers’ perceptions of media literacy are nested within four supportive factors- professional development opportunities; classroom resources and materials; administrative support; and educational context. This study exploring teachers' perceptions about developing media literacy in EFL classrooms in Kazakhstan, has clearly established that media literacy development is an essential contributor to achieving high language proficiency and resistance to cyber threats. On a very rare occasion, participants suggested the opposite view and addressed the theme that “media literacy is of not a great importance” (f=2). Participant Teacher_2: ‘Firstly the importance of media literacy should be explained to the teachers, as I have no idea of it’. Despite the policy of internalisation of education and a strong focus on upgrading curriculum in primary years of teaching, these educators saw less value in media literacy than did educators at the high school level. Also, the type of school and the level of students’ language competencies play a great role in teachers’ perception and implementation of media education. Thus, teachers of specialised schools and gymnasium teachers showed greater interest in using media literacy development tasks with students, compared to mainstream public school teachers. References Bowes, M. O. W. I. (1990). Laugh'in A. Goodwin & G. Whannel, Understanding Television. London & New York. Hargreaves, A. & Evans, R. (1997). Teachers and educational reform. In Hargreaves, A. and Evans, R. (Eds.) Beyond Educational Reform: bringing teachers back in. Buckingham: Open University Press. Hattie, J. (2012). Visible learning for teachers: Maximizing impact on learning. Rutledge. London: Routledge. Manfra, M., Holmes, C. (2020). Integrating media literacy in social studies teacher education. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 20(1), 121-141 Masterman, L. (1983). Media education in the 1980s. Journal of Educational Television, 9(1), 7-20. Pederson, R. (2023). An Argument for Including Critical Media Literacy in EFL Curriculum and Pedagogy. English Teaching, 78(1). Pope, C. (2000). Qualitative research in health care: Analysing qualitative data. BMJ, 320(7227), 114–116. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.320.7227.114 Potter, W. J. (2022). Analysis of definitions of media literacy. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 14(2), 27–43. https://doi.org/10.23860/jmle-2022-14-2-3 Quinlisk, C. (2003). Media Literacy in the ESL/EFL Classroom: Reading Images and Cultural Stories. TESOL Journal, 3: 35-40. Robertson, L., &; Hughes, J.M. (2011). Investigating pre-service teachers’ understandings of critical media literacy. Language and Literacy, 13(2), 37-53. Schmeichel, M., Garrett, J., Ranschaert, R., McAnulty, J., Thompson, S., Janis, S., Biven, B. (2018). The complexity of learning to teach news media in social studies education. Journal of Media Literacy Education,10(2), 86-103. Schmidt, H. (2013). Media literacy education from kindergarten to college: A comparison of how media literacy is addressed across the educational system. Journal of Media Literacy Education. https://doi.org/10.23860/jmle-5-1-3 Tyner, K. (2014). Literacy in a digital world. Routledge. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781410601971 Vaismoradi, M., Turunen, H., & Bondas, T. (2013). Content analysis and thematic analysis: Implications for conducting a qualitative descriptive study. Nursing & Health Sciences, 15(3), 398–405. https://doi.org/10.1111/nhs.12048 Yavuz-Konokman, G. (2020). Integration of Media and Critical Literacy into Curriculum through Thinking Education: From Teacher Training Perspective. International Online Journal of Education and Teaching, 7(4), 1839-1866. Zhang, H., Zhu, C., Sang, G. (2014). Teachers’ stages of concern for media literacy education and the integration of MLE in Chinese primary schools. Asia Pacific Education Review, 15(3), 459–471.https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-014-9321-1 99. Emerging Researchers' Group (for presentation at Emerging Researchers' Conference)
Paper Communicating Identities in Digital Spaces: Greek Migrant Youth and New Media University of Melbourne, Australia Presenting Author:My a/r/tographic inquiry explored how Greek migrant youths aged 18–24 years living in Discussions about social media use explored how identities are performed and shaped by The paper I propose will discuss this a/r/tographic inquiry undertaken during my doctoral research which was guided by the following co-designed research question developed in a participatory process in consultation with my participants: In what ways does new media usage shape the identities of Greek migrant youths, and help them find a sense of belonging? My research makes a unique methodological contribution to creative methods using new media in the digital space, namely via its use of videoconferencing and its blending of My inquiry explored the boundaries of a/r/tographic possibilities and how identity has shifted in the context of a global pandemic. The design of my a/r/tographic inquiry allowed for an authentic exploration of the impact of new media on identity work for Greek migrant youths. Videoconferencing as a site for exploration of the self through others afforded new possibilities and meaningful ways to conduct arts-based participatory research in which life stories and artmaking happened simultaneously, albeit from different physical locations. It was here in the digital space that discussion and artmaking unfolded new openings into a rhizomatic digital world that the study participants and I created together. Creating the conditions needed for safety, care and collaboration was of paramount importance. For a/r/tographers, this relationality means an ongoing quest for understanding of all that sits in and around the research site/cite/sight (Coleman, 2019) that is timely, emergent, generative, and responsive for those involved (Nixon, 2017). For me as a/r/tographer, the research also presented an opportunity to reimagine my identity and belonging as artist, researcher, and teacher in new ways. My identities as artist, researcher, and teacher were continuously in a state of flux – of being reborn in what Deleuze describes as a state of becoming (Deleuze, 1992). My line of inquiry sought to identify where the major ‘a-ha’ moments or epiphanies about identity and belonging through new media were, and how I could show these in visual and written form. Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources Used The research design combined participatory narrative inquiry, with a/r/tography, and Bakhtin's concepts of heteroglossia. 1. Participatory Narrative Inquiry Researchers collect stories using PNI (Kurtz, 2014) in order to gain a deeper understanding of a given situation or to create an environment for telling previously unshared stories. There are three essential phases: collection, sensemaking and return. PNI was particularly helpful in this study as a way to collect narratives in visual, verbal, and written formats. New media, specifically social media accounts, provided some of the comments and photographs to aid in the collection of narratives. 2. A/r/tography As the a/r/tographer, documenting my personal migratory history and sharing examples of negotiating my identities, I was able to establish a space for gathering, sharing, and friendship (Mallos, 2021). The participants and I navigated our identities through artmaking within a digital space together. Rosunee (2012) asserted that arts-based practice can be used to understand and conceptualise the self and the other – essentially stating that the images used in narrative inquiry are a superior way of gaining an understanding of the self and other – using an a/r/trophic approach. 3. Heteroglossia In keeping with an a/r/tographical approach, Bakhtin (1986) saw life as part of a process of experiencing the world with others. His concept of heteroglossia was particularly useful to the current study in helping me explore the meanings in the storyboards rendered through a/r/tography, in the sense that new media has allowed for new artefacts that combine words and visual metaphors shared by the participants to generate new knowledge and new ways of seeing similar themes in the data. Bakhtin’s (1984) conceptual idea of heteroglossia, however, could also be understood in terms of how interactions through new media impact expression, perception, identities, and communication. Visual representations and narratives merged in understanding, mediating, and recognising messages, meanings, and significances through them. Several data collection methods were used in a collaborative dialogic manner, including: • transcripts of all the workshops • transcripts of peer interviews • photographs from participants' mobile phones and social media screenshots • Instagram portraits created by the participants and researcher using Instastory mode • written reflections from the participants pertaining to photographs from their social media, and the making of the Instagram portraits and • digital narratives (an arts-based response digitally created by researcher and participants to communicate their identities). Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or Findings I identified five key areas of knowledge relating to the focus of research question about the ways in which new media shapes the identities of Greek migrant youths in the digital space. These areas are: 1) emotional toil and nostalgia; 2) the value of digital diasporas; 3) how using new media shapes identities; 4) developing a sense of belonging through new media; and 5) the researcher as a/r/tographer. This study makes a strong methodological contribution through its combination of PNI, a/r/tography and Bakhtinian concepts of identity. This study is also the first of its kind to explore the role new media plays in the identity formation and sense of belonging of Greek migrant youths who have migrated to Melbourne since 2010, thereby adding to existing literature about Greek migrant youth involved in participatory arts-based research to explore identity work, and narrowing the scope to which transnational migrants use new media to connect and construct their personal identities (Kim, 2018). The participatory arts-based and narrative design helped to highlight the different identities that Greek migrant youths inhabit through the affordances of new media and would be useful when working with other migrant youths from other cultural backgrounds and countries. The study explores how Greek migrant youth in Melbourne use new media to create, communicate, and navigate their identities. The research findings enable the use of visual art education to support teachers in engaging their students in exploring their identities and senses of belonging through creative processes. From a visual arts education standpoint, the findings also contribute to the field because a/r/tography is considered as a practice that is not limited to physical locations and indeed can be applied much more broadly to the digital space. References Diminescu, D. (2008). The connected migrant: An epistemological manifesto. Social Science Information, 47(4), 565-579. https://doi.org/10.1177/0539018408096447 Georgalou, M. (2019). Place identity construction in Greek neomigrants’ social media discourse. Internet Pragmatics, 2(1), 136-161. Georgalou, M. (2021). Emotions and migration in social media discourse: A new Greek migrant case study. Emotion, Space and Society, 38, 100745. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emospa.2020.100745 Georgiou, M. (2010). Identity, space and the media: thinking through diaspora. Revue Europeenne des Migrations Internationales, 26 (1). 17-36. Ito, M., Baumer, S., Bittanti, M., Boyd, D., Cody, R., Herr-Stephenson, B., Horst, H. A., Lange, P. G., Mahendran, D., Martinez, K. Z., Pascoe, J. C., Robinson, L., Sims, C., & Tripp, L. (2009). Hanging out, messing around, and geeking out: Kids living and learning with new media. MIT Press. Kim, S. (2018). Migrant youth identity work in transnational new mediascape. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, 28(2), 281-302. https://doi.org/10.1075/japc.00013.kim Kurtz, C. (2014). Working with stories in your community or organization: Participatory narrative inquiry. Kurtz-Fernhout Publishing. Mavroudi, E., & Holt, L. (2021). Learning to be (multi)national: Greek diasporic childhood re-memories of nationalism and nation-building in Australia. Children's Geographies, 19(5), 552-566. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2021.1965090 Theodoropoulou, I. (2021). Nostalgic diaspora or diasporic nostalgia? Discursive and identity constructions of Greeks in Qatar. Lingua, 263, 102697. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2019.05.007 | ||