Media Literacy Education in China

Chi-Kim Cheung

Media Literacy Educ ducaation in China

Media Literacy Education in China


Chi-Kim Cheung


Chi-Kim Cheung Faculty of Education University of Hong Kong Hong Kong, Kong, Hong Kong

ISBN 978-981-10-0043-0 DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-0045-4

ISBN 978-981-10-0045-4

(eBook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015959707 Springer Singapore Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London © Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2016 This work is subject to copyright. All All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book bo ok are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper Springer Science+Business Media Singapore Pte Ltd. is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com www.springer.com))

Acknowledgements

When media education was first introduced into schools, it was regarded by some as a ‘Mickey Mouse’ subject (McCowan 2009; Clark 2012), and not many publications in this area appeared in first tier journals. When I first started my academic career in the field of media education as a young y oung researcher, I was well aware of this but had a different view. As technology became more advanced, I was convinced that media would exert a tremendous influence on people and that media education would have a significant role to play in the future, so I have continued to teach and conduct research in this field in the last 15 years. In 2006, I was awarded the most prestigious research grant in Hong Kong to investigate the implementation of media education in Hong Kong’s secondary school curriculum. My efforts in the research and teaching of media education were recognized by my external assessors when I applied for tenure and promotion later in my academic career. Although I do not know who they are, I owe much to them for their recognition of my achievements. Please see below the extracts from their assessor reports: Assessor i Para 2: In short, his work continues to grow, and there has been notable growth in just this past year. year. Para 6: I would compare Dr. Cheung favourably with academic researchers in his field.... In short, he is very productive, continues to focus on similar questions and issues, i.e. he has ‘a line’ (or lines) of research that he is pursuing. Conclusion: I am impressed by Dr. Cheung’s contributions to date, and I think he may well have achieved the level of productivity and achievement necessary for tenure and promotion at your institution. Assessor ii Para 1: I would consider Dr. CK Cheung to be an ideal appointment to the post of Associate Professor with tenure. Para 5: It is clear that Dr. Cheung is a significant figure in this field with an increasingly important profile in terms of his research and international publications.

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Para 6: The journals cited in his CV are generally high impact in their respective fields. Para 8: In this context Dr. Cheung has been extremely successful in getting his work accepted and published at an international level. Para 9: In my experience, the standard of Dr. Cheung’s research and scholarship compares very favourably with standards required and accepted by other u niversities for the tenured post of Associate Professor Para 10: Dr. Cheung compares very favourably with other academic staff/researchers in his field. He manages to successfully convey his ideas to colleagues in Southeast Asia and also in Europe and North America. This is not an easy task and marks him out as an above average academic. Assessor iii Para 2: Dr. Cheung has published 23 journal articles and five book chapters. He has an edited volume on Media Education in Asia scheduled to be published this coming year. The magnitude of his work is consistent with what I would expect from a scholar moving from Assistant to Associate Professor. Some of his journal articles appear to be in well-known and respected journals. Assessor iv Para 2: C. K. Cheung is making a significant impact on the field of media literacy education in Asia. Para 3: Also, his work is among the first to systematically demonstrate that media literacy education (…). This is a vital issue with relevance to both researchers and practitioners. Para 4: Professor Cheung has published in a variety of increasingly important scholarly journals…. This article, in particular, is a strong work of scholarship that examines the place of media literacy within the larger context of education reform. This work is highly original and relevant to the development of the field. Para 5: His work is a significant publication, because this book is a widely used resource among scholars of media education worldwide. The trajectory of this work points to his active research agenda and developing skills in contributing to scholarly discourse in the field of education. Para 6: Professor Cheung is clearly emerging as a leader in international media literacy education (…). His research compares very favourably with that of Associate Professors in comparable universities (…). I would be an enthusiastic supporter of the case based on this impressive dossier. Assessor v Para 2: Dr. Cheung has established a consistent record of research productivity in peer-refereed journals. Conclusion: Overall, I find this a good record for promotion and tenure (…). Dr. Cheung’s research work is important, substantive, and recognized internationally as such. His leadersh ip activities, his grant writing, show a strong professional trajectory and a promising future ahead.

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Assessor vi Para 1: On the whole, I find Dr. Cheung a strong candidate for consideration of substantiation and promotion to Associate Professor. Conclusion: Compared to those cases I have reviewed in the past few years for (…), I see Dr. Cheung’s application for substantiation and promotion a reasonably straightforward case. I am quite sure that, given the kind of performance he has delivered, he would not find it difficult to secure tenure and promotion to Associate Professorship. I have quoted the above extracts not to boast about my achievements but to acknowledge the field of media education as an important field of study. As I am entering a later stage of my academic career, it would be nice to combine two inseparable elements of my life: my identity as a researcher in the field of media education and my identity as Chinese. This is why I would like to contribute with an edited book to examine research on media literacy education in China. I thank my wife Samantha and daughter Celeste for their full support in the preparation of this publication, and I also wish to give full credit to Springer for their willingness to publish this book. I hope this book can further explore and discuss issues in the field of media literacy education in general and its development and implementation in China in particular. To God be the glory!

Contents

Introduction ..................................................................................................... C.K. Cheung

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Teaching and Learning Media Literacy in China: The Uses of Media Literacy Education ......................................................................... Alice Y.L. Lee and Wang Tiande

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Bringing Media Literacy Education into the School Curriculum: A Trilevel Adoption of Innovation Model ..................................................... Alice Y.L. Lee, C.K. Cheung, and Meily Cheung

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Digital Media Use by Chinese Youth and Its Impact ................................... Guofang Wan, Ellen Yeh, and Hong Cheng Confidence Building, Empowerment, and Engagement: An Argument for Practicing Media Literacy Education in Special Education Settings in Hong Kong ............................. C.K. Cheung

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Using News Narratives to Learn About Gender Ideologies in Contemporary China ............................................................... Aditi Dubey-Jhaveri

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Opportunities for Implementing Media Literacy Education as an Obesity Prevention Strategy in China ................................................. Yi-Chun (Yvonnes) Chen

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Media and Its Influences on Adolescents’ Identity in Hong Kong................................................................................................... 105 C.K. Cheung School Initiative of Media Literacy Education in the Context of the National Curriculum Reform .............................................................. 119 Wen Xu

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Contents

Integrating Media Literacy Education into the School Curriculum in China: A Case Study of a Primary School .......................... 133 C.K. Cheung and Wen Xu Internationalising China’s Digital Media Literacy Education ................... 147 Ian William Lang The Future of Media Literacy Education in China: The Way Forward ........................................................................................... 173 C.K. Cheung

Introduction C.K. Cheung

Abstract Media literacy education in China is on the rise. From 2000 onwards,

quite a number of conferences on media literacy education were held in major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Hangzhou. The time has come now for more evidence from rigorous research on media literacy education in China from various teachers and researchers. This introductory chapter outlines the themes of this book, namely theorizing the implementation of media literacy education, practicing media literacy education in schools – case study in mainland China, argument for practicing media literacy education in Hong Kong, reasons for the implementation of media literacy education – responding to the trend in China, and developing the future media literacy education through learning from one another. Keywords Social media • Twenty-first century literacy • Information technology

• Curriculum • Media literacy education • Hong Kong

I first started my teaching and research in media literacy education in the 1960s, focussing on the areas of learning, teaching and curriculum, specifically related to the context of Hong Kong (Cheung 2001, 2004, 2005a, b; Cheung and Law 2002). At the same time, the new millennium in 2000 saw a shift in the pendulum. With Asian countries performing extremely well in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS) and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), educators started to turn their attention to the Asian cultural context to examine different issues related to education. As such, it was worth exploring media literacy education in Asia as well. In 2009, I investigated the development of media literacy education in four major societies in Asia, namely, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong. I chose Taiwan and Hong Kong because both are Chinese communities, with the former possessing a more traditional Chinese cultural heritage and the latter being an international city where East meets West. I chose Japan and South Korea because both are leading Asian countries in the area of media C.K. Cheung (*) Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2016 C.K. Cheung, Media Literacy Education in China , DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-0045-4_1

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products. My comparison focused on the following issues: the general pedagogical transition from inoculation to empowerment, the roles of government policy and educational reform in facilitating the development of media literacy education and the strength of partnerships between educationalists and local media and religious organisations. I found that media literacy education in the four Asian societies surveyed had undergone an initial stage of development that was characterised by a protectionist approach to pedagogy. With the possible exception of Taiwan, however, media educators in these societies soon moved beyond the inoculative paradigm, and the concept of empowerment—of empowering students to become critical consumer and producer of media texts—soon took root. Moreover, students’ active engagement in media production has come to be seen as a crucial component of media education. All these positive developments have not only been driven by grass-roots support but also benefited greatly from constructive and effective government policy decisions, as well as from strong partnerships with the media, religious groups and other organisations outside the formal educational system. Later on, I extended my investigation by including altogether 13 countries, which resulted in an edited book, Media Education in Asia (Cheung 2009a). After the publication of this book, I received many invitations to speak at various conferences to explore issues arising from the publication of the book. These issues included: Is there an Asian model in media literacy education? What is the way forward in the development of media literacy education in the globalised world? What is the influence of social media on media literacy education in Asia? What is the impact of media literacy education on Chinese youth? Of the many invitations, most came from China, and it is clear that media literacy education has become an important issue in China.

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The Challenges of Developing Media Literacy Education in China

China is known for the control of the media (Stockmann and Gallagher 2011; Esarey 2005). The Chinese government has long kept tight control on both traditional and new media to prevent potential challenges to its authority. The Chinese government has tightened control through laws and regulations, with massive filters to monitor and eliminate contents. As described by Esarey and Qiang (2010: 299): At central and local levels, the state censors Web traffic to ensure healthy social value, deter gambling, eliminate porn, punish swindlers, and excise the unhealthy views of religious cults, ethno-nationalists, and democratic reformers.

In 2010, the government issued its first white paper on the Internet requiring all Internet users in China to abide to Chinese laws and regulations. Government policymakers will want the members of the society to conform to the government’s ideology, but fortunately or unfortunately, China has advanced into a stage that is difficult to exercise its political hegemony through laws and regulations and the control of the mass media.

Introduction

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With its rapid economic growth since the new millennium, China has become a superpower in the world. Economically speaking, China surpassed Japan as the world’s second-largest economy in 2011 and was second only to the USA. What is more, the entertainment industry in China is also flourishing, and Chinese movies have won many international awards. For example, in 2013, the Cannes jury awarded the best screenplay to Jia Zhangke for the movie, ‘A Touch of Sin’, and in 2014, Diao Yinan’s ‘Black Coal, Thin Ice’ took home the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. Furthermore, the market is big enough to attract foreign investors either to treat China as an important market or even to collaborate with the Chinese capital. For instance, in 2014, the movie, ‘Transformers: Age of Extinction’, earned the tremendous sum of nearly US$4 billion in China at the box office, nearly double the US box office. Nowadays, China has the largest number of children viewing TV in the world, and, in addition, the quantity of Internet usage is increasing. Table 1 shows that the number of netizens in China has reached 564 million in 2012 (CNNIC 2014). Furthermore, the use of social media is rapidly on the rise, and more and more people are shopping online. The findings of Table 1 are in line with those of similar research done in other countries (Livingstone 2009) and echoes Zhang’s survey in 15 cities across the country, which investigated the media consumption habits of students aged between six and twelve and found that the number of students exposed to the media was increasing (Zhang 2013). Evidence shows that the media has become a significant factor in the growth and development of children in China. With the changing media environment, the question becomes which is more effective? Legislation or education? We believe, in this case, media literacy education is more effective than top-down government controls and legislations. By teaching children media literacy skills, we provide them with life-long learning and living skills that will be needed for the twenty-first century. In fact, the significance of media literacy education has been noted with more and more researchers, and scholars have joined the conversations, national conferences have been held, research institutions and centres have been established, and graduate programmes have been set up to promote media literacy education in China. According to Tan et al. ( 2012), Xia introduced media education into China for the first time in 1994. Later on, Bu (1997) traced the evolution of the concept of ‘media education’ in Western countries

Table 1 Internet development in China (2013) facts and figures

Internet access Mobile access

By December 2013, 618 million of the people in China had access to the Internet The penetration rate was 45.8 % By December 2013, the number of people accessing the Internet through mobile phones reached 500 million, 80 million more than the previous year 81 % of netizens used mobile phones to access the Internet The number of netizens who accessed the Internet using mobile phones exceeded that of users who did so by desktop computer Mobile phones became the top means of accessing the Internet in China

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and analysed the significance, content, implementation and methods of media education. After the Media Literacy Education Research Center formally established in Communication University of China in 2002, media literacy education became more popular. As was the case in the West (Cheung 2009a), media literacy education first started in China as a means to protect students from negative media influences. From 2000 onwards, quite a number of conferences on media literacy education were held in major cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou, and from the presentations of various teachers and researchers, it was noted that sporadic and spontaneous teaching about the media existed in some primary and secondary schools. The survey done by Zhang and his team (2013) indicated that teachers in schools and universities had voluntarily conducted experiments in media literacy education in the form of extracurricular lectures and online homework. Still, with the absence of a clear government policy on education, its development is far from satisfactory. Parameswaran (2010) lamented the fact that, although Chinese scholars have been exploring the theory of media literacy education for quite a while, there have been few studies of the process and outcomes of education in a specific setting. The time has come for more evidence from rigorous research on media literacy education in China. In doing this, the first question comes to mind is the various definitions of media literacy education media educators use in the last 40 years. The term media education was originated in June 1973 at a meeting of member organisations held in UNESCO and read as follows: …the study, learning and teaching of, and about, the modern media of communication and expression as a specific and autonomous area of knowledge within educational theory and practice, distinct from their use as aids for the teaching and learning of other areas of knowledge, such as mathematics, science and geography (IFTC 1977, p. 3)

Apart from this ‘traditional’ or ‘official’ definition, with the development of media education in other countries, there are numerous different definitions of ‘media education’ and some use ‘media literacy’ and ‘media education’ interchangeably. In the USA, Thoman (1995) suggests that media literacy is a study of the mass media for increasing people’s critical understanding of ‘what’ mass media are and ‘how’ they work and produce meaning. Martens (2010) considers media literacy to be a series of communication competencies, including the ability to access, analyse, evaluate or produce media messages, and Burn and Durran (2007) discuss the different models of media literacy. Hobbs (1994) notes the different use of terms and concludes that media education is ‘a child with a thousand names’ (p. 453), and Chen (2007) echoes and states that those common names, such as media literacy, media studies and critical viewing, are all used interchangeably with ‘media education’. In Europe, the use of media education was accompanied with media literacy at the beginning of the twenty-first century (Tornero et al. 2007). In this book, media literacy education will be used to include media studies, media literacy and media education. We will examine the prevailing perspectives on media literacy education in China and the kinds of spaces that have been developed

Introduction

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for its implementation out of the present curriculum reform. It is hoped that this book stimulates debate, policy and further research on media literacy education in China. The contributors are all respected advocates of media literacy education in China. The publication of this book consolidates the many discussed issues of media literacy education in China and provides a platform for media educators to discuss media literacy education further from different perspectives under different themes:

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Theorising the Implementation of Media Literacy Education

Lee set the scene with two co-authored chapters to discuss the theoretical framework leading to the implementation of media literacy education in Hong Kong and mainland China. Some examples in the West show that a bottom-up approach is adopted in the development of media literacy education, with much of the enthusiasm being generated from the grass roots, amongst teachers (Cheung 2009b). However, its successful progress will have to depend on the support of others. Indeed, as observed in other countries, a strong partnership is essential in the development and implementation of media literacy education (Cheung 2009a), especially from the universities. In mainland China, help from universities in the development of media literacy education in schools has become a dominant practice. The chapter by Lee and Wang studies how Zhejiang University of Media and Communications and its partnering schools in China strategically carry out media literacy education in the present sociopolitical system to meet both their institutional goals and social goals. Lee and Wang’s findings show that media literacy education is used in many ways by different stakeholders at national, university and school levels. Although the media literacy education programmes have been initiated by the same university, the curricula approaches of schools are different due to the varied goals of the schools. The authors describe how different schools have their own media literacy agendas. An individual school’s media literacy education agenda significantly affects the way in which its media literacy programme is conducted. Some schools use media literacy education to strengthen their media production concentration in order to build up the brand name of the school and improve student recruitment. Others use it to cultivate the moral virtue of their students, while some regard it as a useful tool for training media elites. Another chapter by Lee et al. reports on the adoption of media literacy education in a primary school in Hong Kong. The study shows that the adoption of an educational innovation is in fact a complicated process, which involves individual, organisational and societal factors. Findings in this study indicate that teachers’ understanding of media literacy education, reflective teaching, school support, innovativeness of the school and the benefit of media literacy education for a

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certain subject named Liberal Studies (Cheung 2009c) are the more prominent predictors.

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Practising Media Literacy Education in Schools: Case Study in Mainland China

As China is a very big country, it is difficult to conduct a national research. In this book, two case studies are used to illustrate the implementation of media literacy education in China. Xu’s chapter outlines the implementation of media literacy education in the context of the national curriculum reform. Her account echoes Cheung’s (2009a, b, c) research showing the importance of policy in the inclusion of media literacy education in the curricula. Cheung wrote (2009a: 5): ‘Though the development of media education, as has been observed in many countries, and begins with a bottom-up movement, its continual growth requires the blessing of the government, with a policy that may directly or indirectly help the development of media education’. However, Xu, in her chapter, also stresses that, besides the top-down educational reform from the government, schools could promote media literacy education through the schools’ own initiatives, as well as university-school partnerships. It is also noted from Xu’s chapter that since 2008, the research of media literacy education in mainland China has switched from the first phase of introducing foreign theories and advocating the importance or necessity of media literacy education in China to a new phase of developing indigenous media literacy education courses and putting ideas into practice on the basis of the local situation of basic education. In 2010, the environment of research and practice of media literacy education changed greatly throughout the world due to the emergence and rapid popularisation of new information technologies such as tablet computers, smart phones and mobile Internet. In mainland China, researchers have launched studies on digital learning in basic education based on new technologies including tablet computers, cloud computing and so forth. How to adapt the concept, content and form of media literacy education in the era of digital learning is a new challenge. The next chapter, Integrating media literacy education into the school curriculum in China: A case study of a primary school, by Cheung and Xu reports on research into how a primary school is achieving its purpose of implementing media literacy education. In this chapter, the implementation of media literacy education is done through its integration with information technology education. This echoes a youth media education survey carried out by UNESCO (Domaille and Buckingham 2001) suggesting that new developments in media literacy education were expected through the use of ICT in schools and that, it was hoped, greater competence with the relevant technologies in general could result in the development of a more formal media literacy education curriculum. It is vital then that media literacy education, rather than ICT, is presented with the challenge and task of providing a supportive

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framework within which students can explore new media literacies. Furthermore, as media literacy education is still not a stand-alone subject in China, the integrated model seems to be the way forward for the time being.

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Argument for Practising Media Literacy Education in Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, Cheung’s research indicates that media literacy education is implemented for various reasons and in different subjects. His survey in primary schools and secondary schools confirmed that education reform play a significant role in the implementation of media literacy education and moral and civic education is a popular subject where media literacy education could be integrated (Cheung. 2004, 2005b, 2007). In responding to a statement made at the 21st Century Literacy Summit— Educating for the Media and the Digital Age (Gundacker 1999: 274) claiming that media literacy education should be aimed at empowering all citizens in every society and should ensure that people with special needs and those soc ially and economically advanced have access to it, Cheung’s chapter argues that media literacy education can help students with disability combat media stereotypes, actively participate in society and become engaged in media production. He argues for the incorporation of media literacy education into the special education curriculum. Here, special education means education for children and adolescents with various physical disabilities—hearing/visual impairments, mobility impairment and so forth. This is important as students with special needs are quite often deprived of the opportunities to access the media and are also stereotyped by the media in many instances. Cheung’s views echo those of Hobbs (2014), who stated: ‘Students enrolled in special education programs may be more vulnerable to media influence because of limitations in skills, including comprehension, inference making, and using social or environmental cues (483)’. In the discussion between the relationship between civic education and media literacy education, Cheung finds out media can have great influence on the civic identity of a person. In this book, his chapter on measuring personality and media practices was carried out amongst high school students ( N = 972) in Hong Kong. Based on the results of the survey, participant values were content analysed for types of media influences. A measure was calculated for each individual by comparing the results of the personality values with participants’ reported media practices and influences. The effects of various media on eight identity factors: personal growth, community, gender role, health, beliefs, wealth, image and social identity orientation were examined. Overall positive correlations between aspects of identity, such as personal growth, health, community, and social identity orientation and media values influences, were observed. Implications of the findings are discussed,

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and the call for the implementation of media literacy education in the curriculum is apparent.

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Reasons for the Implementation of Media Literacy Education: Responding to the Trend in China

As the world continues to be wired up electronically, and as people continue to move their daily lives online, electronic media is becoming more and more prominent in China. The chapter by Guo et al. presents the latest statistics on the media use of Chinese young people and describes the unprecedented growth trends of media use and the reasons why young people in China are so enthusiastic about new gadgets and embrace activities on the Internet, as well as some potential effects of their media use. Results of their study indicate the immediate need for enhanced media literacy education in China, which will enable Chinese young people to become mature users of new media and to avoid the negative effects of media use. While dealing with the stereotyping of disadvantaged persons is a major concern in Cheung’s chapter, Dubey examines the ideological construction of gender identities in news narratives in China with a view to highlighting the need to enhance media literacy education in this field. Through an exploration of the intersection of journalism and gender ideologies, the chapter seeks to illuminate the role of media framing in defining, establishing and reinforcing gender norms and roles in Chinese society. Gendered frames allow journalists to simplify the complexities of the stories of men and women in their public and private spheres. Dubey’s detailed qualitative study of a corpus of ten feature articles from China Daily using a discourse analysis approach revealed that news texts primarily construct ideals of manhood and womanhood. Within a patriarchal and hierarchical media, state and social structure, representations of hegemonic masculinities persist in news narratives, while negative stereotypes against LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered) communities remain deeply embedded. With regard to women, it was found that, on the one hand, the voices of rural, migrant women were marginalised, and on the other, a select group of intellectual women who identified themselves as feminists was occasionally represented in ways that ran counter to mainstream beliefs. These results call for critically minded, media literate Chinese to pay attention to the forms of transitional, as opposed to traditional, gender roles and ideologies that are emerging slowly but steadily through the news media. As China becomes richer and is becoming the world’s second-largest economy after the USA, people’s purchasing power increases. With adults thirst for luxurious goods, children are fed with food that taste good but may not be nutritious. The problem of childhood obesity could become a problem in China. Chen’s chapter deals with this issue. Chen discusses the importance of incorporating media literacy education into school and nonschool settings to combat childhood obesity in China. She begins with an introduction to the obesity epidemic and the rising medical costs

Introduction

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associated with obesity-related illnesses. She then explains how food marketing contributes to childhood obesity by discussing food advertising expenditures, types of food advertising and the tactics used in food marketing to attract children’s attention.

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Development Through Learning from One Another

As the study of the development of media literacy education is dominated by Western models, it is worthwhile to borrow some from the West to facilitate the discussion of media literacy education in China. With Chinese youth so engaged in digital media, Lang’s chapter explores how China is making use of digital media. Lang seeks to analyse structural change amongst China’s key media literacy education providers to provide a digitally coherent approach to training new media content makers for both internal modernisation and employment and internationalisation of Chinese culture. After summarising trends amongst key providers and agencies, including advances in e-learning and non-entertainment-based production, the chapter examines digitally useful curricula mechanisms intended to shift content production from a self-centred focus to other focuses to enable authenticity in Chinese self-representation and knowledge transfer in foreign markets. The chapter concludes by examining the type of strategic partnerships with foreign universities and media partners that may accelerate China’s digital media literacy within the context of e-learning.

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Cheung, C. K. (2009c). Integrating media education into liberal studies: A positive response to curriculum reform in Hong Kong. Curriculum Journal, 20 (4), 437–446. Cheung, C. K., & Law, S. L. (2002). Implementing media education in secondary curriculum: A Hong Kong experience. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 11 (2), 161–176. CNNIC. (2014). Report of China Internet Network Information Centre on statistical report on Retrieved from http://www1.cnnic.cn/IDR/ Internet Development in China . ReportDownloads/201404/U020140417607531610855.pdf Domaille, K., & Buckingham, D. (2001). Survey report on approaches to youth media literacy . A report prepared for UNESCO Sector of Communication and Information. Esarey, A. (2005). Concerning the market: State strategies for controlling China’s commercial by media. Asian Perspective, 29(4), 37–83. Esarey, A., & Qiang, X. (2010). Digital communications and political change in China. International Journal of Communication, 5 , 298–319. Gundacker, F. (Ed.). (1999). 21st century literacy summit – Educating for the media and the digital age. Austrian Federal Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs. Hobbs, R. (1994). Pedagogical issues in U.S. media education. Communication Yearbook, 17 , 366–453. Hobbs, R. (2014) Digital media literacy: A plan of action in art. In Silverblatt (Ed.), The Praeger handbook of media literacy Sanat Barbara, California: Praeger, (pp. 477–529) International Film and Television Council. (1977). Media studies in education. Paris: UNESCO. Livingstone, S. (2009). Children and the Internet great expectations, challenging realities . Cambridge, MA: Polity. Martens, H. (2010). Evaluating media literacy education: Concepts, theories and future directions. The Journal of Media Literacy, 2 (1), 1–22. Parameswaran, R. (2010). The rise of China and India: Promising new teaching and research directions for global media studies. Global Media and Communication, 6 (3), 1–6. Stockmann, D., & Gallagher, M. (2011). Remote control: How the media sustain authoritarian rule in China. Comparative Political Studies, 44 (4), 436–467. Tan, Qinyi; Xiang, Qian; Zhang, Jingya; Teng, Luyuan and Yao, Jiali. (2012, August). Media literacy education in mainland China: A historical overview. International Journal of Information and Education Technology, 2 (4), 382–385. Thoman, E. (1995). The three stages of media literacy . Retrieved March 12, 2006, from http:// www.media-awareness.ca/english/teachers/media_literacy/what_is_media_literacy.cfm Tornero, P., Manuel, J., Celot, P., & Varis, T. (2007). Study on the current trends and approaches to media literacy in Europe. http://ec.europa.eu/culture/library/studies/literacy-trends-report_en.pdf Zhang, B. (2013). In Chinese media and children: The media literacy of urban children in China in 2013.

Teaching and Learning Media Literacy in China: The Uses of Media Literacy Education Alice Y.L. Lee and Wang Tiande

Abstract This chapter examines the uses of media literacy education in China through a case study in Zhejiang Province. The Chinese government welcomes media literacy education for cultivating media literate civil servants, media professionals, and citizens, but no educational policy has been formulated to encourage growth in this field. Some universities in China have taken the lead in developing innovative strategies to introduce media literacy curricula into schools. Based on structuration theory, this case study focuses on analyzing how Zhejiang University of Media and Communications and its partnership schools strategically carry out media literacy education (agency effort) under the present sociopolitical system (structure) to meet both their institutional goals and social goals. Findings show that media literacy is used in many ways by different stakeholders at national, university, and school levels. Although the media literacy programs in the study were initiated by the same university, the curricular approaches of the partnership schools are different due to the schools’ varying missions. Keywords Media education • Structuration theory • Agency analysis • Use of media literacy • University-driven model

A.Y.L. Lee (*) Department of Journalism, School of Communication, Hong Kong Baptist University, Room 1025, 10/F, Communication and Visual Arts Building 5 Hereford Road , Kowloon, Hong Kong e-mail: [email protected] W. Tiande The Institute of Media Literacy Studies, Zhejiang University of Media and Communications, 998 Xueyuan Street, Xiasha Higher Education Zone, 310018 Hangzhou, China e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2016 C.K. Cheung, Media Literacy Education in China , DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-0045-4_2

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A.Y.L. Lee and W. Tiande

Introduction

Media literacy education is the process of teaching and learning about the media, with media literacy as the outcome (Buckingham 2003). In the past 40 years, media literacy education has developed rapidly around the globe. In China, much discussion and research on media literacy education has been conducted since 1997, but few media literacy education programs have been carried out in schools and communities. In recent years, some universities have taken the initiative to develop media literacy education programs and introduce them to primary and secondary schools. This helps media literacy get a foothold in the education system and in the community. In China, the Chinese government regards media literacy education as a useful means to cultivate media literate government officials, media professionals, and citizens. Within this social context, how do the universities and schools design and conduct their media literacy education programs? How do they on the one hand accommodate the national goal of media literacy and on the other hand try to achieve their own institutional objectives? The aim of this study is then to examine the many uses of media literacy education. The study explores the ways in which media literacy education is used by different stakeholders and examines what kinds of goals have been met. It also investigates whether curriculum approaches differ as the goals of schools vary. This chapter adopts structuration theory as its theoretical foundation. Through agency analysis, it examines how university members and school principals (agents) develop their media literacy curricula under the current sociopolitical environment (social system). The implementation and structuration processes of the media education program are put under close investigation. The media literacy education program initiated by Zhejiang University of Media and Communications (ZUMC) was selected as a case study as it is one of the outstanding examples of a university-driven model of media literacy education in China. Moreover, the program involves stakeholders at national level, university level, and school level.

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The Development of Media Literacy Education in China: University-Driven Initiatives

The concept of media literacy was first introduced to China in 1997. Since then, there has been much scholarly interest in media literacy education, and numerous journal articles and conference papers have been written on the topic. Most of them discuss the rationales of and theoretical approaches to media literacy. In 2004, the first international conference of media literacy education was held in Beijing at Communication University of China (CUC). In 2007, Fudan University organized the Media Education Forum, and Zhejiang University of Media and Communications

Teaching and Learning Media Literacy in China: The Uses of Media Literacy Education

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(ZUMC) held the First West Lake Media Literacy Summit. The development of media literacy education started to gain momentum. Media literacy education courses were included in university curricula, and media literacy research centers were established. The Center for Media Education was established at CUC in 2004 and began to train graduates majoring in media education (Xu 2009). Over the years, the tertiary education arena has become the nurturing base for media literacy. However, media literacy was only studied as a concept as well as an emerging academic discipline. There was a lack of instructional development for the school system. In the early years, teaching of and research into media literacy education was limited to the academic field. Although the idea of media literacy has not yet spread widely at the societal level, the need for media literacy education has increased as communication technologies rapidly developed in China. After entering the Web 2.0 era and the introduction of Weibo, WeChat, and other social networking sites, the media environment in China underwent a sea change. By June 2014, 632 million people in China had access to the Internet. The penetration rate was 46.9 % (CNNIC 2014). The number of Weibo users reached 275 million. About 368 million netizens are engaged in playing online games. In the mass media era, information was processed by professional media people. However, in the Internet era, information on the Web is not filtered, and media messages containing sex and violence circulate widely. Moreover, young people’s Internet addiction has become a social problem too. The new technological environment leads to concerns over regulation. In fact, in the early 2000s, a series of documents had already been issued by the Chinese government, including the National Youth Convention on the Network Civilization : Several Opinions from the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Further Strengthening and Improving the Ideological and Moral Construction of Minors. From the state’s point of view, there is a need to regulate the media to provide the best possible media environment. At the same time, the state also regards media literacy education as a helpful means to combat negative media messages coming from the traditional media as well as from Weibo. Many feature stories from People’s Daily and Guangming Daily called for equipping young people, particularly netizens, with media literacy (Yao 2010; Guo 2007; Li 2011). On June 6, 2011, People’s Daily published an important editorial entitled “Media Literacy Exemplifies the Quality of Governance” (People’s Daily 2011a). In this editorial, all government officials are requested to cultivate their media literacy so that they can constructively deal with the media. The aim is to guide them in treating the media well, using the media well, and managing the media well. It is said that as the world has entered the Web 2.0 age, government policy should transit to a “government 2.0” expression. Government officials should learn how to interact with the public. A subsequent commentary in August by People’s Daily further suggested that party leaders and civil servants should be equipped with media literacy first because they are important sectors of society. Then media literacy education should be conducted in schools to train young people in media literacy (Li and Dong 2011). According to this commentary, enhancing the cultural quality of the citizens can

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strengthen the soft power of China. In fact, in the year of 2011, many other official media such as Guangming Daily, Liberation Army Daily, Democracy and Law Times, and Xinhua Daily Telegram jumped on the bandwagon in promoting the importance of media literacy for government leaders, government spokesmen, civil servants, and soldiers (Cai 2012; Nie 2011; People’s Daily 2011b; Ren 2011; Zheng 2011). In the government’s eyes, media literacy training is also good for media practitioners. Due to increasing commercialization of the media in China, it is considered necessary to strengthen the professional ethics of media practitioners. It is suggested that there is a close link between media literacy and the media’s social responsibility (Yao 2012). In brief, although media literacy is a foreign concept, the Chinese government basically welcomes it. Media education is regarded as useful for cultivating media sophisticated government officials, ethical media professionals, and high-quality citizens. This approach is believed to imply a strong sense of media education as regulation with the aim of pursuing social stability and prosperity. Yet, apart from holding some media literacy training workshops for government officials, there are no government measures or special funding schemes to promote media literacy in society. According to media advocates in China, the absence of professional development for teachers, the heavy workload under the current school curricula for students, and a shortage of funds for educational initiatives are all obstacles to the development of media literacy education at the grassroots level in China (Wan and Gut 2008). Not many schools in China actually put media literacy education into practice. However, in the past few years, more schools have brought media literacy education into the school curriculum. It is found that most of these media education programs are initiated by media literacy education advocates in universities. The most outstanding examples of the university-driven media literacy initiative include the media literacy education curricula at Beijing Heizhima Hutong Primary School, the partnership media literacy project in Zhejiang Province, and the media literacy program in Zhuhai No. 3 Middle School and other schools in Guangdong Province and Shandong Province. These programs are developed by CUC, ZUMC, and South China Normal University, respectively. The curricula are designed by the university. Professors and college students go to the partnership schools to teach media literacy courses. School teachers at the partnership schools attend classes together with the students and try to pick up media literacy teaching skills. After a few semesters, the school teachers are then capable of teaching media literacy education courses themselves. This unique model of media literacy education is a natural outcome of media literacy development in China, as media education was introduced and advocated mostly by academics in the tertiary education sector who had knowledge of media literacy education.


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Structuration Theory and the Use of Media Literacy

Most of the literature puts emphasis on the discussion of the definition of and curriculum approaches to media literacy education. There are few discussions about the use of media literacy and its implementation. This study is interested in finding out the goals of media literacy advocates and how they can implement their work under various structural principles. According to Street (1984, 1993), there are two theoretical approaches to the social use of literacy. While the autonomous model sees literacy as a technical skill to be obtained regardless of its social environment, the ideological model claims that literacy practices are embedded in social interactions and practices (Graff 1987; Street 1984). Graff argued that the autonomous model just represents the “literacy myth,” and Gee (1996) echoed this by saying literacy is usually used by people to meet their own social goals. The ideological model is regarded here as more suitable for studying the media literacy education program in China. As with general literacy, the use of media literacy most likely relies on the motives of the people who initiate the program. The notion of media literacy is closely associated with the social institutions in which it is practiced (Vasquez et al. 2004). This study sees media literacy as a social practice and argues that its practice is conducted by people who interact with one another in a specific social system. The media literacy education programs promoted by the university in Zhejiang are worth studying in order to find out the u nderlying interaction mechanism. A study of media-organization media literacy in Hong Kong indicated that the uses of media literacy education programs are “the results of the structuration process conducted in the media organization setting” (Chu and Lee 2014, p. 127). It argued that the study of the use of media literacy has to consider both the structural principles of media organizations and agency effort of media practitioners. This study also follows Giddens’ structuration theory, and it pays especially close attention to the agency role in promoting and practicing media education. Giddens (1984) proposed that social outcome not only comes from the existence of any form of control from the social system but also from the acts of the individual actor. The structuration process of the social practices very often produces certain results. According to structuration theory, “structure” refers to rules, regulations, and resources used by actors (Giddens 1984). “Structural principles” means the use of rules and resources to regulate social relations. As to “agency,” it refers to actors who are knowledgeable beings and purposive agents in the social system. They are unique in their motivation, reflexive mind, and rationalization of action. When they are involved in social practices, they will exercise their practical consciousness to transform rules and reallocate resources (Turner 1986). This chapter rejects the structuralist view, which puts too much emphasis on the totality of the social system. Rather, it adopts Giddens’ structuration thesis to examine the role of agency play in the formation of media literacy programs. It will analyze how agency force (university members, school principals, and teachers)

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endeavors to launch media literacy education programs in schools under the influence of the structural force of the state.

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Methodological Note

For this study, researchers selected the media literacy education programs of the Zhejiang University of Media and Communications as a representative case of the university-driven media literacy model. It was chosen for the following reasons: (1) It is a media literacy education program initiated by the president of the university and supported by faculty members and students; (2) the program has been institutionalized in the university and operates under two university units; (3) the program has sustainable development as it started in 2008 and is still running well; (4) the program has developed systematic lesson plans and curriculum materials (PPTs and textbooks); and (5) the program has more than four partnership schools, and the number of trained students has already reached 1300 each year. This study adopted both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Researchers conducted in-depth interviews with university and school representatives who had either initiated or contributed substantially to the development of the project. The interviews include the president of ZUMC, its faculty members, the leaders of the Media Literacy Teaching Association, university students who joined the media literacy volunteer teaching activities, partnership school principals, and schoolteachers. In total, 27 people were interviewed. Of these, 22 also participated in our expert survey and filled out our questionnaire. The four partnership schools are Yongkang Dasixiang Primary School, Jinyun Changkeng Primary School, Hangzhou Xiayan Middle School, and Jiaxing Xiushui Senior High School. Three student focus group studies were conducted in the two primary schools and Hangzhou Xiayan Middle School. In addition, a student survey was carried out in the four partnership schools. Totally 857 questionnaires were collected.

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The University-Driven Media Literacy Project in Zhejiang Province

The Zhejiang media literacy education project was initiated by Professor Peng Shaojian, president of ZUMC. He set up the Institute of Media Literacy Studies with the support of his university colleagues in 2007 and launched a media literacy education project to bring media literacy education to schools (Peng, personal communication, December 16, 2011). Two primary schools and two secondary schools in the province were lined up as partnership schools. Figure 1 shows how the Zhejiang media literacy project operates. The Institute of Media Studies serves as the headquarters of the project, and its staff are the


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Fig. 1 The implementation of the university-driven media literacy project in Zhejiang Province

masterminds behind the design and execution of the whole project. The university management sought the support of the China Radio and TV Association in Beijing. The Association was willing to endorse this project. It publishes media literacy research reports in its periodical, China Radio and TV Academic Journal. It also set up the Media Literacy Research Base at ZUMC. In ZUMC, there are many student volunteer groups running extracurricular activities. One of them is the Media Literacy Volunteer Teaching Association, which has a close link with the Institute of Media Literacy Studies. The Volunteer Teaching

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Association is responsible for selecting suitable student volunteers to join the media literacy project. The Institute then provides guidance and training to recruited students. Media literacy lesson plans and curriculum materials are developed with the collaboration of faculty members and students. The practice of engaging students is part of the “train the trainer” strategic plan. Once training and the curriculum materials are developed, volunteer university students take turns to go to partnership schools to run media literacy classes. Through this learning and teaching process, the students themselves gain rich knowledge of media literacy. Meanwhile, the Institute of Media Literacy Studies organizes a summer media literacy social practice program every year. University professors take students to different parts of China to conduct media literacy projects, such as media literacy surveys of civil servants, media development of remote villages, and cultural heritage preservation through video making for minority groups. Through these media literacy volunteer teaching activities and media literacy social practice programs, university students go through the media literacy experiential learning process. This is the “tertiary level” of media literacy training. At the school level, as many school teachers know very little about the media and media literacy, they attend media literacy education classes together with the students. Through class participation, the teachers in partnership schools gradually develop media literacy skills. By using curriculum materials provided by the university, some of them can start to teach their own media literacy courses. Later, they can also develop their own teaching materials. Media literacy education advocates call this practice “training while teaching.” It is regarded as the “school level” of media literacy training.

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Agency Efforts to Bring Media Literacy Education to Schools

As discussed in Giddens’ theory of structuration, structure and agency interact with each other. Given that all human action is performed within the context of an existing social structure that is governed by a set of norms, an individual’s action is inevitably predetermined to a certain extent by contextual rules. However, the structure and rules are not permanent and external but can be modified by human action through social processes. Applying the structuration theory to the media literacy movement in China, it becomes apparent that university-driven media literacy projects not only aim to achieve the state’s media literacy goals but also the goals of the university, schools, and society at large. Agency effort plays an important role in the development of the media literacy movement.


6.1

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Knowledgeable Agents

ZUMC, located in Hangzhou, is a small, specialized university concentrating on media and communication studies. The university’s faculty members are rich in media knowledge. The volunteer students all study media-related subjects so they are also media savvy. With some media literacy training, they are capable of delivering media literacy courses at schools. School principals and teachers, while not necessarily media savvy, are interested in media issues and have the opportunity to be trained as capable media literacy educators through the project. Giddens (1984) suggested that while we examine the role of agents in social practice, it is important to evaluate the knowledgeability of the agents. In this case study, university faculty members, volunteer university students, school principals, and media literacy school teachers are all capable agents who contribute to the launching of this university-driven media literacy project.

6.2

Meeting the Goals of the Government

According to structuration theory, actors constantly monitor the social context in which they take action; media literacy education advocates are fully aware of the sociopolitical setting they operate in. In China, any educational initiative should have the endorsement of the government. Media education advocates fully understand that there is a need to meet the national expectations for media education. ZUMC’s cooperation with the China Radio and TV Association (an unofficial organization whose members are media practitioners) shows that the Zhejiang media education program is in line with the educational goal of the government. Cultivating media practitioners’ media literacy is regarded by the government as one of the tasks of media literacy education. Working together with the Association, the university management felt that it was legitimate to use its budget to support the media literacy project. Besides, the project’s summer media literacy social practice program conducts media literacy surveys of civil servants to promote media literacy training. It also meets the government’s goal of enhancing civil servants’ media literacy. In addition, in the new media environment, there are concerns about the social impacts of news media and the Internet on young students, while the government is also concerned about cultivating good citizens. Training young people to be media literate matches the interests of the government.

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6.3


The University’s Motivations for Launching the Media Literacy Project

Professor Peng is the major advocate of the ZUMC media literacy project. As a veteran educator and the head of the university, he is aware of the great socialization impact of the media, particularly digital media, on the young people. He believes that it is important to equip university students with media literacy so that they can wisely make good use of the media and become outstanding graduates of his university. Meanwhile, as an academic, he is aware that media literacy education is a burgeoning discipline in the field of social sciences. It will be beneficial for the growth of his university if it concentrates on developing research and practice in this new area. As a small, new university, ZUMC cannot compete with well-established universities in traditional communication fields such as journalism, advertising, broadcasting, and new media. Since media literacy education is an uncharted area, every university is at the same starting point for competing in this field (Peng Shaojian, personal communication, December 16, 2011). ZUMC faculty members are encouraged by this view and willing to explore this new academic field by engaging in its educational practice. The volunteer university students feel excited about being involved in a meaningful project. As communication students, they recognize the value of media literacy education (Liu Yue, personal communication, November 5, 2011). Many of them consider that by participating in the media literacy project, they are able to gain valuable media literacy knowledge, which is good for their career development. They can also build up leadership skills and achieve better personal growth (Liao Qianting, personal communication, November 5, 2011; Zhang Zehan, personal communication, November 5, 2011). Media literacy advocates at ZUMC launched the media literacy education program strategically. According to structuration theory, agents need to have practical consciousness, which refers to understanding of the rules and tactics of social practice. Findings of this study show that media literacy education advocates at ZUMC clearly understood the rules of the game and were aware of the shortage of r esources. On the one hand, they need to accommodate the government’s expectation on media literacy education. On the other hand, they understood that although the government welcomes media literacy education, no funding was provided. They had to launch the media literacy project on a very limited university budget. Therefore, they linked up the Institute of Media Literacy Studies with the students’ volunteer teaching group. With the support of the students, the project could be run on a very low budget. The train the trainer strategy is effective. The “training while teaching” practice as an indirect method of teacher training also works well. The summer media literacy social practice programs are also strategically designed to contribute to the development of the media literacy movement in many ways: (1) The program cultivates students’ media literacy skills, writing skills, and survey skills; (2) it guides students to get in touch with society, integrating theory with practice; (3) the program brings media literacy education outside Zhejiang Province, promoting the practice of media literacy education around the country;


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and (4) student activities help to bring media literacy education into the community, so it is no longer limited to the educational arena. In fact, the most important objective of the summer program is to build up the reputation of ZUMC as a media literacy education base at national level.

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Media Literacy Agenda of Schools

The ZUMC helps four schools in Zhejiang Province to build their media literacy curricula and train their teachers. University students are sent to these schools to conduct media literacy courses. Although all the programs have been initiated by the same university, the curricular approaches of the schools are different because the goals of the schools vary. School principals were very concerned about the impacts of new media and the Internet on their students. They hoped media literacy training could help their students to better understand the media, distinguish quality information from bad information, and make good use of the media. However, they also expected that the introduction of media literacy would contribute to the development of their schools. The findings of our study show that different schools have their own media literacy education agendas, which significantly affect the ways in which the media literacy education program is conducted.

7.1

Hangzhou Xiayan Middle School: Building a Reputable Characteristic School

Hangzhou Xiayan Middle School is a well-known school in Hangzhou City. It has enthusiastically integrated media literacy education into its formal curriculum. This school offers both media literacy general education classes and special broadcast classes and has devoted great effort to establishing itself as a “characteristic school” which specializes in media, and media literacy education is regarded as useful in this regard. In China, characteristic schools refer to those schools with specializations. Luo Zhongcheng, the vice principal of the school, stated that it is important to cultivate students’ media literacy so that they are able to navigate well in the new media age. He hoped the media literacy course would not only help his students to consume media wisely but also guide them to use the media. He pointed out that bringing media literacy education into his school can strengthen the special course on media production in order to build up the brand name of the school and improve student admission. The education authority of Zhejiang Province also recognized this school’s achievement as an outstanding media school and granted it a large sum of money to construct a media building. In addition, the media literacy education course also contributes in developing a school culture that is lively, full of diversity,

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up to date, and media relevant. Media literacy education is helpful in enhancing the reputation of the school and cultivating high-quality students (Luo Zhongcheng, personal communication, October 31, 2011; Cheng Xiaoding, personal communication, October 31, 2011). Students in the focus group study pointed out that they enjoyed the media literacy education classes because they are useful and interesting. They learned the concepts of movie making, television production, photography, advertising, and other creative media. Findings of the student survey showed that the media literacy education curriculum in this school has contributed to enhancing the “4C” skills (critical thinking, creativity, communication, and collaboration skills) of the students. From Table 1, we can see that students who took the media literacy course had higher confidence in their 4C skills. Moreover, about 50 % of students who had attended media literacy classes said that they knew how films use montage to tell stories, while only 17.7 % of those who did not take the media literacy education course agreed that they knew. This indicates that students who joined the media literacy education program had richer media production knowledge. With its media literacy education program, Hangzhou Xiayan Middle School has successfully built up its brand name as a famous media characteristic school.

7.2

Jiaxing Xiushui Senior High School: Seeking Career Development

Jiaxing Xiushui Senior High School is a private school run by a civic group. Since it is not a top school, students admitted they do not have very high academic achievement. In recent years, the school management has been eager to build up itself as a Table 1 The 4C skills of the students at the Hangzhou Xiayan Middle School

Strongly agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly disagree

Total

My critical thinking skill is very good

Yes ML (%)

11.4

46.6

31.8

6.8

3.4

100.0

No ML (%)

5.9

37.3

45.1

7.8

3.9

100.0

I have very good communication skill

Yes ML (%)

11.4

34.1

40.9

10.2

3.4

100.0

No ML (%)

5.9

21.6

54.9

17.6

0.0

100.0

I am a very creative person

Yes ML (%)

11.5

41.4

36.8

8.0

2.3

100.0

No ML (%)

2.0

23.5

52.9

13.7

7.8

100.0

I know well how to cooperate with other people

Yes ML (%)

12.5

43.2

38.6

2.3

3.4

100.0

No ML (%)

7.8

35.3

43.1

7.8

5.9

100.0

Note: Yes ML students who took the media literacy course No ML students who did not take any media literacy course


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characteristic school specializing in arts and media. Unlike the Hangzhou Xiayan Middle School, this school does not aim at strengthening its brand name. Instead, the school management hopes to provide some media vocational training for students so that they can get a job in the media industry or help them to pursue further studies in communication colleges. Thus, the media literacy education program is strategic in helping the school to achieve its goal. Cai Wenxiang, the vice principal, explained that apart from ordinary academic training, it is necessary to provide an alternative path for students so that they can more easily find jobs or enter a college after graduation (Cai Wenxiang, personal communication, November 1, 2011). Academically speaking, his students are not competitive. Therefore, they need to acquire special skills. In the past, the school put a lot of effort into developing its specialized arts program. Since the media sector has become more and more important, the school wished to expand its arts program to include media, so it decided to introduce the media literacy education program. Wang Jianhong, the principal, pointed out that it is important to educate young people to be media literate so they can make good use of the media. He hoped that the media literacy education program can raise students’ interest in the media and build up a school culture which is media oriented. He also sent schoolteachers to ZUMC for further study so that they would be capable of teaching professional media courses on their own (Wang Jianhong, personal communication, November 1, 2011). Findings of the student survey indicate that students from this school are particularly interested in media production. Their media literacy education curriculum puts emphasis on professional media knowledge and skills. More than 55 % of media literacy students agreed that they can creatively produce media products.

7.3

Yongkang Dasixiang Primary School: Training Future Leaders

Yongkang Dasixiang Primary School is a top primary school in the region. Most of the students are children of government officials and civil servants. The objective of this school is to train high-quality students who can become future leaders. Its principal, Wang Weixing, is a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Committee. Facing the challenge of the information society, Principal Wang regards it as essential that his students develop the ability to distinguish good media messages from bad media messages. More important is that students need to master the constructive use of media so that they can better prepare for future work and life (Wang Weixing, personal communication, November 3, 2011). In other words, future leaders have to be media literate. Apart from rigorous academic training, this school has a special course on psychological consulting. The aim is to cultivate students’ correct values, EQ, psychological health, and self-confidence, indicating that the school emphasizes training

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students’ psychological capabilities and communication skills. According to Wang, in the new communication environment, the influence of the media and I nternet on children and young people is great. In recent years, parents and teachers have begun to be aware of media impact on students and would like them to better handle it. Moreover, it is important for students to learn how to better use the media in order to keep up with the times. Introducing media literacy education into the school is regarded as useful in many ways. First, it can train students to use media wisely. Second, the media literacy course can be integrated with the psychology course so that both teachers and students work together to achieve healthy self-development. Third, the media literacy course can help build a school atmosphere that promotes constructive media use. In particular, this school hopes the student leaders can master the skills of newspaper editing and media production. The media literacy education curriculum of this school puts emphasis on understanding different kinds of media, media relationships, rights of privacy, opinion expression, creative production, and the difference between the virtual world and real life. The student survey revealed that students who had taken the media literacy education course said that they had learned how to criticize and appreciate the media. Only 12 % of them expressed that they could not correctly use the media for doing meaningful things, and 18 % of them said that they were unable to apply what they had learned from the media to their everyday lives. In the focus group study, students expressed that they had learned how to evaluate media messages and how to better communicate in public. The media literacy education program seems to be helpful in cultivating confident and smart students in this school.

7.4

Jinyun Changkeng Primary School: Cultivating Ethical Citizens

Jinyun Changkeng Primary School is a rural school. Most of its students are the children of peasants. Although this is not an elite school like Yongkang Dasixiang Primary School, it is an award-winning school for excellent moral education. The media literacy education program here is integrated with moral education. For Liu Yongwu, the principal, learning how to become a good person comes before acquiring academic knowledge. In the past, this school paid great attention to arts education since this subject helped to shape the personalities of students. In recent years, it found that the mass media and new media exercise great influence on students’ value judgments. Moreover, the large amount of information coming from the media is much more influential than what is taught by teachers. In light of this, Liu decided to include media literacy education in his school’s curriculum. Moral education is the strength of this school. From the school management’s perspective, using media literacy training to further develop moral education is good for the school and good for the students (Liu Yongwu, personal communication, November 4, 2014).


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The education authority has praised this school as the “National Advanced Institution in Moral Education.” Therefore, the school has to keep up its good reputation for moral education while keeping abreast of the times. Introducing media literacy education can benefit the school’s future development of moral education. Liu emphasized that all skills and knowledge should serve social practice. Students should apply what they have learned from the media to their everyday lives. The media literacy education curriculum of this school puts great effort into teaching rural students how to make good use of different media; cultivating students’ moral virtue is a major goal of the media literacy education program. From the student survey findings, students who have taken the media literacy education course are more knowledgeable than other students about media characteristics. Only 10 % of the students said that they were not familiar with the unique characteristics of various media, and only 24 % of students said they did not know what media ethics are. In the student focus group, a girl said the most attractive part of course is to understand public service advertising. She said learning how to do something good for society is important, and she wanted to be a better person. Thus, media literacy is considered helpful in further strengthening the moral education agenda (Liu Yongwu, personal communication, November 4, 2011). The above analysis shows that the four schools basically adopted a utilitarian approach to introduce media literacy education in their school curricula. Although ZUMC developed a set of media literacy curriculum material for these four schools’ reference, the schools have a different emphasis on the use of this material according to their particular media literacy education mission. School principals are important agents for shaping media literacy education program, and they are strongly motivated by the development needs of their own schools.

8

Nurturing Ethical Media Users

Although different stakeholders have different agendas, our expert survey shows that all the interviewees expressed their concern with the new digital media environment and regard media literacy as a life skill. Thus, they were asked to evaluate what kind of media and information literacy competencies citizens need in the Internet age. According to UNESCO, competencies in media and information literacy can be divided into three categories: (1) access media and information and be aware of its impact; (2) understand the media and develop analytical skills; and (3) use the media wisely and communicate well. The findings of this study are also analyzed according to this framework (see Table 2). The results show that media literacy education advocates and media literacy education practitioners emphasize greatly the use of the media and communication capability. They particularly stress the ethical use of the media. The second important category refers to the young people’s ability of accessing information and their awareness of the influence of the media on individuals and society. The last category is the critical understanding and analysis of the media. Creative express with the

26


Table 2 Expert ranking on the importance of young people’s media and information Literacy Competencies in the Internet age

Media and information literacy competencies

Functions of the competencies

Marks (out of 7)

Ethical use of media and information

Use/communicate

6.64

Understands the world through the media

Use/communicate

6.18

Effectively and safely uses various communication means (e.g., telephone, blog, social media) to communicate with other people and share information

Use/communicate

6.18

Applies what has been learned from the media to everyday life

Use/communicate

6.14

Searches effectively and efficiently for useful media messages and information

Access/awareness

6.09

Recognizes the effect of the media and information on individuals and society

Access/awareness

6.05

Critically analyzes and evaluates the content of media messages and information

Analysis/understanding

6.05

Understands how to select, organize, and synthesize media messages and information


5.86

Understands how different format of the media (e.g., newspaper, radio, TV, Internet) will present an issue or event in a different way


5.64

Monitors media and information content and urges improvement

Use/communicate

5.59

Understands the nature, functions, and operation of media and information institutions (e.g., People’s Daily, CNN, Google, Baidu, Wikipedia)


5.5

Appreciates media and information content and format in an aesthetic way

Use/communicate

5.18

Uses various tools for the creation and aesthetic presentation of media and information in a variety of formats

Use/communicate

4.77

media is generally regarded as less important. On the whole, the research findings illustrate that the major curriculum objective of the media literacy project is to guide students to make good use of the media. Critical analysis and creative expression are less emphasized.

9

Conclusion and Discussion

In the context of mainland China, university members are at the forefront of media literacy education, being the most knowledgeable group in the field and also being enthusiastic in launching the media literacy education movement. Their active promotion of media literacy education in schools and communities helped media


27

literacy education get a stronger foothold in Chinese society. With the support of the universities, more schools are now able to set up a school-based media literacy curriculum. Our case study indicates that the university-driven media literacy model has a number of characteristics: (1) The project is initiated and led by academics; (2) partnership schools are lined up and form a media literacy community; (3) the media literacy curriculum is originally designed by university members but is later redeveloped by individual schoolteachers to fit their schools’ particular needs; (4) as most schoolteachers do not have media literacy knowledge, professors and university students travel to schools to teach media literacy courses in the initial stage but turn the courses back to the teachers in the later stage; (5) there is no direct teacher training, but the school teachers learn media literacy teaching skills through attending media literacy classes; (6) the program aims at two levels of media literacy training: one for university students who serve as volunteer teachers, while the other is for teachers and students in local schools; and (7) the media literacy project is run on a voluntary basis at low cost. In-depth examination of the implementation of the university-driven media literacy project in Zhejiang Province shows that it is actually the outcome of the agency effort of the university members and school principals under the structural regulation of the sociopolitical situation in China. From the state’s perspective, nurturing good citizens, training media sophisticated government officials, and cultivating ethical media practitioners are the goals of media literacy education. Media literacy education is for social stability and prosperity. As to the media advocates and the media literacy practitioners in this project, they have their own agendas and put more emphasis on school development and students’ personal growth. Yet at the same time, the media literacy advocates also tried their best to meet government’s media literacy education expectation. As our findings reveal, in China, media literacy education is apolitical. The media literacy education program very often puts emphasis on the constructive utilization of the media and ethical use of information. Critical analysis is not a major focus. The social use of media literacy education has many facets. From this study, we can see that the social use of media literacy is the result of compromise among major stakeholders. It is the outcome of the structuration process. Nevertheless, the Zhejiang media literacy education case shows that with rigorous agency effort, it is possible to initiate the media literacy project in the province and keep it running in a diversified way.

Appendix 1: List of Cited Interviewees Cai Wenxiang Vice Principal, Jiaxing Xiushui Senior High School Cheng Xiaoding Media Literacy Education Teacher, Hangzhou Xiayan Middle School

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Liao Qianting University Student, Zhejiang University of Media and Communications (ZUMC) Member, Media Literacy Volunteer Teaching Association Liu Yongwu Principal, Jinyun Changkeng Primary School Liu Yue University Student, ZUMC Vice Chairperson, Media Literacy Volunteer Teaching Association Luo Zhongcheng Vice Principal, Hangzhou Xiayan Middle School Peng Shaojian President, ZUMC Wang, Jianhong Principal, Jiaxing Xiushui Senior High School Wang Weixing Principal, Yongkang Dasixiang Primary School Zhang Zehan University Student, ZUMC Chairman, Media Literacy Volunteer Teaching Association

References Buckingham, D. (2003). Media education: Literacy, learning and contemporary culture . Cambridge, MA: Polity. Cai, B. (2012, April 17). Enhancing the media literacy of the soldiers. Liberation Army Daily, p. 7. Chu, D., & Lee, A. Y. L. (2014). Media education initiatives by media organizations: The uses of media literacy in Hong Kong media. Journalism and Mass Communication Educator, 69(2), 127–145. CNNIC. (2014). The 34th report on the development of the Internet in China. China Internet Network Information Center. Retrieved December 12, 2014, from https://www.cnnic.net.cn/ hlwfzyj/hlwxzbg/hlwtjbg/201407/t20140721_47437.htm Gee, J. P. (1996). Social linguistics and literacies: Ideology in discourses (2nd ed.). London: Falmer Press. Giddens, A. (1984). The constitution of society: Outline of the theory of structuration . Cambridge, MA: Polity Press. Graff, H. J. (1987). The labyrinths of literacy: Reflections on literacy past and present . London: Falmer Press. Guo, Q. (2007). Emphasis on media literacy education: a review of “the Media Education of China”. People’s Daily. Retrieved March 31, 2013, from http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/ html/2007-03/18/content_12636588.htm Li, H. (2011). Why could Weibo be? People’s Daily. Retrieved March 31, 2013, from http://it. people.com.cn/GB/193877/42895/15245095.html Li, X., & Dong, X. (2011). Promote national media literacy education at different levels. People’s Daily. Retrieved March 31, 2013, from http://edu.people.com.cn/GB/15424408.html Nie, C. (2011). Applying new media to enhance the governing capability. Guangming Daily. Retrieved March 31, 2013, from http://theory.gmw.cn/2011-06/09/content_2066567.htm People’s Daily. (2011a). “Media literacy” exemplifies the quality of governance. People’s Daily Commentaries. People’s Daily. Retrieved March 31, 2013, from http://opinion.people.com.cn/ GB/40604/14911063.html


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People’s Daily. (2011b). What is the training of national party spokesman for? People’s Daily. Retrieved March 31, 2013, from http://media.people.com.cn/GB/40606/14036332.html Ren, P. (2011). “Media literacy” exemplifies the quality of governance. Democracy and Law Times. Retrieved March 31, 2013, from http://www.mzyfz.com/cms/minzhuyufazhishibao/ zhongdian/yuqing/html/1249/2011-06-20/content-84497.html Street, B. (1984). Literacy in theory and practice . London: Cambridge University Press. Street, B. (Ed.). (1993). Cross-cultural approaches to literacy . London: Cambridge University Press. Turner, J. H. (1986). Review on the constitution of society: Outline of the theory of structuration. American Journal of Sociology, 91 (4), 969–977. Vasquez, V., Egawa, K. A., Harste, J. C., & Thompson, R. D. (Eds.). (2004). Literacy as social practice. Urbana: National Council of Teachers of English. Wan, G., & Gut, D. M. (2008). Media use by Chinese and U.S. secondary students: Implications for media literacy education. Theory Into Practice, 47 , 178–185. Xu, W. (2009). Opportunities and challenges for media education in mainland China. In C. K. Cheung (Ed.), Media education in Asia (pp. 157–163). London: Springer. Yao, C. (2012, August 8). A study on media practitioner’s professional capacities and ethics . Paper presented at the third international conference on media literacy in Lanzhou, China. Lanzhou. Yao, X. (2010). Do not forget to make up the class of media literacy. Guangming Daily. Retrieved March 31, 2013, from http://www.gmw.cn/content/2010-08/03/content_1201143.htm Zheng, F. (2011). Improve leaders’ media literacy: Ability outside of poems. Xinhua Daily Telegraph. Retrieved March 31, 2013, from http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/201108/05/c_121817599.htm

Bringing Media Literacy Education into the School Curriculum: A Trilevel Adoption of Innovation Model Alice Y.L. Lee, C.K. Cheung, and Meily Cheung

Abstract This study views media literacy education as an educational innovation and examines what factors affect the adoption of media education in secondary schools in Hong Kong. Diffusion of innovations and the sociology of consumer behavior constitute the theoretical foundation of this study. Findings indicate that although teachers are important agents in the adoption of a media literacy education initiative, they are also under school resource constraints and affected by the social climate of education reform. This study further develops the theory of diffusion of innovations by adding the societal factor into the traditional model. It proposes a holistic innovation adoption model in which individual, organizational, and societal factors all contribute to the adoption of media literacy education in Hong Kong schools. Keywords Secondary schools • Hong Kong • Innovation model • Diffusion model

1

Introduction

Media literacy education has been a well-developed field in Western countries for many years, but in Hong Kong, it only emerged after the handover of sovereignty to China in 1997 (Lee 2003a). Over the years, media literacy education in Hong Kong has been conducted outside the official curriculum. However, the recent education reform and subsequent curriculum changes have provided an excellent opportunity

A.Y.L. Lee (*) Department of Journalism, School of Communication, Hong Kong Baptist University, Room 1025, 10/F, Communication and Visual Arts Building 5 Hereford Road , Kowloon, Hong Kong e-mail: [email protected] C.K. Cheung Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong e-mail: [email protected] M. Cheung School of Communication, Hang Seng Management College, Hong Kong, Hong Kong © Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2016 C.K. Cheung, Media Literacy Education in China, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-0045-4_3

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for media literacy education to penetrate into the official curriculum (Cheung 2009a). This study investigates the adoption of media literacy education in secondary schools in Hong Kong. Education reform and related curriculum change are usually regarded as golden opportunities for an education initiative to be introduced into the school curriculum. In the recent education reform in Hong Kong, a new core secondary school subject called “Liberal Studies” (LS) was launched in which the study of media was listed as an elective. Yet, it is still up to individual teachers and schools to decide whether they would like to teach it. The mechanism which influences the adoption of an educational innovation in schools is an issue of interest to many education scholars and practitioners. In Hong Kong, media literacy education advocates are particularly interested in finding ways to encourage wider adoption of media literacy education in “Liberal Studies” (Cheung 2009b). The purpose of this study is to examine the individual factors (teachers), organizational factors (schools), and societal factors (educational environment) which affect the adoption of media literacy education in local secondary schools.

2

Education Reform, Liberal Studies, and Media Literacy Education

The twenty-first century will be the epoch of the knowledge society, and the Hong Kong government is fully aware that successful transition to a knowledge-based economy requires the restructuring of its education system. In 2000, the H ong Kong SAR government published two documents, namely, “Review of the Education System: Reform Proposals” (Education Commission 2000) and “Learning to Learn: The Way Forward in Curriculum Development” (Curriculum Development Council 2000), to launch the reforms. The aim of the reforms is to increase the quality of education, develop all-round students, and lay the foundations for lifelong learning (Chan 2000a, b). The traditional Hong Kong school curriculum has been widely described as a “spoon-feeding” model, which allows little room for creativity and critical thinking. The proposed reform, with its focus on student-centered learning, puts the emphasis on “learning how to learn” and is an attempt to improve Hong Kong’s human resources by cultivating future knowledge workers. Media literacy education is basically a student-oriented subject, and local research has demonstrated that it is helpful in cultivating the nine generic skills needed in a knowledge society (Lee and Mok 2005). Its key elements, such as media awareness, critical thinking skills, creative expression, and information technology skills, fit the demands of the new age. Local educators are beginning to pay attention to media literacy education because it matches the spirit of the reform (Yiu 2001). In line with the education reform initiation, in 2005, the Education Bureau (EDB) stated in its report that the senior secondary school structure would be changed from 4 to 3 years. The Bureau also proposed the inclusion of Liberal Studies as a core subject in the senior secondary school curriculum starting from

Bringing Media Literacy Education into the School Curriculum: A Trilevel Adoption…

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2009, with the aim of broadening students’ knowledge base and enhancing their social awareness (CDC 2005). During the consultation period for this new core subject, media literacy education advocates in Hong Kong lobbied the EDB hard for media literacy education to be included in Liberal Studies as one of the compulsory modules. The Hong Kong Association of Media Education (HKAME 2005) took the lead by submitting a brief to the government calling for the inclusion of media education in the LS curriculum. Although the lobby failed to have media literacy education mandated as a compulsory section of the subject, it succeeded in having media included as an elective part of the LS curriculum. In the LS curriculum, all students are required to conduct an Independent Enquiry Study (IES) which aims at providing an opportunity for students to learn to become self-directed learners. Six themes were put forward for students to develop their IES titles, and “media” was one of the elective themes (CDC 2007). However, although media is expected to be a popular theme, there is still no guarantee that this will be chosen. Therefore, media literacy education advocates are seeking ways to encourage teachers to adopt the media themes. Moreover, LS adopts an issue-enquiry approach, and students are expected to use the media extensively to conduct research and inquiries. Since media messages contain ideologies and values, a critical understanding of the media becomes extremely important. Students need to master the skills of critically selecting and analyzing media messages; otherwise, they will be easily misled by the media instead of gaining useful information, knowledge, and viewpoints through the media. In the view of media educators, wise use of the media can certainly facilitate learning in the subject of LS, and so they advocate that media literacy training should be the prerequisite of LS.

3

Studies on the Adoption of Educational Innovation

This study views media literacy education as an educational innovation and tries to identify the factors predicting the adoption of media literacy education in schools in Hong Kong in the social context of education reform. An innovation is commonly defined as “an idea, practice, or object that is perceived as new by an individual or other unit of adoption” (Rogers 1995: 11). An innovation is also expected to create a new dimension of performance, meaning a positive change resulting in new products, services, or processes (Drucker 1985). Therefore, newness and improved outcome are the features of an innovation. In this respect, media literacy education in Hong Kong can be regarded as an educational innovation for the following reasons: (1) Media literacy education is new to local teachers and students, and it treats media as a subject matter for study; (2) Its pedagogy is student-centered and it encourages self-discovery learning. It is quite different from the traditional topdown teaching mode, but in line with the spirit of education reform; and (3) it helps students to develop critical thinking and creative skills which match the need of the rapidly changing society.

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A.Y.L. Lee et al.

The theory of diffusion of innovations developed by Rogers is widely used to examine the adoption of innovation (McQuail and Windahl 1993). Many professionals from different sectors are using this theory in the hope of increasing the implementation and utilization of innovative products or practices. This study also applies this theory to investigate the adoption of a media literacy education initiative. Rogers (2003) defines diffusion as the process in which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system. Diffusion study has a wide range of aspects, but this study only focuses on the innovation-decision process. For Rogers (2003: 168), the innovation-decision process is “the process through which an individual (or other decision-making unit) passes from gaining initial knowledge of an innovation, to forming an attitude toward the innovation, to making a decision to adopt or reject, to implementation of the new idea, and to confirmation of this decision.” In this process, an individual or a unit evaluates a new idea and decides whether or not to incorporate the innovation into current practice. The model of the innovation-decision process consists of five stages: knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation, and confirmation. There have been a number of diffusion studies in education. Early researchers in educational diffusion concentrated on the innovativeness of education initiatives and their rate of adoption (Rogers 1995), while later research projects have focused on the diffusion of instructional technologies. As an example, the study of Bussey et al. (2000) identifies the factors predicting the adoption of technology education in New Mexico public schools based on Rogers’ framework. These factors include perceptions of the attributes of technology and the influence of change agents and opinion leaders on adoption. Groves and Zemel ( 2000) study the adoption of instructional technology in higher education and find that perceived advantages and cost and personal comfort are important predicting factors. Surry and Farguhar (1997) also study the diffusion of instructional technology and argue that the technological view (instrumentalism or determinism) of educators plays an important role in its adoption. These studies share the common characteristic of putting emphasis on individual variables, but they neglect possible institutional factors. In fact, previous literature indicates that most of the early diffusion studies emphasize individual variables and fail to provide a holistic view of the innovationdecision process. Later on, “social system variables” (organizational variables) are added. The items included are social system norms, tolerance of deviancy, and communication integration (Rogers and Shoemaker 1971). The social system refers to the bounded community in which the innovation diffuses (Rogers 1995), which can mean a group or an institution. In studying educational innovation, Rogers (1995) particularly highlights the importance of the organizational factor for educational diffusion: teachers work in organizations and have to face institutional constraints. He points out that organizations are involved in one way or another in the adoption of educational innovations. For example, while US farmers can make optional innovation decisions, most teachers and school administrators are involved in collective or authority innovation decision. With the organizational factor in mind, Dooley ( 1999) examines the diffusion of computer technologies in schools. She compares the relative importance of


35

individual variables and organizational variables in affecting the adoption decision of teachers and examines how individuals make their choices of adoption in different organizational contexts. The present study follows this line of analysis and examines the media literacy education innovation-decision process from both individual and organizational perspectives. Yet, there is still a missing piece in the analytical framework. Current innovation studies have paid little attention to the social context in which the adoption of an innovation takes place. In order to fill this theoretical gap, this study brings in the societal variable to form a more holistic model of media literacy education adoption in schools. Wallendorf and Zaltman (1984) study consumer behavior from a sociological perspective and their work provides insights into the modification of the current adoption model. For them, the buying decision is not only the outcome of a personal choice but also the result of group dynamics or even societal influence. Their sociology of consumption examines consumer behavior from three different levels. First, they look at the personality of the consumers, their needs and motivations, and their buying attitudes. Then they investigate group norms and roles in consumer behavior as well as family and organizational consumption patterns. One step further, they also examine the societal bases of consumer behavior, asking research questions such as: Do changes in cultural values lead to increasing briefness of women’s swimwear? Wallendorf and Zaltman point out that consumers live in larger social systems, and consumption activities may be guided by institutional norms that are bounded by cultural values. Under some circumstances, cultural values can even guide some consumption activities directly rather than through intervening social mechanisms. In sum, social climate has a close relationship with consumer behavior (Zaltman and Wallendorf 1983). This study applies the idea of sociology of consumption to examine the adoption of media literacy education from all three levels and argues that the adoption of media literacy education in school is a mixed outcome of individual, school, and societal factors. It is a three-tier adoption decision-making mechanism. Regarding individual factors, this study examines a number of variables including secondary schoolteachers’ demographic characteristics, their teaching attitudes, and their perception of the functions of media literacy education. Rogers ( 1995) believes that the potential adopter’s perception of the attributes of an innovation affects its rate of adoption. Findings of the study on adoption of instructional technology conducted by Surry and Farquhar (1997) also show that users’ perceptions of the role of technology in school influence the adoption outcome. Therefore, this study pays special attention to the teachers’ perceptions of the use of media literacy education. Besides, media literacy education is expected to bring in changes not only at the curriculum level but also at the pedagogical level. Teachers’ constructive teaching attitudes may affect their tendency to adopt media literacy education. Thus, this study will examine whether a reflective teaching attitude may play a role in the adoption process. Since the publication of Schon’s (1983) book, The Reflective Practitioner , reflection has come to be widely recognized as an important element in the professional growth of teachers (Heng and Khim 2004). Reflective teaching aims at enabling

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teachers to analyze, discuss, evaluate, and change their own practice. It encourages teachers to take greater responsibility for their own professional growth and to acquire some degree of professional autonomy. It also facilitates teachers’ development of their own theories of educational practice (Calderhead and Gates 1993). Reflective teachers have a greater tendency to adopt an analytical approach toward teaching (Cole and Knowles 2000) and are expected to pay greater attention to the social and political contexts in which they work. Since reflective teaching empowers teachers to take a more active role in educational decision-making, it is highly relevant to the adoption of an educational innovation like media literacy education. Referring to the organization level, this study examines the innovativeness of the school, the existence of related media literacy education activities, the workload of the teachers, and school support for the implementation of media education. With respect to the last factor, McLaughlin ( 1990) suggests that teachers may decide not to adopt an innovation because the school setting is not so supportive. A number of previous studies also show that lack of support from the administrative staff, school principal, and peers becomes an obstacle to getting teachers involved in introducing change (Fullan 1991; Ornstein and Hunkins 1993). As for societal factors, this study investigates the educational and media environment of Hong Kong society. From 2000 onward, the education reform has dominated the educational scene, and the teaching of LS will soon become a reality for many teachers. Meanwhile, the media environment of Hong Kong society has been deteriorating (Lee 2007), and the social climate is expected to exercise a certain influence on the adoption of media literacy education in Hong Kong. Theoretically, this study aims at further developing the theory of diffusion of innovations by adding the societal factor into the current model. It proposes a holistic innovation adoption model, in which individual, organizational, and societal factors all contribute to the adoption of media literacy education in Hong Kong schools. In practice, this study identifies the important factors predicting the adoption of media literacy education so that advocates can develop better strategies to promote wider adoption of media literacy education in the new school subject of LS. Since 1997, media literacy education has been gradually developing in Hong Kong (Cheung 2004, 2009c). Compared with other Asian countries, Hong Kong is unique in its development of media literacy education. In countries and regions such as Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines, media literacy education is advocated by one or two enthusiastic organizations and its development pattern resembles a “spoke wheel,” in the sense that media literacy education programs are generated and promoted by a powerful center. In contrast, however, media literacy education in Hong Kong is a multi-source voluntary grassroots movement, which expands more like a network. In Hong Kong, media literacy education initiatives come from different sectors of society. Institutions that are interested in promoting media education include youth organizations, religious organizations, media professional groups, schools, social welfare organizations, government departments, and media organizations. All the interested organizations interact with each other and have formed an informal network (a net) of media education. Thus, the development of media literacy education in Hong Kong takes the form of what is called a “network-


37

ing pattern” (Lee 2002, 2003b). Since media literacy education provided by various institutions for young people in Hong Kong is outside the official curriculum, it is piecemeal in nature and fails to provide continued and comprehensive media literacy training. Advocates in Hong Kong would like to take the opportunity of education reform to bring media literacy education into the school system so that all young people could acquire media literacy in a more systematic way.

4

Methodological Note

This study was conducted through a territory-wide survey among secondary schoolteachers in Hong Kong, most of whom are likely to teach LS in the coming years. About 600 questionnaires were sent out, and 471 were successfully collected. The return rate was around 78.5 %. The survey respondents were from schools of all bandings (bands 1, 2, and 3). Band 1 schools refer to schools whose students have the best academic performance, while band 3 schools have students with the lowest academic achievement. The respondents were from schools located in different districts. In Hong Kong, the quality of the schools varies and this is related to the different districts in which they are located.

5

Schoolteachers’ Adoption of Media Literacy Education in Hong Kong

In the survey of secondary schoolteachers, 40.8 % of the respondents said that they did not have much knowledge about media and information education, and so they did not have the confidence to teach it well. Yet another 28 % said that they thought they understood media education and had the confidence to do it properly. In fact, 29.8 % said that they had already tried to conduct some kind of media education activities in their schools. The mixed feedback shows that in the mid-20 00s, media education has found its way into the school system in a small-scale and informal way. However, its further penetration needs to be strengthened. In fact, many teachers have already heard of media education. Our survey indicates that there are multiple communication channels for the diffusion of media literacy education knowledge among schoolteachers in Hong Kong: about half (50 .4 %) of the respondents had learned about media literacy education and obtained related information through various education profession channels, 49.8 % had obtained information about the innovation from the mass media, and 40 % of them had obtained it through personal channels. This means that in the past few years, professional training workshops organized by various media education organizations have been able to pass media literacy education message to the teachers. The mass media have also played a promotional role.

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In the questionnaire, two key statements were put forward to test teacher’s willingness to adopt media literacy education. The first statement was: “I am willing to adopt media literacy education in LS in order to enhance students’ media literacy.” The second one was: “Even though my school does not adopt media literacy education as a formal curriculum, I will try to provide some media literacy training for my students.” In response to the first statement, 70.6 % of the teachers expressed that they were willing to teach media literacy education. For the second statement, 54.3 % of the teachers said that they would try to teach media literacy education on their own even though their schools had not formally launched a media literacy education program. The latter represent the highly motivated teachers. Tables 1 and 2 identify the factors which influence teachers’ adoption of media literacy education and also show the difference between the “generally willing group” and the “keenly willing group.” Table 1 illustrates the factors predicting the willingness to conduct media literacy education. In this table, we can see that a number of variables at the individual, organizational, and societal levels are significantly correlated with willingness to adopt media literacy education. This supports our holistic analytical framework that many factors at various levels together contribute to the adoption of the media literacy education innovation in Hong Kong schools. Table 2 shows the stepwise regression analysis results for willingness to conduct media literacy education. The analysis aims at identifying the most important predicting variables. Among all the variables, understanding media literacy education is the most important predictor in the generally willing group and is also ranked fourth in the keenly willing group. Understanding media literacy education involves a number of factors including: (1) media literacy education can help cultivate in students nine generic skills; (2) media literacy education can help students discriminate negative media messages; (3) media literacy education guides students to enjoy the fun of the media; (4) media literacy education can teach students to analyze media messages and discover their underlying values; (5) media literacy education can enhance students’ civil consciousness; and (6) media literacy education is close to liberal studies in terms of objectives and pedagogy. These results clearly indicate that if a teacher better understands the functions and advantages of media education, he/she will have a greater tendency to adopt media literacy education in his/her teaching. Apart from understanding media literacy education, Table 2 also shows that the following are significant predictors for ordinary teachers to adopt media education: seeing the benefit of media literacy education for teaching Liberal Studies (beta = .177), teaching in an innovative school (beta = .173), gaining support from the school (beta = −.152), school banding (beta = −.142), enjoying participating in campus radio/TV (beta = .125), and teaching experience (beta = −.106). For those highly motivated teachers (keenly willing group), contributing factors to the promotion of media literacy education in their classrooms are having a reflective teaching attitude (beta = .231), school support (beta = −.178), understanding media literacy education (beta = .152), having time to do media literacy education (beta = −.167), and seeing the benefit of media literacy education for teaching Liberal Studies (beta = .139).


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Table 1 Variables predicting willingness to promote media literacy education

Willingness to do ME

Will try even without school’s formal curriculum

Cramer’s V

Cramer’s V

Understanding media literacy education

.322 ***

.266 ***

Reflective teaching

.210 ***

.226 ***

Media hobby: campus radio/TV

.192 ***

.162 ***

Media hobby: film

.153 ***

.069 (ns)

Media hobby: magazine

.130 **

.105 *

Media hobby: music

.089 (ns)

.105 *

Media hobby: video

.115 *

.079 (ns)

Sex

.117 *

.024 (ns)

Year of teaching

.109 *

.088 (ns)

Major subject taught

.154 *

.076 (ns)

No school support

.236 ***

.298 ***

No time to do media literacy education

.211 ***

.163 ***

Innovativeness of school

.129 **

.097 (ns)

Media literacy education activities in school

.044 (ns)

.044 (ns)

Banding

.118 (ns)

.141 *

Understanding Liberal Studies

.258 ***

.181 ***

Liberal Studies ability

.206 ***

.212 ***

Benefit to Liberal Studies

.230 ***

.174 ***

Media environment (self-perception)

.123 **

.093 (ns)

Media environment (colleagues’ perception)

.100 (ns)

.110 *

Media environment (overall)

.090 (ns)

.108 *

Usefulness in media literacy education

.330 ***

.267 ***

Predictor variable Individual level:

Organizational level:

Societal level:

(Understanding media literacy education + benefit to Liberal Studies) Note: * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001

6

Reflective Teachers and the Adoption of Media Literacy Education

From Table 1, we can see that at the individual level, the most important predicting variables for adopting media literacy education are understanding media literacy education (CV = .322), reflective teaching (CV = .210), and participation in campus radio/TV (CV = .192). We have already discussed the importance of understanding media literacy education. Now we look at the next important predictor, the reflective

40

A.Y.L. Lee et al.

Table 2 Stepwise regression analysis of willingness to do media education

Stepwise regression

Beta

t value

Significance


.312

5.545

***


.177

3.275

**

Innovativeness of school

.173

3.215

**

No school support

−.152

−2.863

**

Banding

−.142

−2.671

**

Love to do campus radio/TV

.125

2.340

*

Experience in teaching

−.106

−1.982

*

Reflective teaching

.213

3.683

***

No school support

−.178

−3.072

**

No time to media literacy education

−.167

−2.818

**


.152

2.559

*


.139

2.446

*

Willingness to do media education :

Will try even without school’s formal curriculum:

Note: * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001

teaching variable. This study finds that teachers with a reflective teaching attitude have a greater tendency to adopt media literacy education. In this study, teachers with a reflective teaching attitude share the following characteristics: (1) They always analyze, criticize, and reflect on their teaching methods. (2) They always think hard about how the social, political, and cultural environment of Hong Kong society affect their teaching. (3) They always participate in courses and talks which can enhance their teaching performance. (4) They actively develop their own educational philosophy and unique teaching style. (5) They like to adopt new ways for teaching. (6) They are very eager to learn various kind of new ideas and things. (7) If the curriculum instructions do not fit their teaching philosophy, they will voice their opinions. Apparently, reflective teachers are active and critical; they like innovations and are willing to become change agents. Therefore, it is quite natural for reflective teachers to adopt media literacy education, which is nontraditional, at both the curriculum and the pedagogic level. Reflective teachers are certainly early adopters of media literacy education. For the keenly willing group in this study, reflective teaching has an even higher correlation (CV = .226) with adoption of media literacy education. This means that reflective teachers are more willing to try out media literacy education even if their schools have not adopted it formally. In Table 2, we can see that for the keenly willing group, reflective teaching is highly correlated with adoption of media literacy education. Teachers’ media use seems to have no strong association with the adoption behavior. Nevertheless, in terms of media as a hobby, it was found that teachers who were interested in participating in campus radio and television had a greater tendency to adopt media education. Teachers who enjoyed watching films and videos and reading magazines were also more enthusiastic adopters. Teachers’ demographic characteristics had no strong correlation with the adoption of media literacy education. However, data showed that male teachers were slightly more willing than


41

female teachers to adopt the media literacy education innovation, while younger teachers were somewhat more likely than older teachers to do so. English teachers were more willing than mathematics teachers to teach media literacy education. Teachers are organizational persons. Many educational decisions are actually made at the institutional level. As Rogers ( 1995) has pointed out, the adoption of educational innovations in schools usually involves collective or authority innovation decisions. Therefore, it is worthwhile studying what organizational factors can influence a teacher’s adoption of media literacy education. It was expected that teachers in schools with existing media education activities such as media production might have a greater chance of adopting media literacy education. Contrary to our expectations, the association was not statistically significant. However, the innovativeness of the schools did have a significant impact on the adoption of media literacy education. School innovativeness is defined as the willingness of a school to promote critical thinking and introduce new curriculum and new teaching methods. Findings also showed that teachers teaching in band 1 school were more likely to introduce media literacy education than those working in band 2 and band 3 schools. In fact, two very significant organizational variables affecting the adoption of media literacy education were found to be school support and school workload (see Table 1). According to the teachers, school support means financial resources, teacher training mechanism, and provision of teaching materials. In our teacher survey, 46.2 % of the respondents agreed that if there were no school support, they would not consider conducting media education in their schools at all. Only 24.5 % of the respondents disagreed. The other significant organizational variable was the teachers’ workload. About 60 % of the respondents agreed that if they introduced media literacy education, they would worry that they would not have enough time to do their routine teaching work. Therefore, heavy workload and teaching time slot arrangements are major concerns for teachers in their decision whether to adopt media literacy education. Media curriculum has to be updated frequently and media teachers need a lot of time to do the preparation work.

7

The Social Context of the Adoption of Media Literacy Education Innovation

Studies on diffusion of innovations have long neglected the social context in which an innovation is adopted. When an adoption takes place, it actually happens within a particular context, and therefore, it is worthwhile examining how the social climate influences an adoption decision. For example, the social climate of a society, that is, whether there is high or low concern for environmental protection, may influence the inclusion of environmental studies in the school curriculum. This study investigates the social background of the adoption of media literacy education in Hong Kong and identifies two possible societal predictors: the introduction of LS as part of the education reform and the deterioration of the media environment. Survey results indicate that LS is related to the adoption of media

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A.Y.L. Lee et al.

literacy education. In Table 1, variables like “understanding LS” (CV = .258), “LS ability” (CV = .206), and “benefit to LS” (CV = .230) are all significant factors. According to the EDB, by 2009 all secondary schools will introduce the new subject Liberal Studies in their senior forms, and it is estimated that 1,700 schoolteachers will be engaged in teaching this new subject. Although the new subject is only mandated in the senior secondary curriculum, many schools are also launching LS in their junior forms in order to let their students get used to this subject earlier. In this case, the number of teachers involved in teaching LS will be much higher than the official estimate. Many teachers who are currently teaching history, geography, economics, and other school subjects will be transformed into LS teachers. Under the educational environment of education reform, introducing LS will become a reality for every secondary school; teachers have to prepare well for the new challenge, and many of them are already taking relevant professional development courses. Media literacy education is closely associated with LS in many ways. First, media will be an elective component of LS. Second, many students are already engaged in LS through newspapers and other media, and media literacy is important for LS learners. Third, the objective and pedagogy of media education are similar to those of LS. For example, while critical thinking skills and issue inquiry skills are essential to LS, they are also core concepts in media literacy education. This study finds that the teachers who endorse the idea of education reform, understand LS well, and are able to master the skills of LS are more likely to adopt media education. Particularly if they see the contribution of media literacy to the study of LS, they are more willing to adopt media literacy education. Here, “benefit to LS” means that media literacy is a prerequisite of studying LS. Without media literacy, students may study LS in the wrong way as they may be misled by mass media messages. Apparently, the education reform and the inclusion of LS in the school curriculum constitute an educational environment that has a significant impact on the teachers’ adoption of media literacy education. Moreover, the media environment also plays a role. Although its correlation with the adoption of media education is not very high, it is still one of the social factors significantly predicting the adoption of media literacy education. In our survey, 96 % of the respondents thought that the media were an important social force, while 95.5 % considered that students’ personal growth was greatly influenced by the media. In addition, 83.5 % of them even disagreed that the media environment of Hong Kong had not deteriorated. Schoolteachers are in fact very concerned about building a healthier media environment for their students.

8

Conclusion

The diffusion of innovations is a research tradition which has a strong foothold in communication studies. Many researchers in the field of education have applied the theory to examine the adoption of educational innovations. However, previous


43

studies put too much emphasis on teachers’ personal characteristics and school constraints while ignoring the social context of the adoption. This study shows that the adoption of an educational innovation is in fact a complicated process, which involves individual, organizational, and societal factors. Yates (2004) suggests applying diffusion theory to promote the adoption of media literacy programs in American schools. He thinks that the rational approach of the diffusion model can increase the adoption of media literacy education. Therefore, this study tries to identify the factors which can predict the adoption so that media advocates can develop better strategies to promote media literacy programs in schools. Findings in this study indicate that understanding media literacy education, reflective teaching, school support, innovativeness of the school, and the benefit of media literacy education for LS are the more prominent predictors. It is suggested that media literacy education advocates should formulate action plans based on these significant predicting variables. More professional development courses which introduce the functions and advantages of media literacy education should be conducted for schoolteachers. Advocates of media literacy education should identify reflective teachers and innovative schools so that they can build up the necessary networking links in order to promote wider introduction of media literacy education into the new school subject, LS. Furthermore, more channels should be used to inform potential LS teachers about the benefits of media literacy education for teaching LS. Of course, it is also important to persuade schoo l administrators and principals about the merits of media literacy education so that they can offer more school support to teachers to adopt media literacy education. While doing this, it is obviously not good enough simply to tell school administrators that media literacy education can benefit students’ learning; it may also be necessary to highlight the contribution of media literacy education to the smooth launch of LS. In the 1990s the driving force for developing media literacy education in Hong Kong was the deteriorating media environment. Now in the 2000s, the engine for driving the growth of media literacy education is the introduction of LS. Media literacy education advocates treasure the education reform opportunity, and they are making efforts to bring media literacy education into more schools. Advocacy strategies should be informed by research, and so further studies on the relationship between Liberal Studies and media literacy education should be carried out in Hong Kong.

References Bussey, J. M., Formody, T. J., & Vanleeuwen, D. (2000). Some factors predicting the adoption of technology education in New Mexico public schools. Journal of Technology Education, 12(1), 4–17. Calderhead, J., & Gates, P. (Eds.). (1993). Conceptualizing reflection in teacher development . London: Falmer Press. Chan, D. W. (2000a). Vision, task, and hope: The Hong Kong education reform movement in the 21st century. Educational Research Journal, 15(1), 1–18.

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Chan, D. W. (2000b). Learning and teaching through the multiple-intelligences perspective: Implications for curriculum reform in Hong Kong. Educational Research Journal, 15(2), 187–201. Cheung, C. K. (2004). Media education in Hong Kong schools: Possibilities and challenges. Educational Studies, 30(1), 33–51. Cheung, C. K. (2009a). Education reform as an agent of change: The development of media education in Hong Kong during the last decade. Comunicar, 32(16), 73–83. Cheung, C. K. (2009b). Integration media education into liberal studies: A positive response to curriculum reform in Hong Kong. Curriculum Journal, 20(4), 437–446. Cheung, C. K. (2009c). Media education across four Asian societies: Issues and themes. International Review of Education, 55, 39–58. Cole, A. L., & Knowles, J. G. (2000). Researching teaching: Exploring teacher development through reflexive inquiry. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Curriculum Development Council. (2000). Learning to learn: the way forward in curriculum development. Hong Kong: The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Curriculum Development Council. (2005). Proposed new senior secondary curriculum and assessment framework . Hong Kong: Education and Manpower Bureau. Curriculum Development Council. (2007). Liberal studies: Curriculum and assessment guide (Secondary 4–6). Hong Kong: Education and Manpower Bureau. Dooley, K. E. (1999). Towards a holistic model for the diffusion of educational technologies: An integrative review of educational innovation studies. Education Technology & Society, 2(4), 1–15. Drucker, P. F. (1985). Innovation and entrepreneurship. London: Heinemann. Education Commission. (2000). Review of education system: reform proposals. Hong Kong: The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Fullan, M. (1991). The curriculum change. In A. Lewy (Ed.), The international encyclopedia of curriculum (pp. 279–280). Oxford: Pergamon Press. Groves, M., & Zemel, P. (2000). Organizational adoption and assimilation of complex technological innovations: Development and application of a new framework. The Database for Advances in Information Systems, 32(3), 51–85. Heng, L. W., & Khim, T. S. (2004). Reflective practice in Malaysian teacher education: Assumptions, practices, and challenges. Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Academic. Hong Kong Association of Media Education. (2005). A response to the reform proposal on secondary education. Brief submitted to the Education and Manpower Bureau, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Lee, A. Y. L. (2002). Media education movement in Hong Kong: A networking model. Mass Communication Research, 71, 107–131. Lee, A. Y. L. (2003a). Media education and civic consciousness. In P. S. N. Lee (Ed.), New perspectives on Hong Kong media (pp. 231–250). Hong Kong: Chinese University Press. Lee, A. Y. L. (2003b). The media education network in Hong Kong and the key trends of world communication. In B. Duncan & K. Tyner (Eds.), Visions/Revisions: Moving forward with media education (pp. 149–158). Madison: National Telemedia Council. Lee, A. Y. L. (2007). Media education, critical citizenship and public sphere: The ideal and practice of media education in Hong Kong. The Chinese Journal of Communication and Society, 1(3), 134–155 Lee, A. Y. L., & Mok, E. (2005). Media education and the nurturing of young active learners in a knowledge society. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the International Communication Association, the Instructional & Developmental Communication Division, New York. Mclaughlin, M. W. (1990). The Rand change agent study revisited: Macro perspectives and micro realities. Educational Researcher, 19(9), 11–16. Mcquail, D., & Windahl, S. (1993). Communication models: For the study of mass communication . Harlow: Pearson Education.


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Ornstein, A. C., & Hunkins, F. (1993). Curriculum: Foundations, principles, and theory. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Rogers, E. M. (1995). Diffusion of innovations. New York: Free Press. Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of innovations. New York: Free Press. Rogers, E. M., & Shoemaker, F. (1971). Communication of innovations: A cross-cultural approach. New York: The Free Press. Schon, D. A. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action . New York: Basic Books. Surry, D. W., & Farguhar, J. D. (1997). Diffusion theory and instructional technology. Journal of Instructional Science and Technology, 2(1), 24–36. Yates, B. L. (2004). Applying diffusion theory: Adoption of media literacy programs in schools. Studies in Media & Information Literacy Education, 4 (2), 1–12. Yiu, M. T. (2001, December). Media education and education reform. A speech delivered at the seminar of bringing media into the classroom, Hong Kong. Wallendorf, M., & Zaltman, G. (Eds.). (1984). Readings in consumer behavior: Individuals, groups and organization. New York: Wiley. Zaltman, G., & Wallendorf, M. (1983). Consumer behavior: Basic findings and management implications . New York: Wiley.

Digital Media Use by Chinese Youth and Its Impact Guofang Wan, Ellen Yeh, and Hong Cheng

Abstract As the world continues to be wired up electronically and as people continue to move their daily lives online, electronic media become more and more prominent in China. This chapter presents the latest statistics about the media use by Chinese young people, describes the unprecedented growth trends of media useage, and outlines the reasons why young people in China are so enthusiastic about new gadgets and embrace activities on the Internet, as well as some potential impact of their media use. Results of the study indicate immediate needs for enhanced media literacy education in China, which will enable Chinese young people to become mature users of new media and will help avoid the issues that media use may b ring. Keywords Chinese youth’s media use • Impact of media use • Media literacy education

1

Introduction

We have probably all encountered some of these scenes: people on a metro train deeply engaged in fun activities with their smartphones, attending a friend’s wedding from the other side of the earth via Skype, a two-year-old girl showing grandpa how to use an iPad, grandparents baffled by a family dinner interrupted by constant phone rings and instant messaging (IM) beeps, and texting friends sitting across the room. We marvel, but also become bewildered by what is happening to us and what is going on in the world. This chapter attempts to answer some of the questions that we have about the use of media by young people in China.

G. Wan (*) • H. Cheng, Ph.D. Virginia Commonwealth University, 1015 West Main Street, Olive Hall 2119A, Richmond, VA 23284, USA e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] E. Yeh, Ph.D. Columbia College Chicago, 33 E. Congress Parkway, Room 300-V, Chicago, IL 60605-1996, USA e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2016 C.K. Cheung, Media Literacy Education in China , DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-0045-4_4

47

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G. Wan et al.

As the world continues to be wired up electronically and as people continue to move their daily lives online, electronic media become more and more prominent in our society. China’s Internet savvy population has soared to the top in the world, followed by the United States (Internet World Stat 2012). Internet users in mainland China grew from 22,500,000 in 2000 to 620,907,200 in 2014, Internet users in Hong Kong grew from 2,283,000 in 2000 to 5,329,372 in 2014, and Internet users in Taiwan grew from 6,260,000 in 2000 to 18,687,942 in 2014 (Internet World Stats 2014). There are currently 2,730,000 Chinese websites out there in the cyberspace (CNNIC 2014b). The rapid growth of Digital Age has also made media use an indispensible way of life for Chinese people (Liu et al. 2012). Chinese school-age children (6–11 years old), adolescents (12–18 years old), and young adults (19–24 years old) have become the largest population of Internet users. According to CNNIC ( 2014c), by the end of December 2013, a total of 256 million Chinese adolescents are Internet users, which is 45.8 % of the total population of Internet users in China. However, as national survey research indicates that Chinese children and adolescents spend more and more time using media at a progressively early age on the Internet (DeBell and Chapman 2006; Lei et al. 2009; CNNIC 2014c), public attention and concerns have appeared about the media use by Chinese young people. Appropriate use of the Internet can be beneficial to children’s development in self-identity, cognitive skills, and social skills (Liu et al. 2012). However, research reported that children and adolescents with excessive use of the Internet usually struggle with poor academic performance (Liu et al. 2012), family relationship problems (Yen et al. 2007), social skill problems (Lam 2012; Leung and Lee 2005; Li and Chen 2014), and health problems (Yen et al. 2007). Chinese parents seek professional consultation for their children who are addicted to the Internet (Liu et al. 2012). Research also revealed that few mass media showed traditional Chinese culture and norms (Liu et al. 2012), and sometimes it undermined the values of Chinese culture. Commercials on television and the Internet delivered concepts of materialism and carried violent messages. Currently, limited research is available that focuses on the use of media by Chinese children, adolescents, and young adults (Gibson and Oberg 2004). Accordingly, it is important to investigate and gain a better understanding of the characteristics of Chinese youth’s media use, factors that may affect their media use, and the potential impact of the media use on their lives. In order to prepare Chinese students for their life and work in the twenty-first century, to educate children and youth to become mature consumers of media, to help teachers, parents, and society better understand Chinese youth and their uses of digital media, this chapter reviews and reports findings from academic studies over the past 10 years (2004–2014) in the area of media use by Chinese youth and the impact of their media use. The following paragraphs describe some key terms that we refer to in the chapter and some digital media that Chinese youth enjoy using:

Digital Media Use by Chinese Youth and Its Impact

49

Media by definition means tools used to store and convey information and data. Different media, digital media, advertising media, mass media, news media, and social media, etc., each fulfill different purposes for their users. As the twentyfirst-century Digital Age continues to permeate our world, and as individuals become more and more dependent on the use of digital media, in this study, the word media mainly refers to digital media, including the Internet, computers, smartphones, social media, and all the amenities that technology gadgets afford us. Media literacy by definition means the understanding of the use of media and being able to use media as a source of information, entertainment, empowerment, enrichment, and communication (Wan and Gut 2008a). More specifically, it is important to learn how to use information technology instead of being manipulated by technology (Wan and Gut 2008a). Media literacy also emphasizes (1) focusing on accessing and absorbing the information on media and technology; (2) developing critical thinking and analysis skills of the content, form, and context of media messages, systems, and institutions; and (3) the capability of creating information or messages through the use of digital, electronic, and visual technological tools for communication and expressing one’s opinions (Hobbs 2008; Wan and Gut 2008b). Social network refers to web-based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public profile in a bounded system, (2) develop a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and edit the list of connections and those made by others within the system (Boyd and Ellison 2007). Various types of social networks reach different groups of users based on their interests and needs. For instance, social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, and Google + solicit broad audiences. Professional social networks such as LinkedIn focus on business people. Furthermore, websites focused on media sharing have implemented social network features and become social network themselves, namely, Last.fm (a music listening/sharing site) and YouTube (a video sharing site). IM is a text-based real-time communication that is computer and smartphone generated over the Internet. Conversation on IM shows right after it is created and sent (line by line). Therefore, its texting application makes it more like a telephone communication than correspondence (Lo and Leung 2009). Tencent QQ, also called QQ, is an instant messaging software tool used widely in China. QQ provides various features, such as music, online social games, shopping blog, and voice chat (Tencent QQ n.d.). A blog, also called weblog, is a website that maintains an ongoing chronicle of information. Blog feature offers links to news, articles, and images on other websites. The information usually is shown as a list of entries in converse chronological order. Blogging is a behavior that bloggers do on the blog. The skill that bloggers need to manage a blog is called blogging. Blogging includes writing a blog, editing, posting, designing, and maintaining the websites ( Blog n.d.). WeChat is a mobile application that supports text, photo, voice and video messaging, voice and video calls, and group chat. It is a web-based communication software widely used in China (WeChat n.d.).

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2

2.1

G. Wan et al.

Design of Study

Research Questions

The study aims to answer the following questions: (1) What are some characteristics/trends of Chinese youth’s media use? (2) What factors affect Chinese youth’s media use? (3) How do Chinese youth’s media use impact their lives?

2.2

Inclusion–Exclusion Criteria of Literature

Given that little research has been conducted in the area of how Chinese youth use media and the impact of their media use, the inclusion criteria were liberal, including mainly journal articles, conference papers, as well as official national research reports. Studies that focus on media literacy, Internet use by Chinese youth, factors that affect Chinese youth’s media use, and the impact of Chinese adolescents’ media use are examined; studies about Chinese children, adolescents, and young adults, i.e., K–12 school (6–18 years old) and college students (19–25 years old), are included; studies of media use and impact in the Greater China, i.e., mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, are selected; and studies written in both English and Chinese are included. The selection criteria for content are as follows: 1. Discussion about the characteristics of the media use by Chinese youth 2. Investigation into factors that affect Chinese students’ use of media 3. Discussion about the impact of Chinese students’ media use

2.3

Literature Search

Basic searches were performed using four databases, Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), Education Research Complete, JSTOR, and Google Scholar. As technology advances every day and students’ media uses change accordingly, in order to keep the report current, we decided to include only studies conducted over the past ten years, i.e., from 2004 to 2014. Keywords search was performed to seek articles published between 2004 and 2014. The keywords China/Chinese + young children/adolescents/college students + media, media literacy, media uses, Internet use, social networking sites, and factors affecting media use, as well as parental involvement and impacts of media, were entered on the Internet and educational data sources. Forty-four related articles were generated in 17 journals and four government official websites. Among them, 32 articles were in English and 12 articles were in Chinese. However, only 18 out of 44 articles met the above listed selection criteria. After back-checking each relevant


51

study, five additional pertinent resources were identified. Finally, the study included 23 articles. Nineteen articles are in English and four are in Chinese (see Table 1).

2.4

Data Analysis

The researchers read through the included articles carefully and coded them independently and examined for common and major themes; then they discussed and compared their findings and collaboratively identified the common themes presented in the findings section.

3

3.1

Results

Characteristics of Media Use by Chinese Youth

The result drawn from current research (CNNIC 2014a, 2014c; Li et al. 2007; 2009; Liu 2010; Wan and Gut 2008a) about the use of digital media by Chinese youth shows a general trend of significant growth, especially in younger users, in the number of mobile phone access to the Internet and in the time Chinese youth spend online; three major reasons for going online, i.e., entertainment, information seeking, and chatting online; the narrowing of the digital divide, but still existing in China; and that the group of 18–25 years old makes the largest Internet population in China. The latest research shows that Chinese school-age children, adolescents, and young adults have become the largest population in media use in China. According to CNNIC (2014c) report by the end of December 2013, a total of 256 million Chinese youth are Internet users, which is 71.8 % of the total number of Chinese youth population and makes 41.5 % of the total Chinese Internet users. Eighty-eight percent of the Internet users are from the 12–24-years-old group; however, CNNIC (2014c) revealed that more than 14 million Internet users are less than 12 years old. Growing up with screens of smartphone and tablet PCs as toys, the 6–12-years-old group becomes the new “Apple Generation,” different from the TV and Computer Generations, and believes the web knows more than their parents (Guangzhou Municipal Committee of the Communist Youth League and Guangzhou Children's Palace (GMCCYL and GCP) 2013). The statistics (CNNIC 2014c) also show that the time these children and adolescents spent online is rising. By the end of December 2013, Chinese adolescents spent 20.7 h per week using the Internet, an increase of 2.3 h compared with that at the end of 2012. The use of the Internet has become a favorite and dominant activity among Chinese adolescents. Li et al. ( 2007) investigated how Chinese elementary school

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G. Wan et al.

Table 1 Major themes and studies included

Questions

Themes

Studies

Methods

No. of subject/site

Use: Characteristics

Largest group of user: youth

CNNIC (2014a)

Quantitative: phone and online surveys

60,000/China

Growth in: no. of young users, time spent, mobile phone access

CNNIC (2014c)

Quantitative: phone and online surveys

Fr CNNIC, 2014a- (6–24 years. old)/China

Top three reasons for use: entertainment, information seeking, socializing

GMCCYL & GCP (2013)

Quantitative: survey

3306 (6–12 years. old)/15 cities, China

Digital divide: urban/east vs. rural/west

GMCCYL and GCP (2013)


3306 (6–12 years. old)/15 cities, China

Wan and Gut (2008a)


955 (secondary)/China

Wan and Gut (2008b)



Li et al. (2007)


19,229 (elementary)/ China (continued)


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Table 1 (continued)

Questions

Themes

Studies

Methods

No. of subject/site

Factors: Affect uses

Sociocultural context and family environment

Yen et al. (2007)


3662 (secondary)/Taiwan

Liu (2010)

Qualitative: in-depth interview

25 (16–19 years. old)/ China

Liu et al. (2012)



Chang and Liu (2011)


1500 (5th and 6th grades)/Taiwan

Wan and Gut (2008b)



Sheer (2011)


248 (9–12 grades)/Hong Kong

Shen et al. (2013)


637 (elementary)/China

Leung (2007)


532 (college)/Hong Kong

Wang et al. (2012)


265 (college)/China

Wang and Sun (2009)


268 (college)/study abroad in the United States

Uses and gratification

Personality traits

(continued)

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Table 1 (continued)

Questions

Themes

Studies

Methods

No. of subject/site

Impact of uses

Sociocultural and intercultural aspects

Leung and Lee (2005)

Qualitative: interview

696 (15–64 years. old)/ Hong Kong

Li and Chen (2014)


854/China

Lo and Leung (2009)


236/Hong Kong

Sheer (2011)


248 (9–12 grades)/Hong Kong

Wang and Sun (2009)


268 (college)/study abroad in the United States

Wang et al. (2012)


265 (college)/China

Liu et al. (2013)


455 (elementary)/China

Longitudinal study Technology: motivation and learning

Health issues

Lei et al. (2009)



Lam (2012)

Survey and interview

312 (18–64 years. old)/ Hong Kong

Shen et al. (2013)



Chang and Liu (2011)


1,539 (elementary 12–13 years. old)/Taiwan

Liu et al. (2012)



Yen et al. (2007)


3662 (secondary)/Taiwan

students spent their spare time, and the results showed that using the Internet has become one of the most popular leisure activities among these students, followed by watching television and reading. Further, using the Internet has become a more dominant activity than outdoor activities. Entertainment use of the Internet has become popular among Chinese youth (Liu 2010). They download music, play online video games, watch movies and videos, and read literature online (CNNIC 2014c). Compared with the use of the Internet by other age groups in China, Chinese adolescent Internet users are 11 % higher in online gaming and 10.3 % higher in downloading music. Other studies (Lei et al. 2009; Wan and Gut 2008a, 2008b) also validate the findings that using computers, searching for information, chatting, gaming


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online, and downloading music, movies, and pictures from the Internet are favorite pastime for Chinese youth. CNNIC (2014c) also showed that China has had 221 million mobile Internet users, a growth of 12.8 % compared with that in 2012. Among all the Chinese adolescent Internet users, the proportion of those using mobile phones to access the Internet rose to 86.3 %, which is 5.3 % higher compared with the mobile phone uses (81 %) by the general Chinese Internet population. Chinese adolescents use mobile phones for social networking, searching for information, and online entertainment. CNNIC (2014c) showed that the top three usage of mobile phones are texting or IM (90.6 %), searching for information (79.4 %), and downloading music (70.2 %). The differences between young children’s (6–11 years old) uses and adolescent’s (12–18 years old) uses lie mainly in the numbers of users, what they use the Internet for, how they access the Internet, and the places where they use the Internet. The largest population of Internet users among Chinese youth remains with the 19–24-years-old group (45.5 %), the second goes to the 12–18-years-old group (42.9 %), and the 6–11-years-old group remains the last (11.6 %). However, the 6–11-years-old group saw the largest growth (5 %) over the last year jumping from 7.8 to 11.6 % (CNNIC 2014c). Mobile Internet access is young children’s main equipment for Internet use (79 %), Internet gaming is more in population among young children (70.5 %) than adolescents (65.7 %), and more young children access the Internet at home and at school than adolescents (CNNIC 2014c). Research (GMCCYL and GCP 2013) shows that in Chinese urban households with children ages 6–12 years old, mobile phone penetration rate is the highest (97.8 %), followed by TV (97 %), and computers (95.4 %); and 44.5 % of children own cell phones, 67.7 % use tablet PCs, and 65 % play games online. Data also show that kindergarteners can skillfully operate smartphones and tablet PCs. Technology becomes young children’s (6–12 years old) choice of means for communication: with 69.7 % use QQ daily, 51.4 % use blogging, and 45.7 % use WeChat. Research (CNNIC 2014a, c) also indicates that there still exists a digital divide between the urban/developed Eastern areas and the rural/developing Western areas in China although the gap is narrowing. Penetration of the Internet is more extensive and quality of the broadband is better in the developed areas than in the developing areas in China (CNNIC 2014a, c). Only 28.6 % (CNNIC 2014a) of the total Internet users in China live in rural areas with 71.4 % living in urban and more developed areas. While 195 million (CNNIC 2014c) Chinese youth Internet users reside in urban areas, 61.4 million are from the rural areas. The frequency of various Internet uses is higher for urban youth than that of rural youth except IM, which is used more often by rural youth than urban youth.

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Factors Affecting Chinese Youth’s Media Use

To understand the behavioral, attitudinal, and intentional reactions of Chinese youth toward the ever-changing innovations of technology, studies indicate the various factors that may affect how Chinese youth view and use digital media. The perspectives they take include sociocultural context and family environment (Liu 2010; Yen et al. 2007; Liu et al. 2012; Wan and Gut 2008b; Chang and Liu 2011), psychological perspectives of uses and gratifications (Sheer 2011; Wang and Sun 2009), and personality traits (Leung 2007; Wang et al. 2012). One set of studies, standing out, shows the importance of sociocultural embeddedness and the roles played by family environment in Chinese youth’s relationship with the Internet. Through the lens of Schutz’s social-biological situation, Liu (2010) reports Chinese youth see the Internet as a leisure device (toy) more than an aid to their academic performance and tend to use the Internet as an escape from their “real” world. The unique socio-biological context of everyday life that shapes Chinese youth’s relationship with the Internet includes their perceived pressure to do well in school, life opportunities, family structure, intergenerational relationships, and the educational system (Liu 2010) with the high-stake national entrance examination for college. While proper Internet use can facilitate the personal and cognitive skill development and socialization for youth (Jackson et al. 2011), excessive and compulsive Internet use may be detrimental (Greenfield and Yan 2006). Studies (Yen et al. 2007; Liu et al. 2012), exploring the association of family environment with Chinese youth pathological Internet use (PIU), suggested that youth with supportive family and quality parent-children communications are less likely to develop PIU, and parental norms and Internet use predict Chinese youth’s PIU and attitudes to the Internet. The findings of Liu et al. (2012) revealed that the more parent and adolescent communicate with each other, the lower the likelihood for adolescents to develop PIU. Quality communication with parents can decrease the risk of having problems with Internet use. Adolescents who have more parental support are more likely to have positive social connections online. Parents’ use of the Internet has a strong impact on adolescents’ attitudes and behavior toward the use of the Internet (Liu et al. 2012). Media literacy education provided at school and home may exert positive social and family impact on Chinese youth. Wan and Gut ( 2008a) suggested to empower students with the three stages of media literacy education described by Thoman (1995): (1) making wise choices and managing the amount of time spent, (2) critically analyzing and questioning the information, and (3) exploring deeper issues of who produces the media and for what purposes. Chang and Liu ( 2011) validated that media literacy education taught in schools enhances students’ abilities to access, analyze, and evaluate information in a variety of forms and encouraged educators to integrate media literacy education into school curriculum. Studies (Leung 2007; Shen et al. 2013; Wang and Sun 2009; Wang et al. 2012) guided by a well-established social psychological approach to examine media, uses


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and gratifications (U&G), focus on how individual uses media to gratify personal needs and emphasize on individual differences during the process of media uses. This line of research (Leung 2001; Leung and Wei 2000; Papcharissi and Rubin 2000) identified some broad motives that people have for using digital media: information exchange, to pass time, convenience, entertainment, socializing, education, and escape and diversion. Research reported it is the psychological motivations and factors that attract Chinese youth to digital media, which satisfy their basic needs (Shen et al. 2013). Leung (2007) claimed that college students favor Short Message Service (SMS) for its convenience, low cost, and utility for coordinating events. The media richness, for example, webcam, self-presentation, and communication control, explains why teenagers use the Microsoft Network (MSN) to develop online friends (Sheer 2011). Personality traits were found to affect how one uses the digital media. People who are socially anxious and unwilling to communicate face-to-face spent less time, not more on SMS (Leung 2007). Students who are in chronically lonely, situationally lonely, and non-lonely groups were different in their motives for Internet use: non-lonely Chinese students were more likely to use the Internet for acculturation and less likely to use it for passing time and companionship than did chronically lonely Chinese students (Wang and Sun 2009). Wang et al. (2012) investigated the relationships among the Big Five personality factors, self-esteem, narcissism, and sensation seeking to Chinese adolescents’ use of social networking sites (SNSs). The results indicated that different personalities apply different approaches to form their social relationships on SNSs. For instance, individuals with high self-esteem are more likely to comment on other friends’ profiles or pictures, individuals who are more open to sensation seeking tend to play online video games on SNSs, and individuals who are narcissistic tend to post attractive pictures of themselves on SNSs and are more likely to update status for self-presentation.

3.3

Impact of Media Use on Chinese Youth

The impact of Chinese adolescents’ media use provides important information for parents, educators, and policymakers to assist children to appropriately use digital media. To understand the effects of media on Chinese youth, three main media impacts are introduced: (1) sociocultural and intercultural aspects (Leung and Lee 2005; Li and Chen 2014; Lo and Leung 2009; Sheer 2011; Wang and Sun 2009; Wang et al. 2012); (2) technology, motivation and learning (Lei et al. 2009; Lam 2012; Shen et al. 2013); and (3) health issues (Chang and Liu 2011; Liu et al. 2012; Yen et al. 2007).

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Sociocultural and Intercultural Aspects

The sociocultural and intercultural concepts are a growing concern for twenty-firstcentury citizens and communities pursuing for sustainable life satisfaction and global awareness in a digital world. Intercultural competency refers to how people from diverse backgrounds and cultures communicate and interact with others and become competent in acquiring a foreign language (Byram 1997; Kramsch 1995). According to Trilling and Fadel (2009), to become a twenty-first-century citizen, an individual should acquire a variety of skills and a wide range of knowledge. These skills and techniques identified as global literacy skills in the twenty-first century (Yeh and Kessler 2014) can be divided into three types: (1) learning and innovation skills; (2) information, media, and technology skills; and (3) life and career skills (Trilling and Fadel 2009). This sociocultural and intercultural section discusses the impact of Chinese youth’s media use in terms of (1) social support (Leung and Lee 2005; Wang et al. 2012), (2) interpersonal communication (Lo and Leung 2009; Sheer 2011), and (3) intercultural competency (Li and Chen 2014; Wang and Sun 2009). Social supports and social relationships are essential elements that can enhance quality of life. Use of media and new technologies do play significant roles in enhancing the quality of life (Leung and Lee 2005) as people connect with each other online or offline; receive and give love, affection, sympathy, guidance, and information; and spend time with others. For instance, individuals enjoy listening to music, watching movies, chatting online, and searching for information and news on the Internet. Liu et al. ( 2013) reported that seeking school- and life-related information on the Internet predicted more life satisfaction and less loneliness through improved self-esteem for Chinese youth. As parents, educators, and policymakers, it is imperative to understand the social relationships and social interaction of the Chinese youth on the Internet and to provide social supports and guidance of using media appropriately online. Interpersonal communication is one of the most important elements in developing social skills. As the Internet continues to transform computer-mediated communication (CMC), Internet-mediated interpersonal communication has progressed from traditional technological tools (i.e., e-mail, telephone) to instant messaging (IM) (Lo and Leung 2009) and the versatile WeChat. Studies suggested that IM has become one of the most commonly used tools of computer-mediated interpersonal communication among Chinese youth (Lo and Leung 2009; Sheer 2011). The features that IM provides are more advanced and convenient. For instance, compared with traditional telephones, IM is less expensive. Compared with e-mail, IM offers more features synchronically and more interactions. Studies also suggested that Chinese adolescents’ preference of using IM is closely related to “sociability” (Lo and Leung 2009). Adolescents claim that they feel less lonely while engaging in IM chat because IM is more spontaneous regardless of receiving feedback and responses. Further, users are able to see who in their “buddy list” is available online to interact with them. Sheer (2011) supported the findings of Lo and Leung (2009) that interpersonal communication online is a commonly used approach to develop


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their social networking skills and forming friendships. Sheer ( 2011) claimed that the impacts of media richness and communication opportunities on the use of IM enhance adolescents’ self-presentation and friendship development. The rich features and applications on IM, namely, webcam and messaging functions, encourage the making of new friends, acquaintances, and opposite-sex friends. Moreover, predominantly text-based messages helped with the development of close friendship. Studies also show that the use of media helps Chinese youth to not only understand cultures from other countries but also understand the culture of their own (Li and Chen 2014; Wang and Sun 2009). Social networking sites (SNSs) are significant tools for Chinese youth to develop intercultural competency and bridge sociocultural perspectives with friends from other cultures (Li and Chen 2014). Li and Chen (2014) suggested that for Chinese international students who study overseas to build intercultural competency in the host country, Facebook is more effective than the indigenous Renren. The use of host country and coethnic language media indicates that host country media play a significant role in conveying information about the host country’s culture and customs.

3.3.2

Technology: Motivation and Learning

Motivation is one potent element for any learning process and success. As technology is changing the way we teach dramatically, this section discusses how to benefit from online learning platforms and social media to motivate Chinese youth in learning. Studies claim technology helps adolescents learn more effectively and efficiently (Lei et al. 2009; U.S. Department of Education 1996, 2000, 2004), and as a result, it enhances student academic achievement and prepares them for careers. Due to the increasing Internet use among Chinese students, one of the important efforts to improve education in the last decades has been the investment in technology integration in school settings. China had invested 100 billion RMB (i.e., twelve billion USD) in integrating technology in education (Lei et al. 2009; Zhao 2012). The Chinese government has made significant progress, from no Internet on K − 12 school settings a decade ago to 86.2 % of urban schools and 41.8 % of rural schools having access to the Internet (Lei et al. 2009). Studies show SNSs are effective tools for motivation in learning. Lam ( 2012) studied whether incorporating Facebook in teaching with its four benefits, (1) interaction, (2) communication, (3) social relationship, and (4) participation, would motivate Chinese youth in learning and received positive results. This generation of youth has grown up with digital media and is used to using them in their daily lives. It makes sense for schools to capitalize on students’ nature of interest in digital media to teach and to motivate them to learn. CNNIC ( 2014c) reported that while searching for information online independently, Chinese young children are found reading materials that are more advanced for their age. Regarding the effects of media use on pedagogical practices, Lei et al. ( 2009) examined the differences of interest in various subject matters and motivations of

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learning among Chinese youth. Students claim that science and social studies were taught in a traditional teacher-centered learning environment, and technology was usually used by teachers in instruction rather than by students in learning activities in the classroom. The study also showed that foreign language is one of the least favorites favorites for Chinese students. However, However, these adolescents assert that they would be more motivated and interested in learning foreign languages if their teachers integrated technology in the curriculum. With With many valuable English resources online, integrating them into the classroom would definitely provide a motivating learning environment for Chinese adolescents in learning the English language (Lei et al. 2009). 2009 ).

3.3.3

Health Issues

When used appropriately, the Internet can be beneficial to adolescents, developing their socializing and cognitive skills and self-identity (Liu et al. 2012 2012), ), providing entertainment, and facilitating learning (Shen et al. 2013 2013). ). However, pathological Internet use (PIU) is a serious problem nowadays, especially for adolescents. Adolescents with PIU suffered from physical health problems, poor academic performance, and problems with social life, depression, loneliness, and failure at school (Shen et al. 2013 2013). ). Previous studies suggested that Chinese adolescents’ parental involvements involvements are significant predictors of adolescent PIU (Yen (Yen et al. 2007 2007;; Liu et al. 2012). 2012 ). Therefore, Liu et al. ( 2012 2012)) proposed that parental involvements including (1) parental Internet use behaviors, (2) parent value regarding adolescents’ Internet use, and (3) parent-adolescent communication should be further investigated in order to understand adolescents with PIU. With healthy relationship between parents and children, with positive role models at home, young Internet users should be able to make healthy and proper pr oper use of technology. For people who are introverts and neurotics, the Internet provides them with opportunities to express their “real me” in the virtual world, which may potentially help prevent them from suffering serious psychological disorders and have an impact on their well-being (Amichai-Hamburger et al. 2002 2002). ). A large national study by medical doctors in China (Li et al. 2007 2007)) reported that the presence of a TV or a computer in a child’s bedroom and the use of them have a negative effect on children’s sleep/wake patterns and duration of sleep and may bring on sleep disorders for children. Media literacy education including managing time and making choices for Chinese children may assist them with self-regulation and discipline in their use of media. These skills allow them to become twenty-first-century citizens, informed decision-makers, and critical thinkers, as well as have healthy lifestyles (Chang and Liu 2011 2011). ).


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Discussion and Conclusion

This chapter presents the latest statistics of Chinese young people’s heavy media use and describes the unprecedented growth trends of the Internet and its young users in China. To explain explain why young people are so enthusiastic about new n ew gadgets and embrace activities on the Internet, this chapter indicates that the use of digital media by Chinese youth y outh is affected by the sociocultural context they live in as well as their immediate family environment and school media literacy education, by the various psychological gratifications they experience from using digital media, and by their personal characteristics. The chapter shows that technology is going to stay and play continuing important roles in everyone’s life, and technology is a doubleedged sword. While media use develops young people’s social and cognitive skills, provides entertainment, and facilitates their learning, pathological Internet use may lead to various social and health issues. Media use comes with great potential to benefit Chinese youth, but on the other hand, if not used appropriately, it could be harmful in many ways. The question for parents, educators, and policymakers is: What can we do to capitalize on the enthusiasm and interest of young people for technology and guide and educate them so they will be able to enjoy the amazing things that new inventions offer and avoid the potential po tential harms? According to Katz et al. ( 1974 1974), ), psychological dispositions, social factors, and environmental conditions together shape and regulate individuals’ media use; we believe it is imperative to work with young people, families and parents, and educators to create a healthy home and positive school environments and model and teach media literacy skills to children. “If students are to use new media to their own greatest advantage, they too must learn to creatively creatively and critically browse, research, organize, select and produce communication forms that use the full spectrum of literacy tools available to them” (Tyner 2003,, p. 374). Adults in society have a twofold responsibility: educate young peop le 2003 in appropriate and ethical use of media and find creative and interesting ways to utilize new media to teach students at home and in the classroom. Through media literacy education, we help young people learn how to deal with information overflow and how to make smart choices, teach them critical thinking skills and ways to stay away from age-inappropriate content and unsafe behaviors online, and guide them in their learning through the Internet. Moreover, as media literacy has been identified as an essential skill for students to succeed in the twenty-first century (Partnership for 21st Century Skills n.d.), n.d. ), it is crucial that schools assist students in acquiring the skills. The study found emerging efforts in China advocating for media literacy education. For example, the website (SMSE 2010 2010)) with information for teachers and schools to integrate media literacy education in their teaching and children’s centers in some major cities like Guangzhou (GMCCYL and GCP 2013 2013)) took the lead in educating children about critical use of media and experimenting with media literacy curriculum in schools. Currently, media literacy is not taught systematically in

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schools in China. Advocacy and implementation for media literacy education in school curriculum will benefit the Chinese society as a whole. There exist informal and anecdotal reports on issues and problems of children’s Internet use, such as becoming overindulged on the Internet and neglecting school work and sharing private information online, and there are reports on responses to concerns for young children’s children’s Internet use, such as regulations made by law enforcement agencies in China and shutting down of Internet cafes and websites containing cyber violence and pornographic content (Wan and Gut 2008a 2008a,, 2008b 2008b). ). However, this study did not find systematic research on issues related to the Internet use by Chinese children. Future studies on safe Internet use and longitudinal studies on impacts of children’s media use in terms of their human development would become valuable contributions to the field. Further, this study found very limited formal and well-designed studies assessing children’s children’s knowledge on media literacy, literacy, assessing effect of media literacy education on children’s use of media, and assessing parent’s and teacher’s knowledge on how to teach media literacy to children. Future research along these lines is needed and will certainly benefit Chinese youth while new n ew technology and inventions continue to attract their eyeballs. Studies should also be conducted to explore ways to integrate technology in teaching and in enhancing students’ learning. Professional development for teachers to learn to integrate media literacy education into their existing curriculum and using technology to teach should also be considered.

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Confidence Building, Empowerment, and Engagement: An Argument for Practicing Media Literacy Education in Special Education Settings in Hong Kong C.K. Cheung

Abstract Today, the mass media are now regarded as essential for keeping people up to date with the world around them. In order to combat the negative influences media may have on youngsters, media literacy education has been called upon and was implemented in some primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong. However, the benefits have not been extended to the field of special education. This paper attempts an argument for the incorporation of media literacy education into the special education curriculum. Here special education means education for children and adolescents with various physical disabilities—hearing/visual impairments, mobility impairment, and so forth. The paper argues that media literacy education can help students with disability combat media stereotypes, actively participate in society, and become engaged in media production. Keywords Special education • Hong Kong • Media literacy • Stereotyping • Media production

1

Introduction

Today, the mass media are now regarded as essential for keeping people up to date with the world around them. In order to combat the negative influences media may have on youngsters, media literacy education has been called upon and was implemented in some primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong (Cheung 2004, 2005). However, the benefits have not been extended to the field of special education. And the question must be asked, “What does media literacy education have to offer? Is there really a need at all for teaching disabled students how to critically

C.K. Cheung (*) Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2016 C.K. Cheung, Media Literacy Education in China, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-0045-4_5

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analyze and create media messages? Will they ever benefit from learning such kind of skills?” The answer, I will attempt to show, is a resounding yes. Not only do special education students need to be taught media and information literacy skills for the same reason general education students do, but in many cases, children with disabilities are more susceptible to media influence and manipulation than their nondisabled peers and thus are more in need of the ability to resist these influences.

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Disability as We Understand It: Medical Model versus Social Model

I want first to examine briefly the question “What constitutes disability?” in the hope that it might shed some light on the nature of disability and the way in which it should be addressed. Traditionally, disability was understood using the medical model of disability. According to this view, disability is the result of illness and impairment and entails suffering and social disadvantage (Thomas 2004). The medical model of disability helps justify large-scale investment in medical technologies and research designed to cure or improve the disabled individual’s condition and well-being. The medical model stands in sharp contrast to what in the field of disability studies is termed the “social” model of disability, which emphasizes the social causes of disability. This social view does not deny that physical impairments are directly linked to disability, but stresses that people are disabled not so much by their physical conditions as by the existing social and organizational barriers—for example, absence of subtitles on television programs, building entrances without wheelchair ramps, etc.—which are derived ultimately from people’s view of disability as an “abnormal” or “defective” condition, a condition to be cured but not recognized . This social interpretation of disability is summarized well by Finkelstein, one of the cofounders of UPIAS (Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation), who sees disability as “something imposed on top of our impairments by the way we are unnecessarily isolated and excluded from full participation in society” (UPIAS 1976, cited in Thomas 2004). This social model raises a crucial point which is relevant to our present discussion: while impairments are clearly physical, objective conditions with limited room for improvement, disability is more properly seen as a subjective construction, one that changes over time as people’s subjective perceptions evolve. But then there is the question, “Whose subjective perception?” It is clear that disability policies are largely shaped by the perceptions of nondisabled people, but does that tell the whole story? I will attempt to show, in the following sections, that there is a significant psychological aspect to this problem and how it might be solved through the application of media literacy education.

Confidence Building, Empowerment, and Engagement: An Argument for Practicing…

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Disabling the Public’s Perceptions of the Disabled: Twisted Images from the Media

There is ample evidence from the literature on media stereotype and disability to support the contention that disability is associated with negative and unrealistic media portrayals (Dahl 1993; Norden 1994; Harnett 2000). Disabled individuals have been depicted as pitiable and pathetic, objects of violence, sinister and evil, super cripples, objects of ridicule, their own worst and only enemies, burdens to society, sexually abnormal, and incapable of participating fully in community life (Barnes 1992). If the media portray disabled persons as violent or incompetent, the public may be less accepting of them as colleagues, neighbors, or classmates. In fact, studies showed that people with disabilities, as depicted in television and movies, belonged predominantly to lower social economic groups and were unemployed and victims of abuse (Elliot and Byrd 1982; Greenberg and Collette 1997). Moreover, even when they are represented in a positive light, the recurring image of the disabled person is usually that of a brave, courageous figure, overcoming insurmountable difficulties of disability and completing heroic tasks. These “unusual” stereotypes affect not only society’s perception of disabled people but the self-concept of the disabled themselves as well. The sociopsychological mechanism underlying this phenomenon is analogous to that of the famous “teacher-expectations effect” experiment, in which students who were tested by teachers who had been told of their students’ supposed high intelligence later performed better than those students who were tested by “uninformed” teachers (Rosenthal and Jacobson 1968). Positive perception of self by others (stereotype) leads to positive self-perception (self-concept), which in turn leads to higher performance (behavior). Likewise, negative stereotypes of disabled people lead to negative self-concepts, and unrealistic stereotypes (e.g., heroes) elicit in the disabled person a sense of inadequacy (disabled people should be heroic), further lowering their self-esteem (Wendell 1996) (Fig. 1). How do we reverse this negative stereotype? It is worth noting that stereotypes are not always unrealistic; after all, if disabled people have become what they are portrayed to be, why alter those stereotypes when, in fact, they are true? However, although changing the social stereotype may be difficult and problematic, we can nevertheless initiate changes on the part of disabled individuals. If we want to produce positive behavior, we need to generate positive self-concepts; but simply telling the disabled person to “feel good about yourself” is surely not the way to solve the problem. Instead, we need to alter the way in which media stereotypes affect

Social perception (Stereotype)

Self-perception (Confidence/Self-Concept)

Behaviour

If negative, behaviour reinforces stereotypes.

Fig. 1 Model of the relationship between stereotype, self-concept, and behavior

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disabled people’s self-concept. There is surely no logical necessity for one’s selfconcept to be influenced by media stereotype, and education is one way of teaching people how not to. Through media literacy education, teachers could help students, both normal and disabled, develop understanding and social acceptance of students with disabilities. It can allow educators to understand how the public perceive disability and provide clarification for these misunderstandings. Safran ( 2001) recommended instructional strategies as a way to help students to further explore the issues related to disability such as the evaluation of the accuracy of disability portrayal by researching specific disability conditions.

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4.1

How Does Media Literacy Education Help?

Confidence Building: Combating Media Stereotypes

The media gives information, whether it is accurate or twisted, for the general public to see the world. It is important in framing issues for the general public because of certain natural barriers such as culture, distance, education, and communication that limit their understanding of issues. Similarly, many people, who have no daily contact with disabled people, may derive their perceptions, be it accurate or distorted, of the disabled through the media. Riley ( 2005, p. 9) stated that media content plays an important role in the societal perception of disabled persons. To a certain extent, the media defines the ways in which “people with disabilities are “regarded,” enforcing stereotypes.” Disabled persons inevitably have to face how they are represented in the media— or indeed, not represented at all—and the normalization of disability as part of the diversity of society has not been satisfactory. Greenberg and Brand (1994) summarized a number of major studies dealing with disabilities and minorities in the mass media. Their extensive literature review shows that far fewer studies deal with disabilities and the media than with ethnic minorities. Others have noted that disabled persons are not portrayed as part of “normal” society, and their opinions are rarely sought on issues beyond those of disability that hit public awareness (Schantz and Gilbert 2001; Schell and Rodriguez 2001). How will media literacy education contribute to this media enlightenment? One of the core concepts of media literacy education is “all messages are constructed.” While this may appear self-evident in hindsight, it is important to recognize that this “constructedness” is not at all obvious to children, especially when they are disabled and depend heavily on their families in particular and society in general and therefore are more prone to place trust in others than view them with skepticism. The media becomes for disabled, as well as nondisabled, children their first curriculum, while schooling comes second. This lack of alertness fosters an uncritical attitude toward media messages and renders children vulnerable to influence and manipulation. It is only through educating them about the complexities of the


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media—to know who created the message, for whom it is intended, for what purpose, for example—that we can teach them to become informed consumers of the media, for whom stereotypes become subject to critical examination rather than things to be blindly accepted. Safran ( 2000) noted that studying media content implies an understanding that media images have some influence in society, particularly if your social group is the one being portrayed. For students with disabilities, this means they will be able to see themselves as they are, to have the will and confidence to make changes in their lives, to take the initiative, and finally through their efforts to alter some of the prevailing stereotypes about disability: is it not surprising to see some late-night talk show host talking with his or her guests while pushing the wheelchair around? That could only happen, however, with someone who has the confidence to challenge rather than accept the stereotype, and media literacy education is the first step toward confidence building.

4.2

Empowerment: Encouraging Social Participation

Not only are they passively stereotyped or influenced by the media, disabled people are also significant, active media users. They watch television, listen to the radio, and read magazines as much as any teenager does. With the advance of technology, many have noted the enormous impact the Internet is having on the social and personal lives of disabled individuals (Ritchie and Blank 2003; Bricout 2004; Guo et al. 2005). Disabled people use the Internet to interact and exchange information, seek job opportunities, learn about the world, and seek help. There exists, however, a digital divide between disabled and nondisabled people and within disabled communities themselves, not only because of socioeconomic polarization (Guo et al. 2005) but also due to discrepancies in levels of computer literacy. Warschauer (2003) argued that the mere presence of computers is no way to solve the problem of digital divide; what is needed is to encourage the meaningful use of technology, and this can only be done through education. What can media literacy education do to help disabled students to use the Internet meaningfully? It offers a systematic knowledge of the nature of information technology and the Net, its various techniques, features, potentials, and resources. It can teach young people, for example, how to engage in online communication effectively and responsibly (Silverblatt 2000), how to search for and obtain desired information, and how to deal with unsolicited ads and spam. Moreover, media literacy education offers practical guidance for creating one’s own media messages—websites, in this case—which are much easier to handle and arguably more useful in Internet contexts than in the other media forms. All of these literacy skills are especially important for disabled children because these skills pave the path toward a high degree of social participation. Before the advent of the Internet, people with disabilities often lived in narrow social circles composed of either family members or other disabled individuals. The resultant ingroup bias often led to a biased, if not hostile, attitude toward the larger society and

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contributed to the group’s own isolation and loneliness. One of the most important transformations of the pattern of disabled people’s social relationships in history came with the birth of online communities. According to the systematic work of Guo et al. (2005), 76.2 % of the respondents from an online disability community in China agreed that they had more chances to make friends and participate in public affairs and self-support groups, and 66.1 % agreed that the Internet could promote social participation and increase mutual understanding between the disabled community and society at large.

4.3

Engagement Through Media Production

Media literacy education could be adopted in several forms. Having media literacy education lessons is one and media production is another. As can be noted from the development of media literacy education in various countries, the present period is a phase toward a new paradigm which somehow emphasizes media production compared with a previous “protectionist approach” which sees the media as harmful and which tries to inoculate the young audience from the “negative” media influence (Buckingham 2003; Quin 2003; Cheung 2009). Stafford (2001) also observed that, at present, “most media courses will see the acquisition of basic skills, knowledge and understanding about media production itself as a core element of provision.” As many media educators call for a more reflexive pedagogy, the production aspect of media literacy education is increasingly being emphasized. Buckingham (2003) observed that there are several general reasons for this trend (pp. 12–17). First, the notion of the media as bearers of a singular set of ideologies and beliefs which is uniformly harmful is not so easy to sustain in contemporary academic discussions. Second, technological changes make it increasingly more difficult to prevent children from gaining access to material that is supposed to be “harmful,” and regulation may jeopardize young people’s civic participation. Third, younger teachers today have grown up with electronic media; therefore, they are less likely to see themselves as protectionist denouncing the “negative” influence of media which they themselves enjoy; and they are more enthusiastic about teaching young people to use media as forms of expression. Fourth, there is a global trend that increasingly regards identity as a matter of individual choice, and thus individuals become more diverse and autonomous in their uses and interpretations of media goods. Media production enables participants to create their own messages in the form of print, audio, video, and multimedia. One of the current issues in media literacy education in the USA is the discussion of whether practical production should be an essential feature of media literacy education. Hobbs ( 1998) points out that a number of educators believe that young people cannot become truly critical consumers of the mass media until they have experienced practical media production.


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Media production also works for students with disabilities. The advances in technology make it easier for students to handle equipment. It is also important for students to be engaged in creating their own true image of what disability is really like. Furthermore, by engaging in media production, disabled students can develop their career in the field of media industry after graduation. This is important as Barbara Waters, Chief Executive of Skill, says “One way of counteracting negative media images of disabled people is by making sure that disabled people can access opportunities to work in the media themselves.”

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Conclusion

If we define a “sense” as a “faculty of perceiving,” as Webster’s 3rd International Dictionary does while accepting the McLuhanian view of media as an “extension of man” and a “new manner of perception,” then surely the media can be seen as a new kind of sense. If the lack of a particular sense means the loss of one particular channel of information, then the development and utilization of the “media sense” can legitimately be seen as a compensation for that information dearth. As with any other sense organ, there may be problems and “diseases” with the media sense— vulnerability to media influence, as we have shown—but once these “diseases” and problems get cured and solved, the new sense offers a clear, profound insight into the multimedia world around us as well as a tremendous amount of novel opportunities. We cannot afford to let our standards slip in the area of special education, in the face of today’s increasingly multimedia world, which has so much to offer to our disabled children. The general aim of special education is to provide children having special needs with the education necessary to help them develop their potential to the full, achieve as much independence as they are capable of, and become well-adjusted individuals in the community. Media literacy and information education work to help disabled students understand how they are portrayed in the media through the decoding and encoding of media messages. It also empowers them with a critical understanding of their identity and representation in a confident manner. Through media production, they can find their true voice to produce their own media messages, which will give the general public a more realistic view of what disability is and could later on help them pursue a career in the media industry as well.

References Barnes, C. (1992). An exploration of the principles for media representations of disabled people. London: Ryburn Publishing. Bricout, J. C. (2004). Using telework to enhance return to work opportunities for individuals with spinal cord injuries. Neuro Rehabilitation, 19(2), 147–159.

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Buckingham, D. (2003). Media education: Literacy learning, and contemporary culture. Cambridge: Polity Press. Cheung, C. K. (2004). Media education in Hong Kong schools: Possibilities and challenges. Educational Studies, 30(1), 33–52. Cheung, C. K. (2005). The relevance of media education in primary schools in Hong Kong in the age of new media – A case study. Educational Studies, 31(4), 361–374. Cheung, C. K. (2009). Media education across four Asian societies: Issues and themes. International Review of Education, 55, 39–58. Dahl, M. (1993) The role of the media in promoting images of disability- disability as metaphor: The evil crip. Canadian Journal of Communication, 18 (1) [online at http://www.cjc-online.ca/ viewarticle.php?id=141 /] Elliot, T. R., & Byrd, E. K. (1982). Media and disability. Rehabilitation Literature, 43(11–12), 348–355. Greenberg, B. S., & Brand, J. E. (1994). Minorities and the mass media: 1970s to 1990s. In J. Bryant & D. Zillmann (Eds.), Media effects: Advances in theory and research (pp. 273–314). Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum. Greenberg, B. S., & Collette, L. (1997). The changing faces on TV: A demographic analysis of network television’s new seasons, 1966–1992. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 41, 1–13. Guo, B., Bricout, J. C., & Jin, H. (2005). A common open space or a digital divide? A social model perspective on the online disability community in China. Disability & Society, 20(1), 49–66. Harnett, A. (2000). Escaping the ‘evil avenger’ and the ‘supercrip’: Images of disability in popular television. Irish Communications Review, 8, 21–29. Hobbs, R. (1998). The seven great debates in the media literacy movement. Journal of Communication, 48(1), 16–32. Norden, M. F. (1994). The cinema of isolation: A history of physical disability in the movies. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. Quin, R. (2003). A genealogy of media studies. Australian Educational Researcher, 30, 101–121. Riley, C. A. (2005). Disability and the media: Prescriptions for change. Hanover: University Press of New England. Ritchie, H., & Blank, P. (2003). The promise of the internet for disability: A study of on-line services and web site accessibility at centers for independent living. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 21, 5–26. Rosenthal, R., & Jacobson, L. (1968). Pygmalion in the classroom. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. Safran, S. P. (2000). Using movies to teach students about disabilities. Teaching Exceptional Children, 32, 44–47. Safran, S. P. (2001). Movie images of disability and war. Remedial and Special Education, 22(4), 223–232. Schantz, O., & Gilbert, K. (2001). An ideal misconstrued: Newspaper coverage of the Atlanta paralympic games in France and Germany. Sociology of Sport Journal, 18 (1), 69–105. Schell, A., & Rodriguez, S. (2001). Subverting bodies/ambivalent representations: Media analysis of paralympian, Hope Lewellen. Sociology of Sport Journal, 18 (1), 127–135. Silverblatt, A. (2000). Media literacy in the digital age. Reading Online, 4(3) [online at http:// www.readingonline.org/newliteracies/silverblatt/ ] Stafford, R. (2001). Media education in the U.K . [online at http://mediaed.org.uk/posted_documents/mediaeduk.html ] Thomas, C. (2004). How is disability understood: An examination of sociological approaches. Disability & Society, 19(6), 569–583. Warschauer, M. (2003). Technology and social inclusion: Rethinking the digital divide. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Wendell, S. (1996). The rejected body . New York: Routledge.

Using News Narratives to Learn About Gender Ideologies in Contemporary China Aditi Dubey-Jhaveri

Abstract This chapter examines the ideological construction of gender identities in news narratives in China with a view to highlight the need for enhancing media literacy in this field. Through an exploration of the intersection of journalistic and gender ideologies, the chapter seeks to illuminate the role of media framing in defining, establishing and reinforcing gender norms and roles in Chinese society. Gendered frames, for instance, of motherhood or the primacy of breadwinner role, allow journalists to simplify the complexities of the stories of men and women in their private and public spheres. A detailed qualitative study of a corpus of 12 news articles from China Daily using a textual analysis approach revealed that the news texts primarily construct ideals of manhood and womanhood. Within a patriarchal and hierarchical media, state and social structure, representations of hegemonic masculinities persist in news narratives. With regard to women, it was found that, on the one hand, voices of rural, migrant women were marginalised and, on the other, urban or modern women were commodified as objects of men’s desire in this age of consumerism. These results call for critically minded, media-literate Chinese to pay attention to the forms of transitional, as opposed to traditional, gender roles and ideologies that are emerging slowly but steadily through the news media. Keywords Media literacy • Gender ideologies • News narratives • Chinese society

1

Introduction

The purpose of this chapter is to study the representation of male and female social actors in the online edition of the China Daily newspaper with the intention to identify gender ideologies and thereby inform a critical aspect of media literacy in China. The study is premised on the understanding that one of the most difficult tasks teachers face when teaching media literacy to school children is in convincing

A. Dubey-Jhaveri, Ph.D. (*) Faculty of Arts, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2016 C.K. Cheung, Media Literacy Education in China , DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-0045-4_6

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them that society plays a large role in directing their behaviour and shaping their lives. Chinese students brought up to recognise the importance of hard work and imbued with values of meritocracy often view their behaviour as a matter of their own choice and their life outcomes as congruent with their unique abilities and talents. This is particularly true for gendered behaviour because many students are inclined to believe that differential roles in life for women and men are natural and innate, i.e. due to biological differences, rather than as a result of social conditioning of human beings that takes place through various processes of socialisation. Consequently, this chapter discusses the processes of gender role socialisation, the formation of gender role ideologies, the role of media (especially newspapers) in the reinforcement of prevalent gender ideologies in Chinese society and the ways in which young adults in China can be made aware of these ideologies through media literacy programmes, workshops or lessons.

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Gender Role Socialisation

Theories of gender role socialisation assume that men and women receive different socialisation (Bem 1993; Konrad et al. 2000). Generally, men are socialised into believing that their essential role in life is to work outside the home and provide for the family while women are taught that their main role is to be homemakers. The assumption therefore is that men will internalise gender role expectations about themselves and women will also internalise the expectations associated with feminine gender role socialisation (Unger 1990; Wollman-Bonilla 1998). In addition, according to gender role socialisation theory, every society prescribes appropriate roles for females and males with varying sanctions for those who deviate from these norms (Adomako Ampofo 2001). These norms are inculcated through socialisation and are imbibed by the individual from early childhood. The gender role socialisation theory posits that different people and objects in the child’s environment provide rewards and models that shape behaviour to fit gender role norms in a particular society (Helgeson 2009). Generally, socialisation agents in the environment encourage men to be agentic and women to be communal so as to take up male and female gender roles. In many cultures, boys are encouraged to be assertive and to control the expression of their emotions. Girls on the other hand are socialised to express concern for others and to control their assertiveness (Helgeson 2009). Thus, boys and girls learn to distinguish female and male roles by watching the elders around them. These socialisation agents usually enforce what is gender appropriate behaviour through the use of rewards, sanctions and punishments (Nukunya 2003). These socialising agents, which impact on the child’s gender role attitudes, may include the child’s environment, including parents, peers, teachers, instructional materials in school as well as the media.

Using News Narratives to Learn About Gender Ideologies in Contemporary China

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The Role of Media in the Formation of Gender Role Ideologies

The media play a large part in the socialisation process, especially socialisation into gender roles (Goffman 1979; Lindsey and Christy 1997; MacKinnon 1989; Strinati 1995). The media both reflect and reinforce traditional gender roles. Most people realise that the images in the media often do not reflect reality. However, that does not mean that these images are not influential. Newspapers, for instance, present a microcosm of ideologies, values and beliefs from the dominant culture and frequently reflect gender ideologies of people in a given sociocultural context. Bwewusa (2008) points out that the newspaper has ‘greatly accelerated the reinforcement of gender stereotypes in the society through their … language of communication’ (p. 9). In the process of framing the news or choosing a news angle, journalists frequently use news language that is easy to understand and that easily fits common stereotypes. This ensures that the reader gets the main message in a quick and convenient manner, while for journalists the task of writing to gendered frames is easier because it avoids the complexities in the story. Consequently, while reading the print media, children and young adults cannot help but learn about cultural norms, beliefs and social expectations related to femininity and masculinity. Reading is part of the process of socialisation and an important mechanism through which these gendered ideas and beliefs are transmitted from one generation to the next. For example, children may use the gender scripts and ideologies in these newspapers when they are role playing and forming an impression of the generalised other and hence of femaleness and maleness (Bem 1981a, 1983; Mead 1934). The literature affirms that many masculine and feminine characteristics are not biological at all; they are acquired. Gender schema theory, for instance, suggests that youngsters develop a sense of femaleness and maleness based on gender stereotypes and organise their behaviour around them (Bem 1981b, 1983; Eagly and Wood, 1999). By age seven, and perhaps as early as age four, children begin to understand gender as a basic component of self, and later, socialising agents such as newspapers become an important source of gender stereotypes that students use to emulate the expected gender behaviour. Since ideological messages about gender are embedded throughout culture and reflected in almost all products of sociopolitical and economic institutions, including media products, women and men invariably use them as standards of comparison to make judgements about themselves and others. In other words, they can be seen as ‘practising’ gender ideology (Taylor 1988). Williams and Best (1990) define gender ideology as one’s beliefs regarding the proper roles for men and women, which may be characterised as existing along a continuum from traditional to modern. Those who hold traditional gender role ideology believe that men’s and women’s spheres of work are different because men belong to the sphere of paid work outside the home while women’s sphere that of unpaid work at home (Hochschild and Machung 1989; Levant et al. 2003). On the other hand, a modern sex-role ideology discards the idea that there are distinctions between male and female roles and

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believes in gender equality and flexibility (Barry and Beitel 2006). Egalitarian attitudes or modern gender role ideology maintains that power and roles are distributed equally between men and women and that women identify equally with the same spheres of work as men (Barry and Beitel 2006; Hochschild and Machung 1989). However, men and women’s gender role ideologies regarding work (as well as in other areas) have been found to be different, and these differences in perception have been well documented in the literature (e.g., Panayotova and Brayfield 1997). Men have been found to endorse more traditional attitudes, while women endorse more modern attitudes towards gender roles (Barry and Beitel 2006; Chang 1999; Whitley 1983). Yet, it is argued that most people have attitudes that lie between traditional and egalitarian ideologies (Hochschild and Machung 1989). This led to the identification of a third gender role ideology, known as the transitional gender role ideology. According to this ideology, women can devote time to both work and family domains but should hold proportionally more responsibility for the home compared to men who should focus more of their energy on work. Thus, attitudes towards men and women’s role in society constitute an important aspect of gender or sex-role ideology (Hochschild and Machung 1989). With respect to men’s and women’s roles in society, in particular, the amount of time they spend at home and outside, data reveals the determinants of married women’s housework time in China (China Family Panel Studies 2010). Their time spent on paid work and their absolute earnings were found to be negatively associated with their time spent on domestic chores. This study also specifically examined the impact of women’s relative income on their time for housework. The literature in this regard indicated that when women earned more than their husbands, they tended not to reduce their housework time as their relative earnings increased, a phenomenon known as ‘gender display’. In other words, the wife’s bargaining power for housework with her relative income was constrained by the gender ideology. This study found that there were urban–rural and regional differences in the effect of the wife’s relative income on her housework time. The results indicated that increased relative income could help urban married women continuously reduce their housework time. However, for rural married women, the effect of relative income on reducing housework time is limited by their transitional gender ideology, and the ‘gender display’ phenomenon existed. Linking the survey data to the prefecture-level indicator of modernisation, this study found that, in the rural areas, the effect of relative income on housework time varied with the level of modernisation. Specially, the bargaining power of wife’s relative income in housework time was stronger when the rural areas were more modernised. In contrast, the bargaining power was more limited in rural areas with lower modernisation level, and ‘gender display’ was more likely to exist. This goes to show that gender ideologies are internalised as a system of signs or, in other words, as a code. For example, women may do more housework than their spouses despite working an equal number of hours outside home to engage in ‘gender display’ and thereby conform to their expected gender role just the way they would use cosmetics and certain styles of dresses to enhance their femininity in trying to emulate cultural standards of beauty.


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Scales of Gender Ideology

Since the 1930s research on gender role ideology has led to the development of many scales to measure concepts related to gender role ideology. Unfortunately, the key concepts in this study as well as their measurements are still far from mature in the west as well as in China. Among these scales, the four main ones are sex-role belief scale (SRBS), sex-role ideology scale (SRIS), the attitudes towards women scale (AWS) and the sex-role egalitarianism scale (SRES). The contents of these scales reflect gender role ideology in areas such as family life, appearance, politics, leadership, education, raising children and employment to name a few. Table 1 provides an overview of the four primary scales of gender role ideology developed so far. However, most of the above gender ideology scales are too broad and include too many items to allow for a specific research design. Therefore, Davis and Greenstein (2009) after reviewing ten nationally representative surveys that measured gender ideology using at least two items, both cross-cultural and longitudinal, ended up with a 34-item pool out of which they proposed a categorisation schema with six items for measuring gender ideology. These six items, which still remain tentative and debatable, include:

Table 1 Different scales of gender role ideology

Scale

Underlying concept

Construct

Author(s)

SRBS

Beliefs and attitudes towards the roles that male and female should play in society

Single dimension

Kerr and Holden (1996)

Ideology may be described as liberal, modern, feminist or egalitarian or as traditional or conservative

At least two dimensions (traditionalism and feminism) are included in practical application

Kalin et al. (1982)

Attitudes towards female’s role, rights and responsibilities

Three dimensions

Spence and Helmreich (1972)

Attitudes towards the traditional and nontraditional roles played by males and females in marriage, birth, employment, interpersonal and intersex relationship and education

Includes two orders (formal and informal relationship) and five dimensions: marriage, reproduction, employment, interpersonal/intersex relationship and education

King et al. (1997)

Sex-role belief scale SRIS Sex-role ideology scale

AWS Attitudes towards women SRES Sex-role egalitarianism scale

Source: Yang et al. (2013)

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1. ‘Primacy of the breadwinner role’: beliefs about the man as the main breadwinner of the family 2. ‘Belief in gendered separate spheres’: beliefs about men occupying the paid work sphere and women the domestic work sphere 3. ‘Working women and relationship quality’: perceptions and ideas about the quality of a marital relationship when the woman works outside the home 4. ‘Motherhood and the feminine self’: beliefs about woman’s main role in family or society as a mother or nurturer and the importance of other traits that emphasise her femininity 5. ‘Household utility’: beliefs about housework and/or its distribution 6. ‘Acceptance of male privilege’: beliefs congruent with the idea that boys or men should enjoy a higher status in society and receive social, economic and political benefits

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Methods

The study uses Davis and Greenstein’s (2009) six items (as described above) as a basis for conducting the textual analysis of gender-related articles focusing on women to identify the gender ideologies in the online edition of China Daily found during the week of 12 January 2015. During this period, gender-related articles with the following headlines were found on chinadaily.com.cn: – – – – – – – – – – – –

Changes in women’s fashion (China Daily 3 January 2015d) Parade of beauty at job fair (China Daily 14 January 2015f ) Sweet girls of Neijiang (China Daily 14 January 2015g) Looking hot in the cold (China Daily 14 January 2015e) TV drama hides assets of actresses (China Daily 3 January 2015i) Girl copies TV character to score marks (China Daily 11 January 2015a) Woman knelt down and pleaded with her son (China Daily 11 January 2015b) Woman gives birth to five babies (China Daily 14 January 2015h) Good looks earn free meal (China Daily 12 January 2015c) Chinese singles: dilemmas in getting hitched (Wu and Liu 2014) The price of Chinese marriage (Li and Meidong 2014) Shopping for a mate means calculation (Zhou 2014)

A qualitative analysis of the above articles is conducted with the purpose to show that media literacy can be acquired by students in China by learning how to unmask gender ideologies in newspaper articles. Thus, one way of helping students learn about how ideologies contribute to different gender roles and getting them interested in the issue is through qualitative analysis (Walzer 2001) of articles in the print media.


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Findings and Discussion

Over the years as Chinese society has undergone significant geopolitical and sociocultural changes, its gender ideologies have also reflected the changing times. Confucianism has perhaps had one of the greatest impacts on the allocation of gender roles in Chinese society. It stresses a hierarchical societal structure, which assumes subordinates’ obedience to superiors and men’s dominance over women and children. These Confucian ethics developed a strongly patriarchal Chinese society, which was strengthened in the feudal system in later years (Fairbank et al. 1973). Confucius maintained that ‘only women and small children are hard to bring up’ and women are more virtuous without education. Further, he asserts that ‘Man is honoured for strength while a woman is beautiful on account of her gentleness’. In Table 2, which provides a summary of the newspaper articles found in the online edition of China Daily and identifies the gender ideologies within each of these 12 gender-related articles published within the week of 12 January 2015, the gender ideology emphasising women’s gentleness can be clearly seen in news story 3 titled ‘Sweet girls of Nanjing’. Similarly, in story 4 titled ‘Looking hot in the cold’ that has a caption under the men’s photo as ‘male skiers try to prove the claim that men are more tolerant of the cold than women’ while women skiers are shown in various seductive poses highlighting their feminine prowess, the story highlights men’s strength and women’s femininity. Confucianism stresses consolidation of patriarchy by putting women at the bottom of society. For thousands of years, as a result, Chinese women were virtually excluded from the public sphere except to learn how to be good wives and virtuous women to serve men well. Kristeva ( 1977) observes that Confucianism constitutes a solid ‘base for the construction of a rationalist morality with a strong paternal authority and a complex hierarchy’ when Confucius ‘put women in the same class as slaves’ (p. 70). Even education embedded in such ideology is conducted in a well-structured patriarchal world, in which power consolidates male dominance. Women, henceforth, become silenced and invisible subalterns in the Confucian paradigm. Despite the changes that have taken place as a result of interrogating the Confucian gaze at women, traditional expectations of women are still rampant in China today. Therefore, even in today’s modern times, these ideologies are implicitly or explicitly reproduced in Chinese newspapers. Based on Davis and Greenstein’s (2009) categorisation of gender ideologies, Table 2 shows that 11 out of 12 selected news stories reflect the ideology of ‘motherhood and the feminine self’. All these 11 stories touch upon women’s physical and behavioural attributes of femininity and the importance of motherhood (stories 7 and 8) in women’s lives or the relative less importance of motherhood in some modern women’s lives (story 10). One news story (story 11) emphasises the acceptance of male privilege in the form of dowries, thereby, as per Confucian beliefs, showing their higher status in Chinese society. However, gender role expectations in China during the establishment of the socialist system, and especially after the Cultural Revolution, changed dramatically, particularly in terms of family and work roles in China. This illustrates that political,

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Table 2 News articles and gender ideologies

News headline 1. Changes in women’s fashion

2. Parade of beauty at job fair

News summary

Pictures

Gender ideology

Latest television drama ‘The Empress of China’ removed from air due to revealing costumes that emphasised the cleavage of the female characters. The story also provides background information on the changes women’s fashion has gradually undergone from the Tang dynasty period until now

A still shot of actress Fan Bingbing

Femininity/feminine self

Attractive women face interview in Nanjing at an airline’s recruitment fair for a flight attendant

Smiling and well-groomed women stand in a row with tight-fitting shirts with picture’s focus on an attractive young woman

15 pictures of ceramic figures and paintings of women, their clothes and make-up during the different dynasties A picture of an attractive, smiling modern woman Femininity/feminine self

Women stand in a row in high heels with only their legs shown in the picture Women wait for the interview while one puts on make-up Smiling young man with earphones waits for the interview with a phone in his hands A pretty girl grabs a bite while waiting A pretty young woman smiles into the camera 3. ‘Sweet girls’ of Neijiang

Sichuan province is renowned for beautiful girls and Neijiang girls have become especially famous

Nine images of beautiful young women in traditional clothes and feminine poses highlighting their grace and slenderness


(continued)


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Table 2 (continued)

News headline 4. Looking hot in the cold

5. TV drama hides assets of actresses

News summary

Pictures

Gender ideology

The No Pants Subway Ride that swept western countries inspires Chinese girls to create a ‘cooler’ version of the attire. This was shown during a commercial promotion at a ski resort in Jiangsu province as 20 models ‘got their legs out’

Six pictures of girls in different seductive poses with their ski gears and/or in the snow with their legs exposed


A TV period drama triggers heated debate after it was removed from air due to the low necklines displaying cleavages of actresses

Six screenshots of the show with three focusing on women’s faces and the other three showing women’s cleavages

One shot of men in their shorts with the caption ‘male skiers try to prove the claim that men are more tolerant of the cold than women’ Femininity/feminine self

One screenshot of the heroine’s cleavage and part of the top of the head cut off in the new version of the TV drama 6. Girl copies TV character to score marks

7. Man commits suicide, mother kneels down to implore

Girl majoring in make-up and costume design impresses her teacher by preparing her model to look like a famous heroine

Beautiful model with make-up and costume made to look like heroine from TV drama

A young man tried to commit suicide in Liuzhou from the top of the bridge after his romantic relationship went sour as his mother knelt down and implored him not to jump

Picture of mother kneeling down below the bridge


The real heroine: actress Fan Bingbing as Empress Wu Zetian Motherhood

(continued)

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Table 2 (continued)

News headline

News summary

Pictures

Gender ideology

8. Woman gives birth to five babies

‘Imagine the labour pain’: a woman delivers quintuplets in Shandong. The chance of this is one out of 65 million

One of the newborns receives special care in the hospital

Motherhood and the feminine self

9. Good looks earn free meals

Restaurant offers free food to beautiful people in Zhengzhou. Customers have their faces scanned and are judged by staff of a plastic surgery clinic

A young female customer scans her face in front of a machine in the hope of getting a free meal in the restaurant


Members of a plastic surgery clinic judge the faces of customers (continued)


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Table 2 (continued)

News headline

News summary

Pictures

10. Chinese singles: dilemmas in getting hitched

Increase in the number of Chinese singles due to long-term solitude and emphasis on economic wellbeing

Picture of three young women displaying the Chinese Marital and Love Conditions Report , which was released in Beijing

Gender ideology

‘Nearly 60 % of female respondents do not intend to have a second child, 11 % higher than their male counterparts’

Motherhood (deviance)

‘Men care most about a partner’s looks, health condition and romance history, while women take economic condition, health condition and occupation as priorities’

Femininity/feminine self and primacy of breadwinner roles

‘71.8 % of female respondents think men should have a house before getting into marriage, and 55 % of male counterparts hold the same opinion’ ‘17.8 % of the female surveyed believe car ownership is a prerequisite for a marriage, a dramatic increase of 9 % from the 2012 report’ ‘Most respondents perceive stable salary as a must-have for both partners. More than 40 % of singles want to marry the one who has matching conditions’

Working women and relationship quality

(continued)

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Table 2 (continued)

News headline

News summary

Pictures

Gender ideology

11. The price of Chinese marriage

As entrepreneurs get rich, Chinese weddings are now often used to show off wealth and ‘opulent dowries are new conventions, rather than traditions’ in places such as Fujian province’s Jiangsu city. With dowries worth one billion yuan, it’s joked that marrying these ‘golden brides’ is ‘better than robbing a bank’

A wedding motorcade of classic British TX4 taxis drives along the street in Nanjing

Acceptance of the male privilege

12. Shopping for a mate means calculation

The 2014 Chinese Marriage Status Survey Report shows that 44.4 % of male and 49.7 % of female respondents said they would choose a partner from a family of equal social rank

Couples pose for wedding photos after a group wedding ceremony in Harbin after the International Ice and Snow Festival

‘More than 70 % of female respondents said they would consider marriage only if their partner own a property. And more than 70 % of the women hoped their future husband’s income would be double their own’. This phenomenon has been characterised as ‘supermarket marriage’ where people buy the best ‘products’ with the ‘money in hand’. This materialism in marriage has replaced love and parents’ decision as a reason for choosing a partner

Primacy of breadwinner roles

economic or other dominant ideologies of the time strongly influence gender ideologies too. Mao argued that ‘times have changed, and men and women are the same. Whatever men can do, women comrades can do as well’. Here Maoism attempted to defuse the power of patriarchy (1949–1978) through women’s liberation (women hold up half of the sky) by expounding that patriarchy was a major


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reason for China’s weakness. Women, like men, deserve the same access to education and job opportunities. Accordingly, ‘half the sky’ became a symbol of women’s improved social status in the socialist China. The political movement initiated against Confucius in the early 1970s became the climax of Maoism versus Confucianism. Under such circumstances, women were empowered to trouble the conventional gender norms by redefining their roles and codes of behaviour in a socialist context. As per Table 2 (see below), Mao’s gender ideology is reflected in the following sentence of story 10: ‘Most respondents perceive stable salary as a must-have for both partners. More than 40 % of singles want to marry the one who has matching conditions’. This shows that not only do young Chinese people want their partners to work outside the home; they want to marry someone with similar earnings. According to Davis and Greenstein’s (2009) category of ‘working women and relationship quality’, these couples believe that their relationship quality will be enhanced if both partners worked outside the marriage and brought home a stable income. Beginning in the 1980s, the intervention of capitalist consumerism complicated gender expectations and reframed gender codes of behaviour in China (Luo 2008; Yang 2011; Yu 2014). Consumerism focuses more on femininity and beauty, for instance, in the form of objectified beauty and youth capital. This commoditised form of beauty and objectification of women can be seen in Table 2 in news stories 1, 2, 4, 5 and 9. While stories 1 and 5 prove that sex sells in the media, stories 2 and 4 objectify women for the male readers’ gaze by emphasising their youth, curves and under clad bodies, respectively. Story 9 on the other hand draws attention to the burgeoning plastic surgery industry, which is prompting women to use it to conform to the beauty standards that they are held to in today’s mass-media-infiltrated, commercialised society. As a result, it can be seen that capitalist intervention has impacted greatly on Chinese gender ideology. Specifically, free flow of labour, goods and capital and the boom in information and cultural signs and images have overwhelmed Chinese people with possibilities to explore new landscapes beyond Maoism and Confucianism (Li 2005). Under such circumstances, consumerism seems more an impulse of movement outward towards the world, in keeping with the slogan zou xiang shijie (marching towards the world). When China strives for its membership in global consumption culture, almost everything has become commodified and takes on exchange values. Youth and beauty are no exceptions. They have become a form of capital with which young women can trade for the desired lifestyles by choosing from a well-off to rich man for marriage (Yang 2000). This is abundantly clear in stories 10 and 12 in Table 2 in which young women expect potential partners to own a property and a car and have a considerably higher income than their own. According to Davis and Greenstein’s (2009) gender ideology category, these beliefs held by young Chinese men and women are indicative of the male ‘primacy of breadwinner role’. Although this may seem like a traditional gender ideology, in this age of consumerism and neo-liberal, capitalist ideology, women can get plastic surgery done or buy skincare, slimming and anti-ageing products to look attractive and exchange their attractiveness for a rich man’s hand in marriage. Hence, news story 12 refers to

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these marriages as ‘supermarket marriages’ in which the man with the most money can buy the best ‘products’. The three different -isms clearly indicate a complex process of change in gender codes and expectations in post-Mao China. Firstly, gender codes and expectations started from imposing structural foot binding for women – a symbol of virtue and gender behaviour for centuries – under Confucian eyes. Secondly, gender codes and expectations modified themselves by eliminating foot binding in the name o f liberating women constitutionally in the Mao era. Lastly, the capitalist influence in the post-Mao era put new restrictions on female bodies and duties. The process of change demonstrates that women’s liberation promoted by Mao is only limited liberation within the patriarchal system. The interplay of the three -isms further complicates Chinese women’s social status and participation in social, economic and educational activities. Therefore, the discourse of gender relations in China has entailed ‘one step forward, [but] two steps back’ (Thakur 1997, p. 34) and might be dubbed as socialist-Confucian consumerism. Situated in such a context, therefore, the study of gender ideologies cannot oversimplify any phenomenal facts of gender relations. This also means that any media literacy programme should aim to analyse gender ideologies in contemporary China as they are constructed in the patriarchal system and complicated by the interplay of Confucianism, Maoism and, more recently, consumerism in the post-Mao era. Therefore, one component of a school-based media literacy programme can include an analysis of daily newspapers which contain articles related to gender. Students can perform a textual analysis of gender messages in the newspaper by using a coding frame specifically developed for specific gender roles. Students then read and examine the newspapers and record their findings, paying particular attention to characters and themes that are stereotypical in Chinese society. During the coding process, students need to be informed that besides visual information, the selection of the news topic and the language in the newspapers also sets the stage for the development of particular gender-related behaviours and thoughts and enables children/adolescents to acquire a social self (Mead 1934). When students read or flip through newspapers, they are exposed to the cultural symbols signifying g ender roles in a particular sociocultural context. Given the assumption that language shapes and conditions reality, then it might be useful to ask what students might be learning about gender when they read newspapers. Consequently, as part of media literacy programmes, students will be able to identify themselves as members of a particular gender and think about the ways in which their gender beliefs have been shaped and influenced by their consumption of newspapers.

7

Conclusion

Based on the above discussion, it can be seen that the media, and in particular newspapers, have become a powerful means of shaping the perceptions of the masses and have led to increased gender stereotyping and negative gender ideologies in Chinese


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society. As socially constructed ideals of masculinity and femininity and male and female roles are echoed in gendered frames of journalistic writing, the media become instrumental in reinforcement of gender ideologies. And as these beliefs and attitudes spread, society-allocated gender roles start to seem natural and gender ideologies become common sense. Critical media literacy programmes focusing on deconstruction of gender roles, stereotypes and ideologies can enable students to question common sense and established beliefs and, gradually, to bring about a much-needed change in gender role practice in China.

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Opportunities for Implementing Media Literacy Education as an a n Obesity Prevention Strategy in China Yi-Chun Yi-Chun (Yvonnes) ( Yvonnes) Chen

Abstract This chapter discusses the importance of incorporating media literacy

into school and nonschool settings to combat childhood obesity in China. This chapter begins with an introduction of the obesity epidemic and the rising medical costs associated with obesity-related illnesses. The author then explains how food marketing contributes to childhood obesity by discussing food advertising expenditures, types of food advertising, and persuasive tactics used in food marketing to attract children’s attention. Although policies that restrict food marketing to children are strongly advocated in the USA to combat childhood obesity, the author argues that such policy solutions may not be easily adaptable in China due to a variety of structural barriers. Indeed, lax food marketing regulations in China, coupled with a lack of regulations that do not limit children’s exposure to food advertising, require integrating novel approaches—such as media literacy trainigns—into obesity prevention. In China, media literacy education has received burgeoning interests in school and nonschool settings. It offers a potential solution to addressing the childhood obesity crisis by asking critical questions to encourage reflections and by empowering children to produce media messages to counter the impact of food advertising. Modeling after evidence-based health-promoting media literacy interventions, the author provides suggestions for media literacy strategies for obesity prevention. Because advertising often reflects cultural values, the author also argues the importance of incorporating such values into the critical analysis of food advertising and marketing activities. Keywords Obesity • Food marketing • Media literacy • China • Cultural

dimensions

Y.-C. (Yvonnes) Chen (*) William Allen White White School of Journalism and Mass Communications, Communications, University of Kansas, Kansas, 1435 Jayhawk Blvd., Room 205C, 205C , Lawrence, Lawrence, KS 66045-7515, 66045-7515, USA e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2016 C.K. Cheung, Media Literacy Literacy Education in in China, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-00 10.1007/978-981-10-0045-4_7 45-4_7

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1

Y.-C. (Yvonnes) Chen

The Obesity Epidemic in China

The obesity epidemic has become a global crisis. In Asia Pacific, childhood overweight (body mass index at or above the 85th percentile and lower than the 95th percentile for children of the same age and sex) and obesity (body mass index at or above the 95th percentile for children of the same age and sex) rates are rising at an exponentially higher rate than any other regions in the globe. According to Wang and Lobstein (2006 (2006), ), the number of overweight and obese Southeast Asia schoolage children rose from f rom 12.1 % in 2002 to close to 20 % in 2006. The number continued to rise to a projected 28.2 % in 2010 (Wang and Lobstein 2006 2006). ). A similar trend was projected for school-age children in West Pacific (Wang and Lobstein 2006 2006). ). China leads the Asia Pacific region for the highest obesity rates in adults and children. More than 28 % of Chinese adult men and 27 % of adult women are overweight or obese (Ng et al. 2014 2014). ). The rate of obesity in children also is alarming. This is of particular concern because children who are obese are more likely to be obese as adults (Guo and Chumlea 1999 1999;; Freedman et al. 2005 2005;; 2001 2001;; 2009 2009). ). Close to one in five children under the age of 20 (18.5 %) are overweight or obese (23 % for men versus 14 % for women) (Ng et al. 2014 2014). ). A 2005 study examining children living in large coastal cities also reveals a similar pattern (Cheng and Ji 2008 2008). ). Related health consequences from obesity include diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancers (Center for Diseases Control and Prevention Prevention 2012 2012). ). In China, the projected rate rat e of Type Type 2 diabetes—caused by dietary choices—is choi ces—is expected to rise by 75.5 % in the next 25 years (Yach et al. 2006 2006). ). Not surprisingly, increasing obesity rates come with staggering economic costs. The costs will continue to escalate if obesity prevention and intervention are not implemented. According to a systematic review of 32 articles, treating obesityrelated costs account for 0.7 to 2.8 % of a country’s healthcare expenditures (Withrow and Alter 2011 2011). ). In China, the medical costs of treating chronic illnesses (e.g., stroke, hypertension, Type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease) attributable to overweight and obesity were about $2.74 billion or 3.7 % of China’s national total medical costs in 2003 (Zhao et al. 2008 2008). ). All of these suggest an urgent need to identify key obesity factors to help inform the design and implementation implementation of childhood obesity prevention programs.

2

2.1

Food Marketing and Childhood Obesity

Food Advertising Expenditures Expenditures in China

Marketing energy-dense energy-dense and nutrient poor foods and products to children has been systematically identified as a key contributing factor to childhood obesity. This factor has been studied extensively in the USA. With an estimated $1.8 billion spent per year on marketing food products to children, U.S. children see approximately

Opportunities for Implementing Media Literacy Education as an Obesity Prevention…

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4,700 food commercials a year (or 13 food commercials a day) ( Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity n.d.). This figure, however, does not include food marketing on the Internet or promotions at schools, suggesting potentially more exposure to food promotional activities among children. Similar to the USA, the Asia Pacific region has seen a surge of food promotional activities. A lack of regulation of food promotion in emerging markets, coupled with an expansion of children’s television markets, provides the food and beverage industry an unprecedented opportunity to market its products to the young and often vulnerable population in the Asia Pacific region (Hawkes 2002; Consumers International 2008). This is particularly true in China where food products account for the largest amount of advertising spending (China Media Monitor Intelligence 2008a). For example, food products account for more than half of the advertising seen on television (Zhang n.d.). Recent expansion to advertise in new media platforms (e.g., online, mobile advertising) allows the fast food industry to start using web-based campaign to target consumers as well (China Media Monitor Intelligence 2008b).

2.2

What Children See in Food Advertising

To better understand what children see in food advertising, content analysis allows scholars to explore the types of foods advertised and the appeals used to attract children’s attention. Abundant research examining the content of food advertising in the USA consistently reveals a pattern; that is, food advertising that appeared in children’s programming often features high-fat, high-sugar products with very little nutrient values (Cairns et al. 2013; Folta et al. 2006; Harrison and Marske 2005; Henderson and Kelly 2005; Institute of Medicine 2005; Powell et al. 2007). Compared to the number of available content analysis of food and beverage advertising in the USA, however, there is relatively limited research done to examine such content in the Asia Pacific region. Despite this, limited evidence still reveals similarities in content and types of products (core and noncore products) advertised. According to a large-scale content analysis of food advertising in Australia, Asia, Western Europe, and North and South America, noncore food advertising (e.g., high in undesirable nutrients or energy) was heavily promoted during children’s peak viewing times in China (Kelly et al. 2010). Additionally, using food commercials recorded from three channels in six cities selected from Asia Pacific countries (e.g., China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and South Korea), Kelly et al. (2014) found that children were exposed to an overwhelming amount of food commercials. In particular, more than one-fourth of the commercials were centered on food and beverage products (27 %). Within this category, sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are the most frequently advertised (Kelly et al. 2014). This is of particular concern because SSBs are the primary cause of overweight and obesity (World Health Organization 2003), particularly among Chinese boys (Li et al. 2010).

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2.3


Food Marketing Tactics

Food and beverage marketing tactics in Asia Pacific are similar to the ones used in the USA, including the use of premiums (e.g., competition, giveaways, rebates, and vouchers) and promotional characters (e.g., celebrities, sports figures, cartoon characters, and spokespersons or branded characters) (Consumers International 2008). In a report studying Asia Pacific food marketing, advertising (TV commercials with celebrity endorsement and cartoon characters), promotional activities (e.g., offering free toy with children’s meal, interactive websites, and children’s clubs that offer activities, puzzles, and tips), competition (e.g., sports-themed competition), and sponsorship (e.g., sponsoring sporting events in schools) are immensely popular in countries such as Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand, and Fiji (for an extensive review, see Consumers International 2008). It is important to note that while these tactics are frequently used in noncore foods, Kelly et al. (2010) found that advertising of core foods (e.g., nutrient dense, low in energy) in China also uses promotional characters (49 % of the food advertisements sampled) to attract consumers’ attention. The burgeoning food marketing activities in Asia Pacific are a cause for concern as the consumer behavior of young Chinese children starts at a relatively young age. These young Chinese children also frequently purchase food and beverage products (McNeal and Yeh 1997). Not surprisingly, McDonald’s and Pizza Hut have capitalized on the opportunity to target urban Chinese children. A survey of Chinese urban children and their parents found that children spend approximately 21 % of their money on snacks (foods and beverages) (McNeal and Yeh 1997). These children also have a significant influence on their parents’ purchase behavior. For example, children ages 4–12 influence on average 78 % and 73 % of parents’ purchases of candy and soft drinks, respectively. This, coupled with frequent exposure to unhealthy foods with little or no nutritional values (Kelly et al. 2014), could reinforce children’s requests of unhealthy foods.

3

How Food Marketing Contributes to Obesity

There is a well-established link between unhealthy food advertising and consumption and purchase patterns, particularly among children (Dietz and Gortmaker 1985; Robinson et al. 2007; Veerman et al. 2009; Zimmerman and Bell 2010). Crosssectional studies have established a significant association between children’s overweight status and the numbers of low-nutrient sweet and fatty food commercials they watched (Lobstein and Dibbs 2005; Taveras et al. 2006; Wiecha et al. 2006). Consumption of frequently advertised high energy-dense food (e.g., sweet baked snacks, candy, fried potatoes, fast food, salty snacks, and sugary drinks) seems to mediate the relationship between television viewing and total energy intake among adolescents (Wiecha et al. 2006). For example, a household survey shows that


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exposure to food advertising aired on popular children’s television program predicts children’s choice of food brands and their consumption of energy-dense food items—that is, sugar-added breakfast cereals, sweets, snacks, soft drinks, and items from fast food restaurants (Buijzen et al. 2008). Types of food consumed during television viewing also are associated with weight status (Matheson et al. 2004). Using a 24-h dietary recall, Matheson et al. (2004) found that sugary drinks consumed during weekend television viewing were significantly associated with third and fifth graders’ body mass index.

4

Solutions to Childhood Obesity

Given that food advertising significantly impacts children’s consumption of advertised products and obesity, scholars have proposed and advocated for a number of policy solutions (e.g., government statutory regulations or industry’s statutory regulation or self-regulation) in an effort to reduce childhood overweight or obesity (Harris et al. 2009; Hawkes 2008).

4.1

Regulatory Approaches

Regulatory approaches tend to rely heavily on the government’s regulation or the industry’s self-regulation and/or voluntary efforts to restrict unhealthy food advertising to children. These policy recommendations stem from the belief that children’s limited cognitive development makes them more vulnerable to the persuasive intent of food advertising (Consumers International 2008; Harris et al. 2009). These approaches can take place at the school, regional, government, and international level to protect children from undesirable food marketing influences (for a comprehensive review, see Harris et al. 2009; Hawkes 2008). Some international organizations, such as Consumers International and the International Obesity Task Force, and the World Health Organization, even call for a global standard to regulate food advertising content. For example, the proposed standard from Consumers International and the International Obesity Task Force (2008) recommends banning and restricting children’s access to unhealthy foods. Specific recommendations include (1) banning radio and TV advertisements of unhealthy foods between 6 am to 9 pm; (2) banning the use of new media (e.g., website, text messaging, and social network sites) to market unhealthy food to children; (3) banning unhealthy food promotion in schools; (4) excluding free gifts, toys, or collectible items, and (5) banning the use of celebrities, cartoon characters, competitions, or free gifts (Consumer International 2008). Not all countries are on the same pace with regard to food advertising regulations, however. Some countries are ahead of the regulatory efforts. Sweden, for

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example, has banned advertising to children altogether. In Norway, the government leads regulatory efforts to restrict advertising on certain broadcasters. Some food and beverage companies also volunteer to offer initiatives to self-regulate their own advertising efforts. Global companies, such as Coca-Cola and Kraft, have restricted their advertising to children under 12 and 6, respectively (Wiggins 2007).

4.2

Problems of Implementing Regulatory Approaches

Although regulatory approaches seem to receive strong support from evidencebased research (Harris et al. 2009) and have been implemented in parts of the world (Wiggins 2007), mounting implementation barriers still exist. In the USA, for example, limited regulatory authority granted to government agencies could make the implementations more difficult (Harris et al. 2009). Evidence also suggests that the industry’s self-voluntary efforts may fall short as the industry may find loopholes to target children through other children’s programming (Harris et al. 2013).

4.3

Why Regulation May Not Work in China

Traditionally, the Chinese government plays a pivotal role in food regulations and nutrition labeling; yet, no current regulations specific to childhood obesity prevention are available (Hawkes 2008). For example, none of the regulations reduces children’s exposure to food advertising, despite having the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) impose strict rules on health food advertisements since 2005 (Hawkes 2008). Relying on the food or advertising industry’s self-regulatory efforts may prove to be difficult in China as well. For example, China Advertising Association, a national advertising trade organization, does not actively “monitor or handle advertising complaints” (CAA 2007), making it more difficult for the industry to self-regulate its claims. Fortunately, the national media also take on the role of monitoring and censoring deceptive advertising content (Mueller 2011) that could, perhaps, complement the self-regulatory efforts from the China Advertising Association. In China, overreliance on the government and trade organizations’ efforts to regulate advertising content can be risky. On the one hand, this puts the burden on the government and trade organizations when limited resources may hinder their efforts to reduce childhood obesity in China. On the other hand, children may never have an opportunity to develop a sense of awareness of how advertising messages affect their attitudes toward the advertised products and their purchase intention. In other words, developing media awareness skills—or media literacy skills—should


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become a part of the childhood obesity prevention efforts to empower children to advocate for themselves and make conscious decisions.

5

Media Literacy as Obesity Prevention Strategy

Media literacy—defined as an individual’s ability to access, analyze, process, and evaluate media messages (Aufderheide 1993)—has been applied to a variety of health contexts. Media literacy education fosters healthy skepticism, nurtures reflective thinking skills by emphasizing the importance of understanding persuasive intent, and motivates further critical analysis and evaluation. Activities often involve analysis of the underlying purpose of advertisements, intended target audience, persuasive techniques, and content elements as part of the instruction intended to enhance media literacy skills (Austin et al. 2006; Bickham and Slaby 2012; Chen 2013; Chen et al. 2013; Hindin et al. 2004; Pinkleton et al. 2012).

5.1

Existing Media Literacy Programs in China

Due to the prevalent unhealthy food marketing and lax marketing regulations, media literacy education is arguably the best practice that can fill the gap in China. Media literacy has gained interests in school and nonschool settings in China (Cheung and Xu 2014; Lim and Nekmat 2008; Tan et al. 2012). In a primary school setting, for example, Cheung and Xu (2014) found that media literacy was able to engage students to reflect on their media use experiences. Students also engaged with their parents on a number of media literacy-related assignments. They were able to share with their fellow classmates about how different generations view media. Since media literacy encourages personal reflections, students were not anxious to provide the right or wrong answers so ingrained in the Chinese educational system (Cheung and Xu 2014). Media literacy education also takes place in nonschool setting in China through children-oriented publications. Little Masters , a popular children’s magazine that has now expanded to other communication channels (e.g., radio, television, and the Internet), has an estimated 2 million children and adult readers. Its content is solely produced by 20,000 student reporters under the age of 15. The publication’s goal is to equip these student reporters with solid written communication skills, provide them with an opportunity to interview significant political figures (e.g., Bill Clinton, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, etc.), and encourage them to cover a wide range of social issues. This helps student reporters develop media production skills—a skill set emphasized in the defi nition of media literacy.

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5.2


Lessons Learned from Prior Nutrition-Based Media Literacy Programs

Even though media literacy is still in its infancy in obesity prevention and nutrition education both in the USA and China , its significant potential lies in its capacity to help children and their parents mitigate the negative influences from food advertising exposure. Lessons learned from a limited number of nutrition-based media literacy programs with the U.S. population could shed light on what and how to incorporate media literacy into obesity prevention in China. Prior media literacy programs in the USA have attempted to improve a healthy food environment at home by reaching out to young children and their parents (Evans et al. 2006; Hindin et al. 2004; Tanner et al. 2008). These media literacy education curricula are often designed with the behavior change theories (e.g., social cognitive theory, theory of reasoned action) (Ajzen and Fishbein 1980; Bandura 1986) and evidence-based nutrition education in mind (Contento et al. 1995; Johnson and Johnson 1985). Using a quasi pretest-posttest repeated measure experimental design, Hindin et al. (2004) conducted a media literacy enhanced nutrition program with 35 head start parents who have children ages 3 to 6. Parents received materials that offer theory-based nutrition knowledge and skill-based trainings to motivate their likelihood to discuss television commercials with their children and to compare food labels against commercials. The training taught parents knowledge-based lessons (e.g., food labels, food advertising analysis) and helped them explore ways to talk with their children about food requests from the marketed products. Practice sessions and homework assignments were offered to reinforce key concepts. Parents’ knowledge of food advertising and likelihood of discussing food requests with their children were increased as a result of the intervention. Comparing to the baseline data, they also had positive attitudes toward discussing television with their children and were efficacious about the parenting practices after the intervention. Using children-produced media campaigns to influence parental support and fruit and vegetable availability seemed to receive some positive results (Evans et al. 2006; Tanner et al. 2008). Yet, behavior change is still a difficult subject to change between the treatment and the control group despite a higher level of motivation to eat more fruit and vegetables (Evans et al. 2006). Nevertheless, these studies highlight the role nutrition-based media literacy could play in terms of changing the home environment by persuading parents directly or indirectly through reaching out to their children. Additionally, the recent work by Bickham and Slaby ( 2012) provided the first look of how an integration of critical analysis can benefit fifth graders’ evaluations of unhealthy food advertising and other violent and substance abuse content in the media. Intervention participants had an increased understanding of the represented nature of food advertising; that is, food advertising makes products look healthier than they actually are. Designing and implementing a media literacy intervention for children who are heavily targeted by food commercials could expand on the previous inquiries. To summarize, these programs targeted to parents and children mainly focus on (1) offering parents the skills and knowledge to change the food offered in the home


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environment, (2) teaching parents and children to critically examine and enhancing their understanding of the representative nature of food advertising, and (3) changing parents’ attitudes toward television advertisements and increasing their selfefficacy of discussing television advertisements with their children. These behavior change-based outcomes could be easily adapted to obesity prevention implementation in China to mitigate the influences of food and beverage marketing on parents and children’s purchase and consumption behaviors.

5.3

Opportunities for Obesity Prevention Strategy in China

Given that media literacy education has taken roots in school and nonschool settings in China, opportunity is ripe for making it as an effective obesity prevention strategy. It is important to note that although media literacy education is not a part of the formal school curriculum in China and needs to be grounded in specific contexts (Tan et al. 2012; Wan and Gut 2008a, b), the rising threat of childhood obesity and a lack of food advertising regulations strongly support nutrition-based media literacy education. Media literacy education could be seamlessly integrated into classes, such as literature and health and physical education. Media literacy education not only benefits students’ understanding of the subject matter but also improves their communication skills crucial in this day and age. To implement media literacy education outside of the school system, educators could partner with Little Masters, for example. With its potential reach of two million readers, Little Masters and its companion website, radio, and TV programs may effectively complement lessons implemented within the school settings. Specifically, Little Masters provides a platform to encourage young student writers to produce pieces that critically examine food advertising aimed at children. Collaborating with parents on changing the food and beverage environment at home also is recommended. Media literacy educators could train parents to communicate with their children about their media consumption behavior and deconstruct food advertising to reflect on the content, intended target audiences, and health consequences associated with purchasing and consuming the advertised food products.

5.4

Additional Strategies for Teaching Media Literacy

Prior research offers a glimpse of how effective media literacy programs designed with strong theoretical underpinnings could successfully enhance knowledge and critical analysis of food advertising among lesson recipients. Behavior change theories used in prior studies reinforce the value of media literacy as an effective strategy in changing attitudes and behaviors. They, however, offer little to educators interested in designing specific advertising analysis components in media literacy programs.

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The media literacy domains developed by Primack and colleagues (Arke and Primack 2009; Primack and Hobbs 2009) could be used as a step-by-step guide that allows educators to engage students by deconstructing food advertisements from different layers of analysis. These domains are Authors and Audiences (AA, how authors target specific audiences for profits), Messages and Meanings (MM, how advertising messages contain values and points of views and use multiple production techniques), and Reality and Representation (RR, the extent to which messages omit health and nutrition information). Mastery of all three domains is necessary to develop comprehensive media literacy skill sets. Specifically, the AA dimension describes how authors create messages for profit (AA1) and target specific audiences (AA2). The MM dimension focuses on how media messages contain values and certain points of views (MM1), how messages are interpreted differently by different people (MM2), how messages impact attitudes and behaviors (MM3), and how messages use multiple production techniques (MM4). The last dimension, RR, discusses how messages filter reality (RR1) and omit important health information (RR2). Overall, these domains offer guided questions that educators could ask in an obesity prevention program. The corresponding subdomains within each major domain also allow educators to tailor their curriculum design based on the key domains they would wish to cover.

5.5

Incorporating Cultural Values and Dimensions into Media Literacy Programs

Although modeling after successful health-promoting media literacy programs designed and evaluated with the U.S. populations may provide a foundation for obesity prevention in China, adapting these programs to the context of China is not without challenge. For example, even though children in both countries frequently see unhealthy food products advertised, there is subtle difference in the appeals used (Kelley et al. 2010). Additionally, cultural values reflected in food advertising may be uniquely different, suggesting a need to carefully incorporate discussions of cultural values into media literacy programs in China. Indeed, cultural elements are frequently embedded in advertising practices (Albers-Miller and Gelb 1996; Lin 2001). In a comparative content analysis of Chinese and American advertising, Lin (2001) found that advertising in China deemphasizes individual and independence appeals. A similar result was found in food commercials targeted to children with products featuring noodles, soft drinks, salty chips, and gelatin products (Ji and McNeal 2001). Moreover, Ji and McNeal (2001) found that popularity appeals—which represent a need to conform and save face in Chinese culture—are more frequently depicted in Chinese commercials than in American commercials. Chinese commercials targeted to children also are more likely to be spokespersons and used as voice-overs (Ji and McNeal 2001). It is important to note that there is a slew of influence of Western values that may have


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shifted how advertising mirrors Chinese culture, especially in products designed to target younger generations and in magazine advertising (Zhang and Shavitt 2003). Nevertheless, cultural values, more often than not, are represented in commercials and should play a role in the analysis and discussions of media literacy programs targeted to Chinese youth.

6

Conclusion

China is not immune to the global obesity epidemic. In fact, the country has one of the highest obesity rates in the Asia Pacific region. The economic burden associated with obesity-related illnesses will continue to escalate if obesity prevention programs are not implemented. Obesity prevention needs to start early. Theorybased media literacy education that incorporates discussions of cultural dimensions in food advertising has the potential to slow the obesity epidemic trend and empower children and their parents to outsmart the food and beverage industry.

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Media and Its Influences on Adolescents’ Identity in Hong Kong C.K. Cheung

Abstract The mass media presents both risks and opportunities for young people, affecting their development. To protect the youth who are at risk from the negative impact of the mass media on their identity development, more research is needed to understand which areas they are more easily affected by in order to develop targeted interventions to protect them. A survey measuring personality and media practices was carried out among high school students ( N = 972) in Hong Kong. Based on the results of the survey, participant values were content-analyzed for types of media influences. A measure was calculated for each individual by comparing the results of the personality values with participants’ reported media practices and influences. The effects of various media on eight identity factors, personal growth, community, gender role, health, beliefs, wealth, image, and social identity orientation, were examined. Overall positive correlations between identity aspects, such as personal growth, health, community, and social identity orientation and media values’ influences, were observed. Implications of the findings are discussed. Keywords Media • Adolescents • Identity • Personal growth

1

Introduction

The mass media presents both risks and opportunities for young people, affecting their development. To protect the youth who are at risk from the negative impact of the mass media on their identity development, more research is needed to understand which areas they are more easily affected by in order to develop targeted interventions to protect them. Furthermore, the mass media also has many positive aspects and can be used to enhance adolescent education and empower young people. Therefore, a better understanding of how to enhance media education’s effectiveness is needed to build up a healthy identity development among adolescents.

C.K. Cheung (*) Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2016 C.K. Cheung, Media Literacy Education in China , DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-0045-4_8

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C.K. Cheung

With a number of factors influencing adolescent identity, previous studies have shown that there are multiple domains, such as social and cultural influences, which contribute to the role of identity in adolescent development (Cheung 2004). Social critics have argued, for example, that violence on television affects children by teaching them that aggressive behavior is an acceptable if not normative means of problem solving (Donnerstein and Smith 1997). Roberts et al. (2004) observed that although we are not sure that exposure to messages about sex and drugs alter adolescents’ behavior , repeated exposure likely affects their attitudes and beliefs. For example, adolescents who watch a lot of music videos have more tolerant attitudes toward sexual harassment (Strouse et al. 1994). The ever-changing role of society can often be illustrated and sometimes even developed by the media. Because of the growing amount of time adolescents in today’s culture are exposed to its contents, the mass media is now a highly influential force in society, and thus, social influences can now be used interchangeably with “media influence.” There is overall agreement that these types of mass communication do exert some influence on the development of young children and adolescents (Caplow and Merton 1991; Singer and Singer 2001). This paper will discuss some of the recent research on the negative and positive aspects of exposure to the mass media that contribute to adolescent identity formation.

2

2.1

Past Media Research

Negative Aspects of the Mass Media: Image, Sexuality, and Aggression

For young adolescents, exposure to mass media is correlated with negative aspects including lower self-esteem, as well as high-risk behaviors involving sexuality, drug and alcohol consumption, and aggression. Studies discussed below have shown that exposure to the media has led to some negative aspects of body image among both women and men. Previous research shows that media that are often favored by teenage girls often contain stereotypical messages about appearance, relationships, and careers (Signorielli 1997). These media may send girls the implicit message that relationships are more important for women than their occupations or careers. Although appearance has been shown to be more important for women than men, Schooler and Ward (2006) show that males are also affected by the media messages concerning their body attitudes. Their study examined contributions of media to men’s body attitudes and how such attitudes relate to sexual decision making. Results showed that “regular media use was related to greater acceptance of the shape and performance of one’s body, but decreased comfort with aspects of one’s real body” (Schooler and Ward 2006, p. 27). Frequent media use, however, may not unilaterally predispose men to body image dissatisfaction to the same degree as it does women.

Media and Its Influences on Adolescents’ Identity in Hong Kong

107

Sexual themes are unavoidable in the mass media, with the most common messages being men seeing women as sex objects. Messages are carried in most MTV videos in the USA where men are seen as aggressive and dominant and women are seen as the subservient objects of men’s sexual advances (Roberts et al. 2004). Exposure to sexually explicit materials in the mass media is therefore naturally an important concern, as there is evidence that such exposure is related to greater sexual uncertainty and more positive attitudes toward uncommitted sexual exploration among youth in the USA. Another danger of exposure to the mass media is the potential risk of aggressive behaviors or thoughts. A study conducted among college students shows that those who listened to a violent song felt more hostile than those who listened to a similar but nonviolent song. Effects were replicated across songs and song types, suggesting the potential role of lyric content on aggression in short-term settings (Anderson et al. 2003).

2.2

Positive Aspects of the Mass Media

Today’s media offers girls many positive role models such as independent women who rely on themselves to solve their own problems. Women are shown to be selfreliant, using their intelligence, honesty, and efficiency to achieve their goals. Teen magazines also reinforce these messages by encouraging readers to rely on themselves and resolve situations in honest and direct ways. The dual r ole that the media plays in women’s lives is clearly illustrated. Signorielli’s ( 1997) study on reflections of girls in the media shows that while appearance is more important to girls, it also indicates that media plays a role in reinforcing empowering messages to young adolescents. Another study, conducted by Jennings et al. ( 1980), investigating the impact of television commercials on women’s self-confidence and independence of judgment, showed what a positive power the media has. This study indicated that women who were exposed to more nontraditional commercials were more independent of judgment in a conformity test and displayed greater self-confidence when delivering a speech. This also supports the hypothesis that commercials function as social cues to trigger and reinforce sex role stereotypes, and even if women do not buy advertised products, they are influenced by the implicit images conveyed by the commercials. This in turn suggests that television commercials in which females behave in a powerful way may be more effective in the long run than discussions about gender role changes, giving much credit to the value of mass media on sex role identity development.

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2.3

C.K. Cheung

Mass Media Influences on Adolescents in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is no exception in the amount of influence that the mass media has on the lives of adolescents. Different forms of media have penetrated into many households, and the level of consumption of media, especially television, radio, newspaper, and magazines, is very high among young people (Cheung 2007, 2012). With the variety and vast amount of technology Hong Kong offers its society, adolescents are open to all sorts of mass media influences, positive or negative, daily. At present, for example, it is considered fashionable to communicate through short message services through mobile phone devices, also known as SMS. The large amount of influence SMS has over the population can be seen from an incident that took place in Hong Kong on July 1, 2003, when many young people expressed their dissatisfaction with the government by participating in a mass march involving more than half a million people. With Hong Kong young people constantly being criticized for being passive and indifferent to situations around them, it was surprising that so many young people, including secondary and primary school students, participated in this demonstration. It was later found that the use of e-mail and SMS had facilitated the spreading of news about the march (Cheung 2007). Another example of the positive influence that mass media has been seen to have on young people in Hong Kong can be found in Chan’s (1998) study on the use of mass media and environmental knowledge. Chan found that there was a positive and linear relationship between students’ environmental knowledge and use of mass media, more specifically, television news viewership. This shows that mass media is effective in communicating positive messages it presents to young adolescents, influencing their knowledge and views, and contributing to their development. Although the mass media has a number of positive influences on adolescents in Hong Kong as seen above, young people are also susceptible to the more negative effects of the media. This can be seen in Cheung’s ( 1997) study which examined family, school, peer, and media as predictors of adolescent deviant behavior in Hong Kong. In this study, a strong association between media and adolescent deviant behavior was found. It was also observed that preference for violent/obscene content and imitation of media characters were significantly associated with deviant behavior, which shows the impact that TV and other media have in reinforcing deviant values and behaviors in adolescents with a deviant disposition. Because sex education in Hong Kong has long been a controversial topic in homes and schools, with both parents and teachers avoiding sensitive topics such as premarital sex, contraception, and abortion, adolescents often turn to the media for information regarding this topic. This information influencing the thoughts and development of young viewers can often be misleading or incorrect when not discussed with parents or teachers, illustrating the negative aspects that exposure to the wrong types of media contents have on young adolescents.


3

109

Overview

The present study aims to identify and pinpoint any specific traits that adolescents take in and imitate from the various sources of media they are exposed to, incorporating it into their sense of self. Recognizing the positive and negative traits that media has an impact on allows us in turn to understand adolescent development and improve media education within a developmental context. Studying the media’s influences on adolescent identity within today’s social context will also be advantageous in improving the understanding of identity development, as well as developing functional educational programs. In other words, because the media is influential in some way in the identity development of adolescents, it is important that educators and parents understand its role in the transition from adolescence to adulthood in order to promote personal and social growth, in this way creating a coherent sense of identity (Cheung and Liu 2012). Development continues across a person’s life span, and so, the stage-salient task of adolescent identity formation proposed by Erikson ( 1968) is of critical importance because it is the selection of an identity that determines how one will eventually view the self and how one will interact with others in society. The media can be seen as a positive and useful tool in introducing ideals and controversial as well as challenging subjects to people, including students and young adults. Mass media devices have become one of the most prevalent ways in which adolescents gather information about their environment, including societal attitudes toward high-risk behaviors involving sexuality, drug and alcohol consumption, and smoking. In the present study, adolescents surveyed were exposed to the following media on a regular basis: books, Internet, magazines, mobile phones, movies, music, radio, television, video games, and others accessible through various means, all affecting some aspect of their identity development. Identity itself has many components for which theorists have developed their own functions and definitions. For example, Blos (1962, 1968) uses the term character to refer to what is denoted by many other researchers as identity; Sullivan (1953) looks to interpersonal relationships to help explain the self; and Erikson (1968) refers to identity as adolescents’ active search for their role, contemplation of personal strengths and weaknesses, and simultaneous synthesis of past, present, and future life experiences (Waterman 1988). Given all the definitions of identity thus far, for the purpose of measurability, identity in this present study was broken down to be defined as the composition and internalization or externalization of different components, such as personal growth, community, gender role, health, wealth, image, beliefs, and social identity that are valued by adolescents. These aspects of identity could then be divided into two categories: extrinsic (e.g., wealth, fame, and image) and intrinsic (e.g., meaningful relationships, personal growth, and community), all of which can be observed by the mass media present in today’s culture. Research has revealed that having strong relative aspirations for extrinsic outcomes is negatively associated with mental health indicators, whereas placing more importance on intrinsic aspirations has been found to be positively associated

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with mental health indicators (Kasser and Ryan 1993, 1996). Therefore, when evaluating a sense of identity, the value and internalization of meaningful relationships, personal growth, and community mentioned above are factors to observe in determining a mentally healthy identity development in adolescents. Not all adolescents are influenced by the media to the same degree. It is important to remember that researchers have found both genetic and environmental influences accounting for personality (e.g., Rose 1988). It is possible for individuals to inherit temperamental tendencies that can be observed earlier on in life and become internalized into identity partially in response to the environment (Caspi 2000; Gest 1997; John et al. 1994), for example, a natural tendency to be socially active. This suggests that there is a bidirectional link between individuals and the environment. While adolescents differ in terms of reasons for listening to music and watching television, they will also be influenced differently by the same media message due to developmental factors including age, gender, as well as individual differences. Another external factor which affects identity development is gender. For example, studies have shown that girls in early adolescence are more vulnerable to an unstable view of their self-image than boys of the same age group. An adolescent’s social class (defined by his/her parents’ occupations, education, and income) has also been shown to be an important influence of identity development. Each of these individual characteristics (age, gender, class, etc.) plays a role in the cognitive processing of media images and thus needs to be taken into account when studying the influence that the mass media has on the formation of adolescents’ identity in today’s society.

4

4.1

The Study

Procedures

A total of 2074 questionnaires were sent out to secondary students through teachers attending the postgraduate diploma in education program at the University of Hong Kong taught by the researcher, and 972 participants responded. The respondents were from Hong Kong local schools, equally divided between the three bands of the education system, with band 1 being the most academically prestigious. The questionnaire requested that participants provide demographic as well as quantitative and qualitative information as openly and honestly as possible, based on their current lifestyles and practices. The questionnaire collected demographic, as well as quantitative and qualitative, information about each participant and his/her perception of the media. Participants were also told that the study was examining types of media that appealed most to adolescents in society today to avoid any confirmation bias.


4.2

111

Participants

Of the 972 participants, 75.4 % were in form 3 and 4, with the majority aged from 13 to 15. There were more female participants (59.5 %) than male (40.5), which potentially affected certain qualitative results of the study, such as the types of media contents and the reasons for enjoying them.

5

5.1

Results and Discussion

Time Actively Spent on Media per Week and Types of Mass Media Exposure

Because of the amount of time adolescents spend in the presence of mass media, the impact of the media on teenagers’ behavior and development has been the subject of much research. Table 1 shows the amount of time adolescents in this study actively dedicate themselves to the media per week. With the great variety of media present in our society, it is important to recognize the specific types of media that young adolescents are exposed to and influenced by, with the goal of facilitating healthy social influences, contributing to stable identity development through more interesting and direct means, based on the preferences of adolescents themselves. Participants of the study were asked what types of media they were exposed to on a regular basis, and the results can be seen in Table 2. The Internet, television, and music are the most popular forms of mass media that adolescents of this study are exposed to. While the Internet, television, and music can offer an unlimited source of potentially helpful influences (i.e., introducing healthy habits, challenging concepts such as different religious beliefs about the world), they can also be potentially unlimited sources of harmful influences (i.e., introducing misinformation and the world of sex and drugs). The extent to which the information is harmful or helpful to adolescents is not known. Current research indicates that ego-identity achievement, the resolution of Erikson’s adolescentstage conflict resulting in an established sense of self in middle school students, is negatively related to pathological and extreme Internet use (Lei and Ma 2008; Zhang et al. 2008). Other negative effects most commonly associated with Internet addiction are related to academic studies (a drop in grades), family relations (having Table 1 Time actively spent on media per week

Percent (%) 0–10 h

25.0

11–20 h

18.8

22–30 h

31.3

41–40 h

14.3

40 h or more

10.7

C.K. Cheung

112 Table 2 Types of mass media exposure

Percent (%)

Mean

Sd

Book

66.2

.69

.692

Comics

28.3

.28

.451

Games

40.1

.40

.491

Internet

83.8

.84

.369

Magazine

63.2

.63

.483

Mobile

70.6

.71

.456

Movies

50.7

.51

.501

Music

78.7

.79

.410

Radio

22.8

.23

.420

TV

82.4

.82

.382

a

a

Others

Car

.4

Computer

.7

Game Boy

.4

As listed by participants of the study

to hide their excessive Internet use from parents), physical health (sleep d eprivation due to long hours of Internet use), mental health (depression), and finance (cost of accrued Internet expenses) (Chou et al. 2005; Kraut et al. 1998; Tsai and Lin 2003).

5.2

Contents of the Mass Media

The mass media presents society with a wide variety of contents from informational to reality programs to entertainment subject matter. It is important for young adolescents to realize the contents of what they are exposed to, because these are the materials that exert influence on identity development. For example, adolescents who watch a lot of music videos have more tolerant attitudes toward sexual harassment (Strouse et al. 1994). Participants of the study were asked what types of media contents they were exposed to most often, including those that they chose not to watch. The most regular and frequent subject matters they were exposed to are shown in Table 3. The type of media content that adolescents of this study were most exposed to is under the category of reality. Arts, culture, and music were seen as the next most exposed to category of contents followed by love and romance. Sex, controversial topics, and violence and aggression were the contents shown to be the least exposed to. Reality programs can often be used as means to explore different roles of identity. “Reality” contents introduce many possible identity alternatives to adolescents, inevitably portraying some as desirable and others as not so desirable. Therefore, danger arises when adolescents come to accept the ideas of certain roles without first having questioned how these roles can potentially affect them. Thus, educational programs such as media literacy education can be used as means to educate teenag-


113

Table 3 Media contents

Percent (%)

Mean

Sd

Arts, culture, and music

60.7

.61

.489

Controversial topics (religion, politics, etc.)

27.9

.28

.450

Fantasy/make-belief

44.1

.44

.498

Lifestyle

48.2

.48

.501

Love and romance

51.5

.52

.501

Reality programs

65.1

.65

.477

Relationships

32.4

.32

.469

Sex

16.5

.17

.373

Violence and aggression

28.3

.28

.452

Frequency

a

a

Others

Animal program

.4

Cartoon

.7

Documentary

.7

Entertainment

.4

News

.4

Philosophy and cartoon

.4

Science

.4

Scientific fiction

.4

Sports

.7

Variety show

.7


ers, allowing them to be free to make choices in what to believe based on their own beliefs about the world instead of being blindly influenced, allowing for a healthier social identity development.

5.3

Reasons for Media Choices

We asked participants of the study to think of some of the reasons why they admired and spent time on the media programs, artists, and music of their choice. These reasons are seen listed in Table 4. Attitude, personality, and image were some of the most frequent reasons why adolescents admired the celebrities and programs of choice, while political or religious views seemed to be overlooked by the majority. While more extrinsic factors were considered important when it came to media preferences, personality, an important intrinsic factor, was also seen to be highly valued by young adolescents of the study. Research has revealed that having strong relative aspirations for extrinsic outcomes is negatively associated with mental health indicators, whereas placing more importance on intrinsic aspirations has been found to be positively associated with mental health indicators (Kasser and Ryan 1993, 1996). Therefore, when eval-

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Table 4 Reasons for enjoying media of choice

Percent (%) Attitude

56.3

Background/biography

29.0

Career/fame

25.0

Fashion statements/image

54.0

Intellect

42.3

Lifestyle

34.2

Lyrics

47.8

Personality

52.9

Physical appearance

49.3

Political/religious views

10.3

a

Others

All

.4

Attraction

.4

Character

.7

Drama

.4

Entertainment

.4

Exciting

.7

Fashion

1.1

Fashion and talent

.4

Knowledge

.4

Laugh

.4

Learn new

.4

Movie

.4

Outlook

.4

Random

.4

Singing

3.3

Skills

.4

Talent

1.8

a


uating a sense of identity, the strong value for personality in these results suggests potential mentally healthy identity development in adolescents.

5.4

Personal Identity vs. Media Values

When evaluating a sense of identity, the value and internalization of personal growth, community, and gender role mentioned above are important to observe when determining a mentally healthy identity development in adolescents. Through a series of questions, participants completed two different sets of evaluations: one exploring their own personal values and the second exploring the influence and


115

Table 5 Personal values and media influences

Mean1

Sd1

Mean2

Sd2

Personal growth

4.09

.831

3.55

.91

Community

3.73

.869

3.18

.938

Gender

2.92

1.04

2.71

.982

Health

4.32

.762

3.1

1.002

Wealth

3.32

.985

2.7

1.046

Image

2.84

1.03

2.61

1.055

Beliefs

2.92

1.15

2.55

1.078

Social identity orientation

3.35

.959

2.94

1.027

Mean1/Sd1 = personal; Mean2/Sd2 = media

importance of those values in the media. Table 5 shows the comparison between personal values and media influences of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Personal growth, community, and gender role can be seen as intrinsic values, while wealth, image, and social identity orientation are regarded as extrinsic values. Four main points can be observed from the results in Table 5, providing the most insights into the correlation between adolescent identity and media. The first important point to observe is the relatively high value of social identity orientation that adolescents placed on their personal lives. Social identity orientation describes a sense of self within an individual that reflects more of an external emphasis, based on interactions with and the reactions of others (Carducci 2009). Adolescents who place a high value on this are relatively susceptible to having their social identities influenced by others, such as the media. Examples of this are adolescents placing importance on social behavior when meeting people (“My social behaviour, such as the way I act when meeting people”) and observing how celebrities present themselves in front of others (“I observe how celebrities present themselves in front of others”). Because adolescents scored highly in this aspect in both sets of evaluations (61 % from questionnaire part 1 and 33.8 % from questionnaire part 2 – a relatively high percentage of people compared to those that disagreed), a positive correlation can be made to illustrate the influence media has on social identity orientation values and vice versa. Another central observation to be made from Table 5 is the high value that adolescents of this study placed on personal growth and community, both of which are intrinsic values that have been shown to be important and strong indicators of a healthy identity development and personal well-being. Research has revealed that having strong relative aspirations for extrinsic outcomes is negatively associated with mental health indicators, whereas placing more importance on intrinsic aspirations has been found to be positively associated with mental health indicators (Kasser and Ryan 1993, 1996). In the current study, personal growth and community were most highly valued in both sets of evaluations. For example, adolescents claimed in the first set of evaluations that it was important to “grow and learn new

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things,” and in the second set, adolescents agreed that “I grow and learn a lot of new things from various media.” This implies that while some intrinsic aspects such as personal growth and community contribute to a healthy identity development and are seen to be highly valued, the media is also seen to contribute to the development of this aspect, illustrating a dual role. Next, the internalization of certain beliefs, such as beliefs about religion, God, and other concepts that start to become more salient during the course of adolescence, was not valued or seen as influential by adolescents in this study. This implies that perhaps adolescents of this study are not yet aware of or simply do no t value the idea of the rationalization or commitment to certain beliefs at this stage of their lives. Thus, they are subject to being blindly influenced by these ideological commitments, affecting their identity development. Finally, no value in Table 5 from this study is seen as higher in the second set of media evaluations than in the first set of personal evaluations This implies that the adolescents were either not aware of or simply did not look to the media more than themselves when determining the importance of specific values in their lives contributing to their identity and overall development. The above results show significant correlations between many aspects, such as personal growth, health, community, and social identity orientation, which imply that media does in fact have an impact in these specific aspects on the lives of adolescents of this study. However, one great problem in interpreting the studies of media use and adolescent development is that it is extremely difficult to disentangle cause and effect, because adolescents choose which mass media they are exposed to (Roberts et al. 2004). It is also important to note that other factors, such as experiences in the family or community, likely play a far greater role in serious violence than does media exposure (Strasburger and Donnerstein 1999). Despite this problem, it can be inferred from the study that the media does play a significant role in positively or negatively influencing young adolescents’ identity development.

6

Conclusion

As technology and media are becoming more integrated into the daily lives of adolescents today, the media can be seen as a useful tool for introducing ideals, as well as controversial and challenging subjects to society, including students and young adults. The impact of these messages learned from the media can begin to become more salient during adolescence, especially if the images are being discussed and socially reinforced within peer groups. This study shows that there are certain types of media content which exert a greater influence on specific aspects in the lives of adolescents in Hong Kong compared to others. For example, the present study shows that the value of community in the personal lives of adolescents positively correlated to the value of community illustrated in the media of choice (both are important), whereas although the value of health is not seen as important in the


117 117

choice of media, it is the highest valued in the personal lives of the participants of this study. This suggests that certain types of media content are not n ot as influential as others in the identity development of adolescents in Hong Ho ng Kong. Jennings et al.’s (1980 ( 1980)) study investigating the impact of television commercials on women’s self-confidence and independence of judgment reflects the positive power that the media has on identity. Findings from this present study too show the positive impact that the media has on identity values such as personal growth and community. Along with these positive influences also comes the more arguably negative or unhealthy impact seen in the value of social identity orientation, as it reflects more of an external emphasis in adolescents. The findings from this present study have obvious practical implications implications that can be applied to develop and encourage the facilitation of healthy identity development among adolescents in Hong Kong. Since media can be seen as a tool in facilitating certain areas of healthy identity development, schools, parents, and teachers shou ld use these implications to their advantage. Media education, for example, is useful in helping children to become more critical and informed and can be a starting point in encouraging more healthy aspects of identity development in adolescents. It can be used as means to educate teenagers, allowing them to be free to make choices in what to believe based on their own beliefs about the world, instead of being blindly influenced, allowing for a healthier social identity development. Despite strong correlations and implications from this present study, it is always difficult to determine causation between media and identity. For example, do adolescents who value personal growth choose media programs which encourage it, or do those media programs which wh ich emphasize personal growth facilitate this aspect of healthy identity development? This question is one that can be explored in future research, allowing the effectiveness, if any, for media literacy education on healthy identity development in adolescents to be b e illustrated.

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School Initiative of Media Literacy Education in the Context of the National Curriculum Reform Wen Xu

Abstract The chapter will unfold the school initiative of media literacy education in a Chinese primary school. In the context of the national curriculum reform, media literacy education became an alternative way for the school to conduct curriculum innovation. By analyzing the tenet of the national curriculum reform and the principle of media literacy education, it explains the confluence of these two factors for the educational initiative, in which media literacy education is also a consistent component of the school’s educational philosophy. The reform provided an opportunity for media literacy education to be introduced in the school. The two approaches of media literacy education were encouraged in curriculum reform, which the school made use of o f to begin the independent media literacy education and the integrated one. Through the changes in the reform and curriculum standards, the school officially got support to promote its development through media literacy education, particularly to make curriculum innovation. However, the school practice depended mostly on its own initiative, with the efforts from school leadership and teachers. Keywords Media literacy education • Curriculum reform • Primary school • China

1

Introduction

Media literacy education in China has a short history in comparison with other countries such as the UK, USA, and Canada. It went through three stages. The first was an introductory period. Some scholars introduced the definitions and principles of media literacy education (Bu 1997 1997;; Song 2000 2000). ). In the second stage, theory exploration was stressed much more than the practice (Zhang and Xu 2004 2004). ). However, the purpose of media literacy education at this stage was to protect students from negative impacts of the media, and for this purpose, it was relatively easy to get approval from teachers to practice media literacy education. In the third stage, W. Xu (*) Institute of Higher Education, Education , Communication University of China, China , Beijing, Beijing, China e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2016 C.K. Cheung, Media Literacy Literacy Education in in China, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-0045-4_9 10.1007/978-981-10-0045-4_9

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both practice and theory emerged as being critical. Some studies, focusing on the exploration of theory for media literacy education, have attempted to construct theoretical models for Chinese practice (Bai and Yan 2008; Lu 2010; Shao 2006; Zhang 2006). Media literacy education mostly depends on personal interest or projects conducted by particular organizations. The fixed agenda for curriculum and a lack of trained teachers in Chinese schools blocked the development of media literacy education. Media literacy education has been conducted in some Chinese schools, but more effort is needed to establish its legitimacy in a broader context. Furthermore, studies on school practice are insufficient. To address this need, the case selected for this study was that of a primary school with long-term media literacy education, which would offer a dynamic process from initiation to implementation in China. The examination of media literacy education in a Chinese primary school in this study will broaden the view from the perspective of a specific setting. This study attempted to illuminate the beginning of media literacy education in a Chinese primary school in the context of the national curriculum reform. Media literacy education is an innovation in educational practice, and the qualitative case study is a tool that helped the researcher to understand its dynamic process in a specific setting. In order to obtain holistic pictures of the practice in the HZMHT primary school, various sources of data collection were adopted, including observations, interviews, group meetings, and document analyses. These data collected were cross-referenced for verification, and they provided rich information for the researcher to explore the depth of a school practice from multiple perspectives.

2

The Background of the Primary School

The primary school in this study is a high-quality urban public school with a history of over 80 years. It is located near the center of Beijing. The school is equipped well with modern technology, including TVs installed in every classroom and a studio for recording lessons and activities. During this study, media literacy education, as an experimental course, was delivered in the studio most of the time. Occasionally it was delivered in classrooms when the studio was not available. The studio arrangement was well suited for group activities, with five to eight students sitting around a desk. The students were familiar with the surroundings in the school and the technological application was commonly a tool to facilitate teaching and learning.

2.1

The Educational Philosophy of the School

Educational philosophy is used both in academic and in practical field. Here it refers to the school’s philosophy of education in practice. It can be defined as a way to education that is based on the policies, planning and implementing of curriculum,

School Initiative of Media Literacy Education in the Context of the National…

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and school practice. The primary school’s educational philosophy can be recognized from the sculpture of a Chinese educator Tao Xingzhi and his words displayed on the campus. The school complies with Tao Xingzhi’s educational philosophy, which was influenced greatly by Dewey’s progressive philosophy. He believed that school must connect closely to society. He argued that students should not be confined by what the school teaches them and advocated “life as education,” “society as school,” and “the unity of teaching, learning, and reflective acting” (Hu 2007). Tao Xingzhi’s educational philosophy is used in the primary school to direct the school’s mission and is embedded in the school practice everywhere. The school principals thought that media literacy education totally embodied “life is education,” being connected closely with the students’ real lives from the point of view of school curriculum development based on this educational philosophy (Du and Wang 2009). Both Tao Xingzhi’s educational belief and media literacy education emphasize students’ real lives with social development. From this point, the educational philosophy underpinned the practice of media literacy education in this school. The students were not limited to classroom learning and their media experience beyond the classroom became an educational resource. When media literacy education was introduced, it was acknowledged in the school as being inseparable from the school discourse, including the technology environment, educational philosophy, and the principal’s support mentioned above. In this study, the media environment inside and outside school caused the principal’s determination to do media literacy education.

3

Media Literacy Education in the Context of Curriculum Reform

Media literacy education was introduced to the school in 2008. The principal thought that media literacy education would be good for both students and teachers, since media were not only a part of the students’ lives but was also a part of the teachers’. She believed that teachers should study media literacy to catch up with developments in technology. Teachers should know about their students’ out-ofschool media experiences, which had a great influence on their learning in school. At the start, it was important to have top-down leadership for the educational innovation. Cheung (2004) pointed out that continuous support from the school authorities is critical for media literacy education to survive in a school. The principal was in charge of the school development; therefore, her approval would be the driving force to implement media literacy education in the school. Furthermore, as the new technology is advancing speedily, educators have to rethink the role of media technology in schooling and to improve the existing curriculum to meet the requirement of a new technology era. Media literacy education began to get legitimacy in formal schooling in some countries and regions (Cheung 2009). It is difficult for the development without any official support. Hence, the appeal for the support from the national curriculum reform would be a channel to develop media literacy education.

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The National Curriculum Reform as an Agent for Media Literacy Education

The basic education curriculum reform was set out in 1999 in China. The existing curriculum was criticized as isolating students’ growth from social development. The new curriculum reform mentioned that the curriculum should be comprehensive and pragmatic. The curriculum management system was also suggested at three levels: national, local, and school-based curriculum (The State Council of PRC 1999). In 2001, the Basic Education Curriculum Reform (Trial) and Curriculum Standards of Eighteen Subjects were issued by the MOE. There were many changes compared with previous curriculum guidelines. The new curriculum guideline was more flexible. In the curriculum policy, media literacy education was not mentioned officially. However, there were important related items that could facilitate the implementation of media literacy education. For example, the following could be found from the Basic Education Curriculum Reform (Trial) (MOE 2001a): • To make more integrated curriculum, particularly in the primary school, and to change the situation of subject-based study • To change the difficulties, complexity, partialness, and oldness of curriculum content, to reduce the emphasis on the textbook knowledge, to strengthen the connection between curriculum content and students’ lives and social and technological development, to focus on students’ interest and experience, and to choose basic knowledge and skills necessary for students’ lifelong learning • To conduct a national, local, and school curriculum system and make the curriculum fit the local schools and students better The first aim proposed the adoption of an integrated curriculum in primary schools in order to avoid students learning the fragmented knowledge and separated subjects in the lower grades in basic education and changed the subject-oriented teaching and learning, which had been the main track of the original curriculum framework, to the learning as a whole. To achieve this, schools are encouraged to develop their own school-based curricula, based on the local social-economic status quo, traditions or advantages, and the students’ needs and interests (MOE 2001a). The MOE formulated policies on curriculum and determined the subjects and class hours. It shouldered the duty to supervise the practice of the national curriculum standards and executed new curriculum evaluation systems. The school’s responsibility was to exercise the national and local curricula and choose and develop curricula appropriate to the school context. That provided a great opportunity for the development of media literacy education in the school context. In the new National Curriculum Standards of Eighteen Subjects in China, the expansion of literacy was visible to include media either as a learning tool or as a learning object. The national curriculum reform and curriculum standards offered an official support for media literacy education when it was still developing as an educational innovation. In the curriculum reform, specialists, scholars from institutions of higher education, and teachers in primary and secondary schools were


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encouraged to involve in the textbook reform for basic education. It opened the door for scholars in universities to go into the schools and develop collaborative studies. These highlighted items from the official documents facilitated the development of media literacy education in the primary school. The Table 1 showed the connection between the reform and media literacy education.

3.2

The Objective of Media Literacy Education in the Primary School

The general aim of media literacy education is embedded in its definition. It aims to cultivate students’ ability to access, evaluate, analyze, and communicate media in a variety of forms (Aufderheide 1992). However, this definition is too general to direct teachers in a real setting. In the primary school, the objectives of media literacy education were: • To help students understand media and make them realize the relationship between media and economy, politics, and social culture • To help students get information from various channels and analyze media messages from different perspectives and to foster better learning attitudes toward media and popular culture • To help students express themselves freely through media and to get familiar with the skills of using media (Zhang 2008) The objectives were the intended learning outcomes and they were also the guidelines for the practice. In order to reach the objectives, the conceptual understandings were classified as media language, representation, audience, industry, and access and expression, which formulated the curriculum framework (Table 2). These points were described in details in the curriculum framework, corresponding with those in Western discourse, although they were expressed in different ways.

Table 1 Related elements of the national curriculum reform with media literacy education

Related elements of the national curriculum reform

Media literacy education in the primary school

School-based curriculum

As an educational initiative in the form of a school-based curriculum

Integrated curriculum

Across multiple subjects to do integrated curriculum

Collaboration between scholars, specialists, and teachers

To collaborate with a team from the university

Textbook reform

To publish materials to supplement the school-based and integrated curriculum

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Table 2 The conceptual understandings of media literacy education in the primary school

Conceptual understandings

The specific objectives of media literacy education refer…

Language

To know media language and conventions in representation, To understand media genre and how media narrative makes meaning, and To understand media techniques and apply them

Representation

To recognize stereotype in media, To compare the difference between media presentation and reality, and To analyze the value and ideology in media

Audience

To reflect personal media behaviors, To understand the negotiation between individual and media text, To know the meaning of audience in the commercial context, and To know the terminology in advertisements and their social-cultural meaning

Industry

To know the relationship between media industry and media production To know the ownership of media industry and its power on media text, and To know the difference between public and private media

Access and expression

To understand the meaning of citizenship, To access various media, To become active audiences, and To advocate privacy in media and free expression

3.3

Media Literacy Education in Response to the National Curriculum Reform

An examination of the changes in curriculum reform and the aim of media literacy education were found to share the same ideas for students’ development. In curriculum reform, there was much emphasis on the students’ real lives and interests, while media literacy education focused on students’ media culture and their interest to media technology. The curriculum reform advocated integrated curriculum in the primary school and changed the subject-based study. It attempted to change the isolation and segmenting of knowledge in the lower grades. However, for teachers, it was still a challenge to change the subject-based teaching to an integrated approach. By nature, media literacy education advocated an interdisciplinary approach, which indicated that topics related to media could be integrated with every potential theme in existing subjects. In traditional literacy, reading and writing were required in every subject including language arts, math, science, social studies, and so on, and it was the same with media literacy. Wan ( 2006) addressed the nature of integration between media literacy and other subjects by showing classroom practices that could enable teachers to make connections across content areas by teaching with media and about media. From this point of view, media


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literacy education could realize the integrated curriculum that was encouraged in the national curriculum reform. As mentioned above, media literacy education was also taken as a school-based curriculum. For the school, it became an alternative way to construct school-based curriculum under the background of the national curriculum reform. As for how to make use of the national curriculum reform to begin media literacy education, the principal said: In the past, there were several reforms, but the curriculum reform this time improved a lot. The most important thing was that there were autonomous lessons. We could have 16 %-17 % autonomous lessons for our own school. It requested the administrators to provide students with good lessons that had benefits for the students’ development. We called it schoolbased curriculum. The textbook for the school-based curriculum is not a must, but I wanted to take advantage of this chance to promote my school holistically. Since media literacy education is still new, we explore it while we do it. We hope we can provide some experience and suggestions to our educational policy.

With the promulgation of the Compulsory Education Law of the Republic of China (PRC) in 1986, efforts for educational reform were mainly concentrated on reorganizing the educational structure and adjusting educational management systems. The changes at the school level did not gain much attention, but the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council jointly promulgated the Decision on the Deepening of Educational Reform and the Full Promotion of Quality Education in 1999, which mandated changes in educational structures, systems, aims, curricula, and methods to meet the needs of social development (The CPC Central Committee and The State Council 1999). Since then, the national curriculum reform has begun to make changes at the school level. As the principal mentioned above, the Basic Education Curriculum Reform (Trial) in 2001 pragmatically provided more power for the school to construct its own curriculum. The principal is empowered with more flexible leadership. She wanted to develop a school-based curriculum to satisfy the students’ requirements and social development. She could not anticipate what the practice would be like at the beginning and did not know where media literacy education might lead in the future. However, she thought it was indispensable for students in the digital age, and she wanted to explore something new beyond the traditional teaching and learning. Media literacy education aims to explore students’ media culture beyond the official textbook. It matches the aim of curriculum reform, which requires changes to the “difficulties, complexity, partialness and oldness” of curriculum content and to change the emphasis on textbook knowledge (MOE 2001a). The national curriculum reform encouraged schools to address students’ development by adopting knowledge and skills beyond the existing textbook. It did not require textbooks for schoolbased curricula. Media literacy education goes beyond students’ textbook knowledge, and it can be regarded as an extended field for existing subjects. McClure ( 2001), Share (2009), and Zhang (2006) agreed that media literacy is an extension of traditional literacy. The principal stressed that the textbook for school-based curriculum was not necessary which was helpful for a new teaching and learning area. Media literacy education in the primary school brought about some teaching materials,

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especially the curriculum design; these were not taken as a form of textbook. The curriculum design was based primarily on different types of media or themes such as games, advertisements, and TV dramas. The curriculum content tried to take full advantage of the students’ prior media knowledge and experience. In addition, students were expected to explore new knowledge actively, and teachers could deliver the content creatively with reference to these teaching materials. Teachers could select topics from the material or supplement other themes in which they felt interested. They investigated more topics and related themes to design their own teaching plans for students. The principal and teachers in the primary school were aware of the significance of media literacy in a digital world. They would like to explore the educational innovation with scholars from the university. When the researcher asked about the relationship between curriculum reform and media literacy education, the teachers usually answered from the perspective of their teaching subjects. What they talked about most was the fast-changing media environment and the significance of media literacy education in schooling. One teacher even mentioned that media literacy education should be not only for students but also for all citizens surrounded by media. Another teacher who taught information technology thought that media literacy education strengthened the connection between existing curriculum content and students’ lives and social and technological development. Media literacy education focused on the students’ interests and media experiences, which were necessary for their lifelong learning. After integrating media literacy into information technology, she said: Media literacy education explores some teaching content that benefits students’ life-long learning with curriculum standards. I think media literacy education can help achieve the curriculum standard and it is good for students’ life-long development, which conforms to the rationale of curriculum reform.

This teacher also studied media literacy education while she taught it. In the field study, there were many chances for the researcher to talk with her besides the formal interview. According to her understanding, media literacy education could promote the existing curriculum to achieve the curriculum standard in the curriculum reform. The researcher found that the more the teacher practiced, the more she understood the relationship among curriculum reform, the existing curriculum, and media literacy education.

4

Media Literacy Education as a School Initiative

There are three main reasons for the primary school to begin media literacy education. First, students’ media culture influences their learning in school, and teachers have to understand students’ real life in a digital age. Second, the educational philosophy in this school is in accordance with the theoretical requirement behind media literacy education. Third, the national curriculum reform provides policy support for this educational innovation in a primary school. By analyzing the


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objectives of curriculum reform and media literacy education, it is noted that the principle for curriculum reform and this educational practice is in common. Therefore, it is inevitable for the school to begin its curriculum innovation with media literacy education. The practice not only promoted school development in the context of the national curriculum reform but also involved teachers in the primary school to make changes in their teachings.

4.1

School Promotion via a Grassroot Collaborative Project

The school experienced an exploratory way to make use of curriculum reform to develop a school initiative. In return, the school developed media literacy education to respond to the curriculum reform. Because of the educational management hierarchy in China, schools were following the state policy strictly. The school had limited power to introduce any curriculum innovation before the national curriculum reform in 2001. In particular, since the curriculum was exploratory, the school was cautious about the practice. This was why the principal mentioned several times that she was shouldering a great pressure in taking up this educational innovation. Pungente et al. (2005) mentioned that media literacy education should be a grassroot movement and gain legitimacy in the process of movement. In China, it was assumed that it would be easier to carry it on in the school if the centralized government had accepted media literacy education. It was difficult to initiate an educational innovation in the school without official support. The primary school, therefore, took advantage of the national curriculum reform to promote the school comprehensively by practicing media literacy education. The school did not fo llow the national curriculum reform passively. When the state stressed that the local curriculum, school-based curriculum, and integrated practical activities should occupy 16–20 % of all class hours (MOE 2001b), the school implemented school-based media literacy education, highlighting students’ lives and the media culture. Media literacy education solved the issue about how to take the students’ media culture to the classroom and relate it closely to the social development. The students’ media environment was changing while the school lagged behind in responding to the new situation and was still focusing on literacy studies with printed media. The practice in the primary school became an active movement to connect students’ media experiences with traditional schooling in the digital age. It was also an alternative way to prepare and empower students’ social lives. The school fully showed its expectation for students’ growth and its ability to have a grassroot activity from its own base. Besides top-down educational reform from the government, grassroot educational initiatives by schools and the university-school collaborative projects could also make changes to the school curriculum. Media literacy education in this school was implemented not only as a school initiative but also a collaborative project between a university and the primary school. This kind of project was commonly a long-term collaborative inquiry between university scholars and school teachers in one or several schools or in several school districts. It was referring particularly to

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projects concerned more with school improvement, starting from one educational theme such as curriculum and then extending to holistic strategies for school promotion. In this primary school, media literacy education was not an innovation required by the national curriculum reform. However, the school initiated it to promote school development, combining the educational philosophy of the school and the objectives of the curriculum reform. The teachers in the primary school collaborated with the university researchers to do the practice and theory exploration. This was a grassroot school initiative with efforts from both the teachers and the university scholars.

4.2

The Effort from the Principal and Teachers for Curriculum Innovation

An educational innovation such as media literacy education requires that teachers take great initiative in their practice and then lobby for it (Pungente 1996). Several teachers in this primary school adopted media literacy education through the integrated curriculum. They observed the practice of media literacy education and were eager to know more about it. Therefore, the team organized teacher-training workshops for the teachers. For those who thought they had already integrated media literacy into existing subjects, the training made them practice it consciously and skillfully. Those who never practiced before could get some basic ideas and skills to do so. Lake (1994) suggested that it was better for the school to make gradual changes and to make sure that the participants committed to the changes in the process of moving from a traditional and subject-centered curriculum to an integrated one. The principal encouraged the teachers to integrate media literacy education into their teaching subjects to promote their professional development through this educational innovation. Some interviewed teachers did not recognize the connection between media literacy education and their professional development at the start. However, media literacy education promoted their teaching skills, which could be observed when they participated actively in some seminars or conferences to demonstrate their integrated approach. The teachers who practiced integrated curriculum attentively not only told the researcher how they did this but also summarized their thinking and practices in teaching plans and research papers. When they met others doing media literacy education as they were, they were motivated by the chance that it provided them to direct the school and classroom to a place where students’ voices were valued and respected, where schooling was connected with students’ lived experiences, and where students could be confident to express themselves with a wide variety of media technology (Hobbs 2004). The principal and teachers participated actively in media literacy education, but the role of educational administrators outside school was also significant. Educational administrators manage and supervise schools in the educational system. Once did they understood media literacy education, it was easier for the school


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to get official support. When the researcher began the field study, the school was getting support from some educational administrators in the course of practice. The team and the principal joined in a seminar for the principals and educational administrators to discuss the curriculum construction. The curriculum practice in primary school was selected as an example to some representatives in the seminar. In addition, the principal sometimes invited the educational administrators to sit in the lessons and asked for suggestions. Outside school, the principal and teachers advocated media literacy education, which also gave it more attention in the educational system. As a grassroot initiative, the practice involved much effort from the school itself. To gain official support, the role of the principal became critical. The principal, the teachers in the primary school, and the educational administrators outside the school were brought fully into play for the development of media literacy education. The effort not only promoted the curriculum practice in the primary school but also influenced other schools. This suggests that, particularly at the initial stage, the collaborative effort among the principal, teachers, research scholars, and educational administrators is necessary.

5

5.1

Approaches of Media Literacy Education in the Primary School

As an Independent School-Based Curriculum

Considering the students’ cognitive development and media experience, the principal and the team from the university agreed to have media literacy education for the senior primary students. According to Piaget’s (1969) four stages of cognitive level, the fifth and sixth graders should commonly be at the concrete operational or formal operational stages. At these stages, they typically begin to understand symbols related to abstract concepts which, according to the team members’ and the principal’s understandings, made it feasible from a cognitive perspective to study media literacy. Piaget’s concept of schema pointed out that students learn new knowledge with schema in which their existing knowledge is related. The more kn owledge they have beforehand, the easier and faster students acquire new knowledge. However, there were numerous academic requirements for the sixth graders and no additional time available for them to study media literacy, since they were preparing to go to secondary school. Ultimately, media literacy education was determined as an independent curriculum targeting at fifth graders. The assumption for fifth graders was that they already had a lot of prior media experience and these experiences would provide a better basis for media literacy education. The school arranged one lesson for each class every week for the course. Each theme would take one to three sessions/lessons, depending on the students’ interest and performance. For the first trial, the course consisted of 15 lessons for one semes-

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ter in total and then extended to 30 lessons in an academic year, with 15 lessons per semester the year later. More topics were involved in the curriculum and some specific themes required more sessions. The team from the university was in charge of the curriculum design and delivery.

5.2

As an Integrated Part Across Multiple Subjects

After media literacy education had been practiced as an independent school-based curriculum, some teachers began to integrate it into their teaching subjects. At first, teachers were not familiar with the concept and rationale of media literacy education. When it was delivered as a school-based curriculum, they were encouraged to listen to this course. Some teachers told the researcher that they were overwhelmed by the idea of media literacy education before they listened to the class and talked with the team. When they began to know media literacy education gradually, several teachers thought that the integration actually existed in their teaching or that there was potential for integration in practice, but they had not known that there was a specific term called media literacy education . Four subjects were integrated with media literacy education. They were information technology, math education, moral education, and integrated practical activities. In the real situation, the integrated curriculum was not only confined to the subjects mentioned above. It could also be integrated into other subjects according to Western experience.

6

Conclusion

This chapter has mainly analyzed how the school initiated media literacy education in the context of the national curriculum reform. The reform provided an opportunity for media literacy education to be introduced in the school. Through the changes in the reform and curriculum standards, the school officially got support to promo te its development, particularly to make curriculum innovation. However, the school practice depended mostly on its own initiative, with the efforts from school leadership and teachers. The two approaches of media literacy education were encouraged in curriculum reform, which the school made use of to begin the independent media literacy education and the integrated one.

References Aufderheide, P. (1992). Media literacy: A report of the national leadership conference on media literacy . Paper presented at the National Leadership Conference on Media Literacy.


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Bai, C., & Yan, H. (2008). Media education: Origin, theory and practice. Beijing: Communication University of China Press. Bu, W. (1997). On the meaning, content and approaches of media education. Modern Communication (1), 29–33. Cheung, C. K. (2004). Media education in Hong Kong schools: Possibilities and challenges. Educational Studies, 30(1), 33–51. Cheung, C. K. (2009). Integrating media education into Liberal studies: A positive response to curriculum reform in Hong Kong. Curriculum Journal, 20(4), 437–446. Du, J., & Wang, F. (2009). How to take media education into daily instruction in a primary school: A perspective from the educational administrator. Children’s Study (20). Hobbs, R. (2004). A review of school-based initiatives in media literacy education. American Behavioral Scientist, 48(1), 42–59. Hu, X. (2007). Tao Xingzhi Jiao Yu Wen Ji. Chengdu: Sichuan Education Publishing House. Lake, K. (1994). Integrated curriculum. School Improvement Research Series, 16 . Lu, Y. (2010). Media literacy: Conception cognition and participation. Beijing: Economic Science Press. McClure, C. R. (2001). Network literacy in an electronic society: An educational disconnect? In R. Kuby (Ed.), Media literacy in the information age: Current perspectives. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers. Ministry of Education (MOE). (2001a). Basic education curriculum reform (Trial). Retrieved June 22, 2009, from http://www.edu.cn/20010926/3002911.shtml Ministry of Education (MOE). (2001b). The experimental scheme for the curriculum in compulsory education. Retrieved June 22, 2009, from http://www.moe.edu.cn/publicfiles/business/ htmlfiles/moe/moe_711/201006/xxgk_88602.html Piaget, J., & Inhelder, B. (1969). The psychology of the child (H. Weaver, Trans.). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Pungente, J. (1996). Getting started on media literacy. Emergency Librarian, 24(2), 9. Pungente, J., Duncan, B., & Andersen, N. (2005). The Canadian experience: Leading the way. Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, 104 (1), 140–160. Shao, R. (2006). Media education in China. Beijing: Communication University of China Press. Share, J. (2009). Media literacy is elementary: Teaching youth to critically read and create media. New York: Peter Lang Publishing. Song, X. (2000). Studying to decode mass media (first part): An introduction to media literacy education abroad. Contemporary Communications, 2, 61–63. The CPC Central Committee, & The State Council. (1999). The Decision on the Deepening of Educational Reform and the Full Promotion of Quality Education. The State Council of PRC. (1999). The decision on deepening educational reform to comprehensively propel quality education. Retrieved January 1, 2012, from http://gov.hnedu.cn/ web/0/200507/13144202671.html Wan, G. (2006). Integrating media literacy into the curriculum. Academic Exchange, 174–177. Zhang, J. (2008). The curriculum framework of media literacy education . Zhang, K. (2006). The introduction to media literacy. Beijing: Communication University of China Press. Zhang, L., & Xu, W. (2004). The actuality and trend of Chinese media education. In Asia Media Forum (Vol. 1). Beijing: Communication University of China Press.

Integrating Media Literacy Education into the School Curriculum in China: A Case Study of a Primary School C.K. Cheung and Wen Xu

Abstract With the changing media environment, media literacy education begins to be an emerging field in China. This research is a case study on how media literacy education is implemented in a primary school. It is shown that the implementation is consistent with the national curriculum reform, and with the full support of the school, university teachers are called upon to collaborate with the teachers from the school. They designed the curriculum and taught in different lessons. The results showed the success of implementing media literacy education as an integrated component of different subjects, namely, ethics and life, mathematics, information technology and integrated practical activity. Keywords Media literacy education • School curriculum • Integration • Primary school • China

1

Introduction

People nowadays learn what is happening around them through the radio, television, newspapers and Internet. The impact of the media has been particularly pronounced on children. As technology continues to develop, children at an early age are exposed to media messages. Today even a 3-year-old child is able to turn on the TV and sit in front of it for hours. Postman ( 1982) discussed the disappearance of childhood in the 1980s, and Buckingham (2000) lamented the death of childhood in the turn of the millennium. What can be done when the mass media exert such a great influence on young people? There has been a call for media literacy education to be implemented in primary education (Craggs 1992; Cheung 2005). Australia has mandated media literacy education from kindergarten through twelfth grade, while in Finland, media C.K. Cheung (*) Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong e-mail: [email protected] W. Xu Institute of Higher Education, Communication University of China, Beijing, China © Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2016 C.K. Cheung, Media Literacy Education in China , DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-0045-4_10

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literacy education was included in the official curriculum as a cross-curriculum sub ject at the primary school level in the 1990s (Tuominen 1997; Kupiainen 2010). In Asia, media literacy education becomes more and more important and gained its recognition in the curriculum (Cheung 2009). Could this also happen in China?

2

2.1

The Arguments for Implementing Media Education in the Primary Curriculum

The Increased Use of Media and Technological Advances

A study of young people in 12 countries by Livingstone and Bovill (2001) showed that the media shape the meanings and practices of young people’s everyday lives and children’s access to and use of both traditional media and digital media have drastically increased. The trend continues to be worrying. Today’s kids in the USA spend around 8 h a day consuming media—watching TV, listening to music, surfing the Web, social networking and playing videos (Common Sense Media Research Study 2013). The trend is similar in the UK (Oxform 2014). In the case of China, it has the largest number of children viewing TV in the world. In addition, the quantity of Internet usage is increasing. In 2012, the number of netizens in China reached 564 million (CNNIC 2013). Among these, secondary school students spent 9.5 h per week on the Internet, and primary school students spent 5.7 h per week (CNNIC 2011). Exposure to the media has now become the primary learning route for most students, supplanting traditional formal education. The media portrayal of society has become the constructed reality perceived by children, affecting their values and ideologies. Television, film, songs and MTV have become the storytellers for our generation; these stories define our identity, our beliefs and our values in life. Many people are worried about the influence of media on children, particularly in view of the dramatic advances in technology. Besides the traditional mass media such as television, radio, films and newspapers, digital media such as the Internet and mobile phones are widely used not only in companies but also at home. Advanced technologies are also breaking down the traditional boundaries between telecommunications, broadcasting and computing. It is therefore necessary for people to understand what messages the mass media produce and how they are influenced by these messages. This is a difficult task for educators, but it is our responsibility to encourage students to decode media messages and question the values, both obvious and hidden, behind media messages. Several studies demonstrated that primary students were already able to critically evaluate television programmes and advertising contents (Roberts et al. 1999; Alvermann et al. 1999; Cheung 2005; Chang et al. 2011). It is thus the responsibility of educators to make use of media literacy education to prevent the further exploitation of children by the media.

Integrating Media Literacy Education into the School Curriculum in China: A Case…

2.2

2.2.1

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Media Literacy Education as Motivation in Children’s Learning Motivational Learning

Students are motivated to learn things that are important and meaningful to them. As learning is a goal-oriented activity, the task for teachers is to involve students in the search for meaning and importance in learning materials so that the journey towards the goal becomes a pleasurable experience. Furlong and Maynard ( 1995) mention that teaching materials should be “something that students can relate to” and “be within their interest level”. Students should be able to see that the activity is “useful” to them. Since children are exposed to media messages regularly, teachers can make use of examples of media messages in a teaching context, so that students find a need to learn and have something to achieve. The use of media messages in teaching creates an environment that enhances learning. When students see that their own experiences are reflected and the work they do meets their needs, learning is more likely to occur (Cheung 2004b).

2.2.2

Developing Media Pedagogy through Media Literacy Education Lessons and Media Production

Media literacy education requires an approach very different from the traditional “chalk-and-talk” method. Students are encouraged to find information through the encoding and decoding of media messages and by engaging actively in media production to become critical viewers of the media. In media education, the main focus is on child-centred learning, which requires a media pedagogy that encourages investigation and critical and reflective thinking on the part of students. Children learn how materials and knowledge are selected and constructed for media texts. They have to ask questions to help them clarify issues that have value implications. Learning by doing is important as students are encouraged to explore learning at a deep and meaningful level. Media production provides a platform for students to immerse themselves in learning through exploring and doing. Frechette ( 2002) states that media production is vital to all pedagogy: “Just as it is necessary for pupils to learn to write as well as to read, it is invaluable for teachers to allow students to ‘produce’ media texts as well as deconstruct them through their own voice, ideas, and perspective (realizing of course the partial subjectively from which these voices emanate)” (p. 114). Media educators believe that media production is a desirable form of media literacy education (Buckingham 2007; Peppler and Kafai 2007). Media production gives students a sense of satisfaction when products are created. The traditional mode of learning, in which teachers delivered knowledge in a dialectic manner, has changed. Students can now hold the digital camera, or sit in the control room to

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operate the panel, and feel that they have some control over what they learn. Furthermore, as the syllabus does not set limits to the scope of media education, students have the flexibility to explore, thereby discovering further learning opportunities (Cheung et al. 2011).

3

The Development of Media Literacy Education in China

There have been three stages in the development of media literacy education in China. The first was an introductory period, in which scholars introduced the definitions and principles of media literacy education (Bu 1997; Song 2000a, b). In the second stage, theories of media literacy education were stressed much more than its practice (Zhang and Xu 2004). The purpose of media literacy education is to protect students from the negative effects of the media, so it was relatively easy to get teachers to agree to practise media literacy education. In the third stage, the present stage, both practice and theory are seen as equally important. While the process of theory exploration is still going on, scholars prefer to carry on the practice of media literacy education and conceptualize the theory from the practice. During this stage, theory exploration has begun to diversify, with scholars studying media literacy education from different theoretical perspectives (Li and Ban 2009; Lu 2010; Yang 2011). There are several ways in which media literacy education is practised in China. First, it can involve a collaborative project between primary or secondary schools and universities, as in the case of this study. In such a collaborative project, scholars design the curriculum for school teachers, or school teachers and scholars do it together. Scholars supervise the practice of media literacy education and offer teacher training for school teachers. However, there has been little research on the practice of media literacy education in schools. Second, some teachers voluntarily practice media literacy education in their everyday teaching, combining media literacy with existing subjects. Third, some organizations (mainly those concerned with child and youth development), like the China Children’s Press and Publication Group (CCPPG), have designed media literacy programmes to involve children’s participation in media production. In China, media literacy education mostly depends on personal interest or projects conducted by particular organizations. Although media literacy education has been implemented in some Chinese schools, much effort is needed to establish its legitimacy in a broader context. Some studies focusing on the theory of media literacy education have attempted to construct theoretical models for media literacy education in China (Bai and Yan 2008; Lu 2010; Zhang 2006). These scholars have designed media literacy education curricula and evaluated the effectiveness of these curricula in practice (Liu and Chen 2011). However, studies on the practice of media literacy education in schools are insufficient. There is a need for investigations into the interactive process of teaching and learning of media literacy in schools. To address this need, we conducted a case study to examine the practice of media lit-


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eracy education in a primary school in China. The school selected for this study was a primary school with a long history of media literacy education, as it offered an example of a dynamic process from initiation to implementation of media literacy education in China.

4

The Case Study

The implementation of media literacy education in the HZM primary school is consistent with the national curriculum reform, which provides an opportunity for the development of media literacy education. As a result of changes in management structure and curriculum standards, the HZM primary school receives official support to promote its curriculum innovation through media literacy education, which in turn is a response to curriculum reform. In this case, the curriculum practice is a result of collaborative efforts between a university and a primary school. With the endeavour of teachers in the HZM primary school and the team members from the Communication University of China (CCU), media literacy education was implemented both as a school-based curriculum subject and as an integrated component of multiple subjects.

4.1

The Background of the Primary School

The HZM primary school is a high-quality urban public school with an eighty-yearold history. It is located near the centre of Beijing in a traditional hutong neighbourhood. The school is well equipped with modern technology. Most of the students involved in this study lived in this district and were very familiar with the hutongs around them. The teacher designed a topic fo r sixth grade students on hutong culture. The aim of this was to give the students some systematic knowledge about life in the hutongs through inquiry-based learning, which was what integrated practical activities involved. This topic required the students to carry out a field study by going around the hutongs. The lesson involved exploring hutong culture around this primary school. Different groups found information about the hutongs through various media such as newspapers, video recordings and pictures. In the final presentation, the students submitted their reports in the formats of newspapers, drawings, photographs and videos made by themselves. They shared their understanding by presenting their final assignments in various forms. The teacher combined media literacy education with integrated practical activities. The elements of media literacy were reflected in how the students recorded and represented hutong culture through media according to their perceptions. By using media to collect, record, organize and present what they wanted to express, students

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were using their abilities to access, evaluate, analyse and communicate media in a variety of forms.

4.2

Data Collection Procedures

The methods of data collection used in this study included observations, interviews, focus groups, group meetings and document analyses. Specific information concerning these methods is listed in Table 1. By using these methods, the researcher was able to examine the practice of media literacy education from different perspectives. The students were the focus of classroom observation, and class activities indicated directly how media literacy education was practised. At the end of semester, the researcher organized a student focus group to elicit students’ perceptions of studying media literacy. Another focus group, comprising parents, was arranged to collect information about the students’ media experiences and feedback on the practice. One of the researchers interviewed the team, the school principal, and some teachers, some of whom practised integrated media literacy education and some of whom did not. The purpose of these interviews was to learn how the interviewees understood the practice and how some of them practised it. One of the researchers joined in the group meetings every week to gain insights from the discussions with the team members. In addition to using these methods in the field, the researcher reviewed related documents such as curriculum materials, videos, teaching plans and official documents for data triangulation.

Table 1 Methods of data collection

Methods

Sources

Remarks

Observation

School and classroom practice

45 lessons in total (15 lessons for each class)

Interview

Teachers and team members

12 teachers and 6 team members

Group meeting

Team members

4 members

Focus group

Students and parents

8 students and 7 parents

Document analysis

Official documents, curriculum materials, teaching plans, etc.


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Table 2 Media literacy education across multiple subjects

Identifiers

Original subjects

Integrated themes

Grades

KX

Ethics and life

Rational shopping

Second

YY

Mathematics education

Cartogram and life

Fourth

LXY

Information technology

Magic flash layers: to be a director

Fourth

HJ

Integrated practical activity

Beijing hutongs

Sixth

4.3

Media Literacy Education as an Integrated Part across Multiple Subjects

The subjects most devoted to media literacy education in the HZM primary school were moral education, information technology, mathematics and integrated practical activity. These four integrated curricula were analysed as examples to show how media literacy education was combined with existing subjects (Table 2).

5

Results

5.1

Moral Education

The use of media literacy education in the teaching of moral education is supported by Cheung (2007). Media are a part of students’ lives, and their characters and morality are influenced by it. Both media literacy education and moral education relate to students’ daily lives. When the researcher interviewed several teachers in the HZM primary school, they thought that media literacy education should connect with moral education. One teacher stated: Since media literacy education is a kind of life education, it goes well with moral education, which is also based on students’ lives. Although they differ from each other, both of them focus on life. Media literacy education is a form of life education. Ethics and society really match with media literacy education. Ethics and society focuses on life, while media are also a part of our lives, so they are naturally the same. (HJ)

When media have a stronger influence on students’ daily lives, the content of moral education has to be updated to meet the requirements of a modern society. The combination of the two can contribute to satisfying this requirement.

5.2

Mathematics Education

The media provide many opportunities for students to apply mathematics by selecting and judging data or information; therefore, it is possible to integrate mathematics with media literacy education. Wan ( 2006) noted that many topics are covered

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by media related to problem-solving mathematics questions such as statistics, audience rate, graphic displays and other related scientific studies. In this case study, the school-based media literacy curriculum had already involved mathematics education coincidently. When the students studied advertisements, they were introduced to a new term, audience rate, and were asked to calculate the audience rate for media programmes, which referred to the study of percentage in mathematics. Regarding the elements of media literacy in the integrated curriculum, the teacher who taught this lesson stated: I compared this integrated lesson with pure math teaching. Students know the advantage of using cartograms in various ways by comparing different media from the perspective of collecting and analyzing information. It impressed students much and the atmosphere in the classroom was very lively. At the same time, they also got to know the characteristics of words, images, and newspapers. (YY)

She thought it was helpful to incorporate media literacy education into mathematics by taking students’ lives and interests into consideration. Another mathematics teacher tried to teach an integrated curriculum by connecting the new curriculum standard with media literacy education. She said: I think the new teaching plan for math is very impressive. It requires teaching to be based on students’ life experiences and practice. It should come from students’ lives and serve their lives. I think it is very helpful to direct teachers’ teaching from this angle. Students now live in a media-saturated world and when I integrated media literacy into math., their learning motivation was aroused. (SWW)

5.3

Information Technology Education

According to the Ministry of Education (MOE) in China, information technology education aims to promote students’ interest and awareness, their understanding and mastery of basic knowledge and skills concerning information technology and their knowledge about the development of information technology and its role in everyday life and scientific methods. “The goal of information technology education is to develop students’ ability to access, transmit, process and apply information; to understand the related cultural, ethical and social issues through the use of information technology; to be responsible for using information and to develop information literacy in order to use information technology as a means to facilitate lifelong learning and collaborative learning and to lay the necessary foundation to acclimatize themselves to the information society for study, work and life” (MOE 2000). The objectives of information technology overlap quite a lot with those of media literacy education. For example, both information technology education and media literacy education involve understanding culture, ethics and social issues through the use of media technology. They also require students to be responsible for information delivery and to make use of information technology. When media literacy education was introduced into this school, some teachers doubted whether it was the same as information technology. Later, with help from


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the team, the teacher who taught information technology recognized the differences between media literacy education and information technology. Based on her own practice and study, she said: The integration between media literacy education and information technology was natural, but it expanded the original lessons. For example, when I taught flash layers, I had to deliver one more lesson to integrate media literacy into information technology. I offered the students more time to practise making flash layers by themselves and to make them be “directors” in the classroom activity. The students explored how to make a good flash and present a good story via flash. This required a process of exploration and self-learning. (LXY)

The integrated curriculum stimulated students’ motivation and collaboration in the classroom. The teaching content became richer, and students were more engaged in the activities. This also motivated the teacher to keep on practising media literacy education.

5.4

Incorporating Media Literacy Education into Integrated Practical Activities

Integrated practical activity is a compulsory subject in primary schools, which stresses students’ awareness of exploration and creation. Students study scientific methods and develop the ability to use knowledge comprehensively. Since the school and the teachers have the power to decide the teaching content of this sub ject, the study of integrated practical activities is more flexible than some other subjects. In addition, integrated practical activity is an activity-based curriculum, which is designed around students’ life experiences and community issues. Most of the students involved in this study lived in this district, and they were very familiar with the hutongs around them. The teacher designed a topic for sixth grade students on hutong culture, with the aim of giving the students some systematic knowledge about life in the hutongs through inquiry-based learning, which was what integrated practical activities advocated. This topic required the students to do a field study by going around the hutongs and exploring hutong culture around this primary school. Different groups found information about the hutongs through various media such as newspapers, video recordings and pictures. In the final presentation, the students submitted their reports in the formats of newspapers, drawings, photographs and videos made by themselves. They shared their understanding by presenting their final assignments in various forms. The teacher combined media literacy education with the integrated practical activity. The elements of media literacy education were reflected in how the students recorded and represented hutong culture through media according to their perceptions. By using media to collect, record, organize and present what they wanted to express, students were using their abilities to access, evaluate, analyse and communicate through media in a variety of forms.

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6


Discussion

Most of the interviewed teachers in the HZM primary school indicated that they preferred to incorporate media literacy education into existing subjects rather than teaching it as an individual subject, particularly since it was still an educational initiative. In the first place, as media literacy education was at its initial stage and needed more exploration for teaching and learning, some teachers felt it would be difficult to teach media literacy as an independent course. They mentioned that they lacked the energy and academic support to teach media literacy as a separate, individual subject. In the second place, since media literacy education was not concerned with specific knowledge and skills, according to some teachers’ understanding, integrating it into existing subjects benefited both the subjects and media literacy education. An integrated curriculum was strongly encouraged in the curriculum reform; even if teachers did not choose media literacy education as a component of the integration, they had to integrate other subjects or materials with their teaching subject if they planned to follow the national curriculum reform. Integrating the curriculum had become an alternative way to promote the curriculum in this school Whether conceptual understanding of media literacy education could be realized in the integrated curriculum was a critical issue. In a school-based independent curriculum, conceptual understanding can be realized in teaching and learning. Teachers in this study understood that an integrated curriculum did not simply mean a combination of two domains of knowledge. The important thing for the teachers in implementing an integrated curriculum was to know clearly the educational objectives for both existing subjects and media literacy education. The teachers also noticed that students’ motivation and interest were aroused in media literacy education, which indicated the positive influence on students’ learning.

7

The Trend towards Integrating Media Literacy Education into the School Curriculum

Media literacy education is used widely across multiple subjects in some Western countries. It can be integrated into any curriculum in K-12 education, and many suggestions have been offered on how teachers can do this in practice (Scheibe and Rogow 1999, 2002, 2004, 2008; Semali 2000). Specifically, media literacy education has been integrated into English language teaching through a wide range of media texts and themes and in the classroom (Goodwyn 1993; Cheung 2004b). With the popular use of the Internet, it is exploited both for accessing resources for teachers and students and as a tool for inquiry-based study (Hobbs 2008). In this study, an integrated curriculum, which was encouraged in the national curriculum reform, was another channel for media literacy education in addition to the schoolbased curriculum. Media literacy education involved the students’ media culture


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and brought their media experiences into schooling, which is what schooling needs in this digital age. Moreover, an integrated curriculum did not need more specialist teachers to contribute to media literacy education as an independent course would do. Some teachers studied media literacy education and combined it with their teaching subjects. It depended on the teachers’ motivation and the school initiative. Nonetheless, the qualifications of teachers teaching media literacy education are an emergent issue that require future investigation. All the interviewed teachers thought teacher training was urgently needed in order to integrate media literacy education into the curriculum. Most of the teachers expressed that the trend was for media literacy education to be integrated into the existing curriculum since they could control classroom activities easily, whereas media literacy education as an independent subject may require some systematical knowledge and skill of media on the part of teachers, which was difficult for teachers at that stage of their development. The teachers were, however, already good at teaching strategies. What was important for them was to integrate their basic knowledge of media literacy education into their teaching. The teachers were not asked to conduct every lesson in an integrated form, but they were encouraged to integrate elements of media literacy education into their existing subjects in an appropriate way. Some teachers mentioned that media literacy education could easily be connected to existing subject knowledge, and that if the teacher understood the rationale of media literacy education well, it would make the study to proceed more smoothly in the integrated curriculum. Media literacy education had to help existing subjects to achieve their objectives in practice. When delivered as an independent subject, it was sometimes difficult for the teachers to follow the original principles of media literacy education in designing the teaching and learning. Some members in the team doubted whether they had fully achieved the objectives of media literacy education in practice, even though these teaching points were listed in the curriculum design. This concern is not an isolated issue for independent media literacy education in China, since Hobbs ( 1998) also doubted whether media literacy education enhanced teaching and learning or whether key concepts could be delivered properly in an integrated curriculum based on Western discourse.

8

Limitation of the Study

The limitation of the study was that it was only possible to examine the integration of media literacy education with respect to four subjects with respect to four sub jects—moral education, mathematics, information technology and integrated practical activities—as these were the subjects that were accessible and feasible for the researcher to assess. As the study described, there were also other teachers teaching an integrated curriculum, some of whom incorporated elements of media literacy education but in an unconscious way. This study did not take these practices into account. However, the study revealed that there was a tendency for media literacy education to be an integrated part of existing subjects. The findings would have been

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richer if this study had been able to explore more integrated curricula for media literacy education, instead of focusing on four existing subjects.

9

Conclusion

With the changing media environment, media literacy education is an emerging field in China. Many studies have shown the significance of media literacy education, but there have been few studies on school practices, and most of the existing studies are mainly based on the context of Western discourse. This study aimed to explore the implementation of, and approaches to, media literacy education in a Chinese primary school. It aimed to shift media literacy education from an international context to a local setting and offer a point of reference to enrich the theory and practice in the process of localization. In this study, curriculum practice was a result of a collaborative effort between a university and a primary school. With the effort of teachers in the HZM primary school and the team members from BBU, media literacy education is integrated with moral education, math education and information technology. The results are promising.

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Internationalising China’s Digital Media Literacy Education Ian William Lang

Abstract Formal Chinese demand for internal cultural coherence has for the last 60 years been met by specialist training institutions working in industrial-era models of content production. This model has served Chinese national unification goals but is less able to project Chinese cultural and soft-power values internationally in a digital world where both Chinese and foreign consumers have increasing access to a range of globalised and competitive cultural entertainment and information products from many nations. Additionally, media once considered not employment related in mission – film, radio, television and publishing – has through digitalization developed educational and professional communications roles in a broad range of new and existing nonentertainment industries that traditional media education providers struggle to fulfil. The challenge for Chinese higher education is how digital media content production literacies may be integrated into the widest range of primary and secondary industries in service of the nation’s transition to a knowledge economy, whilst pro jecting Chinese values persuasively on a digital world stage. Hong Kong’s historical gateway role may provide innovative and catalytic nationwide capabilities in expressing contemporary Chinese values globally. Keywords Soft power • New media • Digital education • Meta-curricular objectives • Massive open online courses (MOOCs) • Creative industries

I.W. Lang (*) The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2016 C.K. Cheung, Media Literacy Education in China, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-0045-4_11

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1

1.1

I.W. Lang

Structural Change in China’s Media Literacy Education

Modernisation with Cultural Authenticity

This chapter seeks to analyse structural change amongst China’s key media literacy education providers to provide a digitally coherent approach to training new media content makers for both internal modernisation and employment and internationalisation of Chinese culture. After summarising trends in key providers and agencies including advances in e-learning and non-entertainment-based production, the chapter then examines digitally useful curricula mechanisms intended to shift content production from a self-centred to other-centred focus as an enabler of authenticity in Chinese self-representation and knowledge transfer in foreign markets. The conclusion then examines the type of strategic partnerships with foreign universities and media partners that may accelerate China’s digital media literacy within a context of e-learning. Over the last 60 years, professional media production literacies have historically been taught at specialist tertiary institutes in modern China, with a focus on educating skilled creators of entertainment and factual narratives for mass consumption serving national soft power and increasingly commercial objectives. Key providers include the Beijing Film Academy (BFA), the Central Academy of Drama (CAD), and the Communication University of China (CUC). With close links to state media agencies and in particular the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) as it was known until 2013, these academies and communication universities retain relatively high individual autonomy in setting curriculum based on historical definitions of employment specialisation in radio, television, cinema and print.

1.2

Digital Literacy Strategies

Within traditional providers, digital convergence has been an add-on rather than game changer in terms of structural organisational change, with digitisation used to technically enhance existing curricula rather than catalyse convergent curricula development. Central government has responded to digital media convergence under internationalisation directives of the 12th Five-Year Plan that recognises online media and press sharing screen space with film and television. In March 2013, this caused the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television to subsequently join with the General Administration of Press and Publication, to form the more encompassing General Administration of Press and Publication, Radio, Film and Television. The digital convergence noted by government has also been noted by industry employers, spreading steadily beyond traditional news and entertainment industries.

Internationalising China’s Digital Media Literacy Education

1.3

149

Employment Impacts

Employers in a wide range of government departments and private enterprise increasingly demand innovative digital media skills as a core graduate outcome for a wide range of knowledge-economy jobs. New but unmet national demand exists for tertiary education providers to embed disciplinary-specific digital media skills in a wide range of fields including science, technology, business and humanities. Cross-cultural adaptation of these skills is further required to assist internationalisation in these fields. These new education needs are increasingly being met by a range of established and newer regional universities and academies in China that have developed their own digital literacy and production curricula at an internal level. Many have also sought to benchmark their teaching and research functions at international levels through strategic partnerships with foreign universities and digital media enterprises. This pattern is exemplified by Beijing Normal University, for example, which has run a successful student annual film festival since 1993, attracting wide national participation that has in 2012 led to ‘road-show’ tours of representative works to Taiwan and then, in 2013/2014, led to additional tours in Vancouver and New York (Lang 2014b).

2

2.1

Traditional Chinese Approaches to Media Production Education

Traditional to Digital Transition

Because of the high costs of production and limited distribution options for finished content in traditional media production education programs, a specialist academy model has served China well in the post-revolutionary period of rapid development and later in the rapid modernisation period associated with market reformer Deng Xiaoping. However, under digital convergence, a fracturing of traditional production methods has occurred, using low-cost technologies and quick growth of usergenerated content diffused widely by social media. Stand-alone institutions for the performing and recorded arts in film television, radio, theatre and journalism originally structured their training systems on Russian pedagogies and have been increasingly localising curriculum to meet modern Chinese needs, particularly in technology-intensive fields. An embrace of UK-inspired creative industries rhetoric led by intellectual and politician Li Wuwei ( 2011) has seen some broadening of media skill training from stand-alone national academies to regional providers. For example, digital literacies illustrating this have been integrated with traditional curricula at the Shanghai Theatre Academy where traditional drama training has been married with sophisticated digital pre- visualisation capabilities, used, for example, in virtually rehearsing and perfecting the opening and clos-

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I.W. Lang

ing ceremonies of the Shanghai World Expo in 2010 involving complex planning of multi-performer dance and spectacle pieces (Lang 2014a).

2.2

Employment Considerations

Yet even where curricula integration has occurred, interviews with undergraduate students suggest that structural changes to the broader employment market make it difficult for specialist media-teaching institutions to achieve strong graduate employment rates although precise figures are almost impossible to obtain. As in the West, this has driven postgraduate enrolments as students seek to gain an edge in the market. These structural changes to traditional media employment include the displacement of professional print production by amateur online content produced and consumed by a demographic closely resembling average tertiary student ranges. The ability for instantly messaged text and media clips to be easily forwarded by China’s 450 million online user continues to increase despite a small drop in total online users of Weibo, reported by the South China Morning Post (January 18, 2014) as an effect of anti-rumour laws. Language issues and complex local knowledge codes largely confine these posts to domestic audiences, and it is arguable that they have little demonstrable influence on foreign perception of China. Because the world market for content produced by digital media lies beyond any single state’s jurisdiction and is driven by consumers rather than producers, it is the appeal of content over time that ultimately determines take-up by foreign audiences.

2.3

Internationalisation Considerations

It is implausible that narrative skills developed for traditional media in a foreign country may be adapted to be taught in China as simple addition to new media skill literacies in an attempt to increase the foreign appeal of content. Therefore, this method is only likely to perpetuate national stereotyping and misunderstandings on all sides. Rather, internationalisation through new media may be better served by the consistent expression of high-integrity content aimed at educated foreign decision-makers rather than mass audiences. Whilst broadcast television employment and production remains buoyant with over 3000 television channels being broadcast in China in 2013, very little domestically produced content reaches foreign screens with the exception of specialist English language news services reproduced by specialist western stations catering primarily for diasporic Chinese audiences that in Australia include the national SBS television and radio networks. Filling the big screens of cinema remains a primary motive for students at premium film academies like the Beijing Film Academy. Students at the academy develop international cinematic awareness through


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exposure to hundreds of the world’s best short films screened at an annual international student film festival hosted by the Beijing Film Academy and through meeting visiting foreign media experts who attend the festival. Within the import quota of 30 foreign film per year determined by the General Administration of Press Publication, Radio, Film and Television, cinema audiences increasingly support popular foreign films largely from the USA (‘Blue Book’ 2013); China’s training academies are finding it more difficult for their graduates to reach position of national social and economic influence. To compete with western skills training in media production, Chinese academies have undertaken strategic programs of staff and student exchange with leading foreign providers primarily in the USA and also in the UK, Germany and Australia.

(In alphabetical order) Beijing Film Academy, Beijing Normal University Beijing University of Post and Telecommunications, Central Academy of Drama, Chongqing Meishi Film Academy, Communication University of China, Shanghai Institute of Visual Art, Shanghai Theatre Academy Shanghai University Media Industry Research Unit, Sun Yat Sen University School of Communication, Yunnan Arts University, Yunnan University East Asia Institute of Visual Anthropology, Zhejiang University of Media and Communications Fig. 1 Surveyed Chinese media-teaching academies 2013–2015

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2.4

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Survey of Twelve Chinese Media Schools

By inspection of 12 representative teaching facilities around China (Fig. 1) in 2011 and compared to earlier visits undertaken by the author in the preceding twenty years, it is clear that inspected Chinese media-teaching academies now possess technological facilities equal to the best in the world. As may be expected, national academies tend to have significantly larger student and staff populations than their foreign equivalents, whilst smaller and newer university-based media skills programs approximate their foreign equivalents in scale.

2.5

Balancing Internationalisation with National Sovereignty

From a social perspective, many parents of potential media students feel anxious about the employability of their children once graduated. Where a prospective student is committed to media study, risk is mitigated by attempting entry to the country’s leading national providers wherever possible, leading to application rates of more than 20,000 students in 2014 for around 250 places in sub-disciplinary programs of the Beijing Film Academy, where it is believed graduates face more secure employment. Pedagogically, teaching programs at national academies have stronger ideological foundations than those found in western schools and offer more prescribed curricula options in creative screen writing. Aspirations towards internationalisation are mostly expressed in terms of emulating Hollywood levels of production success with content steeped in Chinese values. This expression most often centres on sometimes-stereotyped western models of foreign curricula available for benchmarking and localised reinterpretation. From inspection and through student interviews, production-based teaching programs in Chinese teaching academies place a strong emphasis on the measurement of detailed skill assessment outcomes and lower emphasis on cognitive synthesis abilities to create new solutions to open-ended problems. This trend frequently invites western caution over the conflation of metrics with actual performance, such as this warning from Harvard University Research Professor Derek Bok ( 2014), who, writing for Caijing , cautions, “With graduation rates and government spending easy to calculate, educational quality, which is difficult to measure, is likely to be the objective that slips. No one need know – and thus no one can be held accountable – when graduation rates rise but the hoped-for economic benefits fail to materialize”. Similar cautions exist amongst senior Chinese educational reform scholars such as Liu Daoyu, a former president of Wuhan University, who has frequently described China’s examination system as a constraint to innovation. In reforming Wuhan University in the 1980s to allow greater foreign exchange, Liu is quoted by Gong Yidong in China Daily (2009), saying, ‘Close breeding’ impedes innovation. Meanwhile, we must lift the screws on people’s minds and tap into their initiative


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and enthusiasm’. Liu’s views are similar to those of government ministers of innovation and technology in many countries, who seek to better harness international inputs to grow national outputs. Where outputs are dependent on human rather than physical resources, a country as small as Sweden can still dominate specific world markets, in the design of mass furniture, for example, through IKEA. Rather than one big commercial breakthrough, for a pharmaceutical discovery or new superconductor alloy, for example, IKEA’s success shows the value of applying refined intellectual design skills to many small things that people everywhere need to buy. China’s modernisation towards a digitally literate state that leverages its largest natural resource – its population – is a continuous process of balancing internationalisation with national sovereignty in the classroom.

3

3.1

Western Approaches to Media Production Education

Western Entertainment-Based Education

Clearly no singular curricula approach characterises all foreign media education programs in developed western countries such as the USA, the UK and European Union cultural centres. Despite common claims that media production is a global business, media production schools by their outputs and curricular interests often develop profoundly local identities, where the style of works from one school to another in the same country can vary widely. For example, works produced by Australia’s Victorian College of Arts reflect the strong immigrant traditions of the schools host city Melbourne with films described as art house, whilst the country’s national Australian Film and Television and Radio School in Sydney, only 1000 km away, shows a stronger focus on commercial skill and entertainment development linked to that city’s reputation as a larger commercial production centre in the country.

3.2

School Character Localised by Faculty Staff

Once set by the teaching organisation’s executive as a response to often implicitly expressed market demand, a school’s character is maintained through staffing appointments rather than by decree, and this is as true for China’s established academies as it is for long established foreign schools. The impact of long-standing teaching staff influences entire generations of filmmakers at the Beijing Film Academy with school character maintained under internationalising pressures, for example, by professors such as Xie Fie, Wang Honghai and Zhong Dafeng. The consistent style of the Beijing Film Academy’s professional and national values permeates graduate traits and facilitates graduate networking opportunities.

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These close links to industry operate also in the USA at New York University with a more independent character and the University of Southern California (USC) and University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) with deeper Hollywood characteristics. In effect, the strength of these character linkages with industry employers previously state owned in China but increasingly privatised as in the west may be measured by their influence as de jure or de facto professional associations whose endorsement of curricula and enrolment ceilings is required to effectively ‘licence’ graduates to practice. Universities more broadly in the west have long traded some control over curricula and school character to third-party gatekeeping by professional associations as the price of offering enrolment-to-employment opportunities for its graduates in law, medicine, accounting, veterinary science, architecture, design and engineering amongst others. These relationships can exert conservative forces on curricula and staffing reform desired by a university or school in anticipation of future national need, in tension with the stakeholder needs of an employment group to protect the economic future of its existing membership. Development of digital media literacies in these professions at a university and curricula level will depend on the success of educators to resolve potential tensions with professional associations long before implementation can occur in the classroom. In China, newer schools like Chong Qing’s Meishi Academy and Zhejiang University of Media and Communications, though, are providing competition to established providers through a more integrated application of digital media throughout the curricula, with graduates prepared for new media careers in games and animation as well as film production. In these areas of new media practice, professional association influence is relatively low and innovation relatively high. Even so, school character and curricula remains focussed on graduate employment in entertainment industries.

3.3

Festival Strategy for Internationalisation

Beijing Normal University’s (BNU) School of Communication has developed a student film festival in 1993 that has grown rapidly as cheaper digital production technology has penetrated schools and universities around the country. The festival’s competition attracted over 237 films in 2014. Uniquely amongst traditional festival practice, BNU’s competition is judged exclusively by a student jury of 30 recruited from across China. In this way, the festival provides a relatively independent guide to the state of young filmmaking and digital capability in China and its special economic zones. Leading production centres such as Beijing Film Academy are well represented in the festival as may be expected, whilst Hong Kong’s Baptist University has performed strongly too. The National Taiwan University of Arts has performed creditably and is indicative of the strong cultural ties possible through media exchange. The emergent structural function of this festival in Western terms is closest to the early Sundance Film Festival in the USA that screened independent


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films as an alternative to major Hollywood studio-dominated festivals. Because of its non-aligned nature, Sundance quickly became known as an event to identify new talent. In a more modest way, Beijing Normal University’s festival is becoming a barometer of not only new talent but an accurate survey of growing digital literacy in the nation. Since 2012, the university has toured a highlight show of the festival to Vancouver and New York. This represents a successful strategy in Beijing Normal University’s own role in communicating Chinese culture overseas.

3.4

Science and Non-entertainment Media Education

More widely in Chinese creative media education, there is less evidence of digital media training collaborations at an institutional level with science and technical university research centres, although this type of integration is established within foreign-language training and traditional media training in journalism where state employment in print still offers career paths that are disappearing in the west. The newspaper China Daily, for example, employs around 800 Chinese and 250 foreign journalists (Lang 2014a). Compared to New York Times total full-time employment of around 140 writing staff (NYT 2014), these numbers signal the ongoing importance to China of print as a soft-power vector. The decline of western newspaper circulations and consequent employment opportunities thus drives a type of r everse internationalisation occurring where foreign media workers move to China for reasons as much economic as they may be political. This trend is being seen in journalism in media like China Daily and Global Times designed for foreign market penetration or reprinting within foreign journals.

3.5

Online Newspaper’s the ‘New Television’

Throughout the 2000s both newspapers’ online formats have been slow to embrace digital video journalism reports or develop sophisticated online social media strategies such as those employed by News Limited in the west to grow readership. ‘Reverse internationalisation’ occurs more obviously in high-end film production through international co-productions where funding of major western films has now become more dependent on Chinese financing since the Global Finance Crisis in the west in 2008 acted to limit locally available risk capital for major USA-based media conglomerates.

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Meta-Curricula Objectives

Building a Coherent Digital Curriculum

Meta-curricula objectives can be thought of as being determined as much by operational student demand, as by teaching mandate. These objectives fall into a continuum that, at one end, represent simple transactional aims to achieve external rewards such as employment and acclaim and, at the other end, are transformative in stimulating internal growth and actualisation in the individual learner. It is both a simplification and a truism to suggest that western media school veer towards education that celebrates individualism, but it is less clear through teaching experience over thirty years in both Asian and western media schools if this is entirely accurate. Individualism, rather than an end point of any education system, may more usefully be described as a waypoint towards the transformative end of the experience students share in both Chinese and foreign systems of higher education. From teaching experience in both vocational and university settings involving creative problem-solving tasks, transformative meta-curricula objectives are both implicitly sought and challenged by students. At an institutional level, these objectives are implied rather than specified in the curricula, in ways that more transactional vocational skill training does not suggest. These outcomes may be described as a meta-curricula objective that ultimately provides the rationale for state investment in media education.

4.2

International Outcomes Comparison with Sport

In comparative terms, examining the type of press releases issued by an institution’s marketing department, for example, can test the apparent operational objectives of a national sporting academy. Whilst encouraging the broader population towards physical exercise may be a key rationale, a report of a graduate winning a gold Olympic medal is likely to bring greater press attention. External recognition by unimpeachable peer authorities can, in metric-based performance management systems, quickly become the benchmark for judging both students and staff performance and finally comes to implicitly dominate curricula. For media schools, the equivalent to Olympic gold is any major prize at the world’s three major film festivals at Cannes, Venice and Berlin, followed by recognition for US schools at least, by recognition at an international level by the US Academy Awards and at a national level by the Student Academy Awards. At an international level, the relatively youthful CILECT Prize voted on by over 130 school members of the world association of film and television schools can be seen to becoming a benchmark for international performance with curricular influence. This is because of the critical peer-review nature of voting processes – a requirement


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for recognition demanded both by state funding systems and tertiary education systems in most OECD countries.

4.3

Old Transactional vs. New Transformational Pedagogy

In pedagogical terms, however, these meta objectives are more transactional than transformational for both students and curricula and may, if unchallenged, actually defeat the type of creative synthesis development required for superior performance. Transformational objectives in media education, whether explicit or implicit, tend to occur in similar patterns in both western and Chinese media schools driven largely by student-driven behaviour patterns than specific curricula rhetoric. Examination of these patterns is rarely examined in individual schools or, if it is, may be regarded as a culturally distinct sum of uniquely local characteristics that may not easily be reproduced or scaled up to larger enterprises. This argument supports continued funding of the schools as isolated entities. Expression of meta-curricular objective (Fig. 2) becomes critical, however, in designing larger education systems that require up-scaling to respond usefully to escalating demand for workers in diverse fields with at least foundation levels of embedded digital media literacy. Especially at foundation levels, a combination of individual and group-based problem-solving skills involved in media production tasks can accelerate self-development and group socialisation. The opportunity to participate in this type of self-expressive process can be highly appealing to potential

1st level – Team building and personal recognition, acknowledgement through faculty feedback 2nd level – Self-absorption and socialisation, acknowledgement through faculty and local peer feedback 3rd level – Skills and self-testing against benchmark norms, transformation through local peer feedback 4th level – Transformation to other-centred awareness, acknowledged by professional peer feedback 5th level – Operational mastery, acknowledged by local and international communities (Lang, 2014) Fig. 2 Transformational meta-curricula objectives

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students. My process of moving from self-centred to audience-centred as a pedagogical approach is most simply described in list form as a series of ascending milestones or levels.

4.4

Developing Students’ Problem-Solving Abilities

Needless to say there is some crossover between levels, and not all students will work through each level in strictly sequential form. Indeed, some learners may not reach the higher levels at all. Rather, the meta-curricula objectives described here try to illuminate the normally hidden skeleton of curricular development that defines a sense of higher education in the teaching of skills and theoretical understanding that allow a student successfully completing the educational program to independently develop and synthesise appropriate solutions to new and complex problems. In essence, this model of meta-curricular objective accepts that for many, but not all learners, the journey to communications mastery in both old and new media begins with a process encouraging self-awareness that, through consistently escalating yet matching processes of assessment, encourages awareness of others. This process expects that students will actively challenge institutional authority particularly as second and third level development but, through increasing peer feedback rather than institutional containment, enables the learner to emulate professional communication modes through ever-widening feedback loops towards effective wide community address and response. The attraction of self-expression development has helped drive enrolments in many western media schools and in practice is more widely quoted by applicants applying for selection to competitive entry schools than a desire to become ‘rich and famous’. Even with the most careful selection though, there is no guarantee that all or even most students will reach the higher levels of audience-motivated communication.

4.5

Measuring Higher Synthesis Skills in Media Students

Attempts to measure graduates operating at higher levels are difficult and not always related to early external award success. Indication of previous institutional success in achieving its meta-curricula objectives can be demonstrated through industry surveys that detail alumni achievements and influence. As students exercise greater consumer choice, market trends are more easily noted through simple comparison of application rates to all training options available especially including crossinstitutional enrolments for customised degrees. In the USA, for example, as an example of industry influence and peer acknowledgement, Stanford University has a very small documentary education program teaching around eight students per year in their Master of Fine Arts Documentary Film and Video program, but after several decades history, Stanford graduates can


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be found in positions of great influence throughout factual broadcasting in the USA and overseas, winning 25 Student Academy Awards between 1984 and 2014 (Stanford 2015). Similarly in China and despite competition from a wide variety of new digital media education providers, selective intake institutions, such as the Central Academy of Drama with a strong traditional Russian curricular focus, still regularly attract enrolment applications rates of over 20,000 candidates for just 150 or so places in key programs according to Vice Chancellor Liu Libin in a 2011 interview with the author. The future of these specialisation programs at Stanford and China’s Central Academy of Drama is not in doubt as national leaders in their field. Their ability to leverage this advantage towards global influence though is the question that digital online education asks.

5

5.1

The Art of Factual Communication

Tools for Fostering Creative Communities

The history of state media production schools since VGIK was first formed in Russia over a century ago has centred around the development of highly skilled creative personnel who may reflect and shape a nation’s narratives for internal social strengthening and nurtures foreign respect internationally. Although often couched in local industry-building rhetoric, film schools around the world can claim only marginal contribution to building vibrant economic industries. Rather, their task, much like elite national sporting academies, is to develop world-standard performers at an official level and, in some cases on an informal level, provides a social safety valve for the debate of contentious social issues. Because of the complexity of local references in these works, contentious films tend to generate most debate internally. For export purposes, complex social issues may be simplified through ideological reductionism to appeal to foreign markets and cultural competitions. At this level of national stereotyping, films such as Ang Lee’s Hidden Dragon, Crouching Tiger (2000) achieved strong market success in western countries but low performance in mainland China. In noting the universalisation of creative industry rhetoric, Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi puts it, creativity is increasingly held to be ‘n o longer a luxury for the few, but…a necessity for all ’ (2006, p. xviii, original emphasis). A further important perspective has been added through Csikszentmihalyi’s insistence on the community, not the individual, as the higher order unit of analysis when seeking to foster creativity. This proposition challenges conceptions of creativity that are limited to individualistic psychological traits, and this has pre-empted a shift in scholarly interest from the creative individual to the creative, dynamic team.

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Massive Open Online Courses as Tools for Educational Internationalisation

The current stage of massive open online courses (MOOCs) still needs much development. For example, foreign MOOCs from providers like Udacity and Coursera have high start rates with over 400,000 enrolments for Melbourne University in Australia, for example, in 2014, but also very high dropout rates. The programs can be boring compared to video game and movies. With falling participation in official political parties in both China and the USA amongst young people, leaders in both countries face difficulty in competing for the attention of community members. It is hard for government to talk to everyone at the same time to discuss complex issues because of media fragmentation and short attention spans. Online communication is both the problem and the solution. So the question is how to win the hearts and minds of current young users of digital media, to transform them by voluntary and not forced methods into productive citizens who support national interests in the long term. As people become better educated, they ask more questions. Successful providers of online education respond by explaining the benefits or participation to help motivation and answering questions quickly and in a straight way. This model is ‘incentive-based education’. China already has many years of experience since 1979 in distance education with the television and radio universities. However, the new age asks us to move from one-way transmission to more interesting interactive education. It can be hard though for experienced teachers to reconceptualise their curricula for interactive delivery. The most important lesson from international MOOCs is not technology. China can already do that. The important lesson is how to deliver factual and useful information for government and business that is interesting for the viewer. This is where we need to understand the fundamental techniques of storytelling to create user-focussed communication. When used for science, technology, and language teaching especially, these skills allow complex information to be organised more efficiently for flow and retention.

5.3

MOOC Strategies

From an individual institutional perspective, MOOCs are often considered a ‘lossleader’ marketing strategy to attract new students with free non-award courses to later enrol in fee-paying award courses. In this case, provider institutions are rewarded by providing MOOC courses that are notably different from other providers and provide market differentiation for consumers. In this free enterprise model, there are structural reasons to not cooperate between institutions, even where this may be in the national interest. This pattern is evident in Australia that, as a representative developed Western education market, sees intense competition between providers for the ‘best and brightest’ students locally and internationally. From a


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national view, however, where development of online programs may be coordinated to have a consistently progressive effect on national interests, MOOCs have two main strategic purposes: primarily, to build national capability in skills where traditional providers are unable to meet forecast targets and secondly to demonstrate attractive knowledge competencies internationally that may rebalance China’s export of students seeking foreign qualifications overseas overtaken by imports of foreign students studying in China.

5.4

MOOC Strategy 1: Building National Capability

This purpose is to educate poor and rural workers who cannot go to university and move them from economically neutral or negative subsistence to positive contribution in skilled manufacturing and services. For China, this involves urbanising 250 million peasants from non-economic rural areas by 2020. But in America also, there are many poor minority communities who cannot afford traditional education. In Australia and Britain, there is also a big funding problem with vocational education training to teach trade skills. Using a ‘blended’ model of face-to-face and online education, we can see that tertiary education follow a historical shift from pre-1949 service for an elite minority to wider and wider mass-education models. The crisis point in western education has been the increased industry demand for high-tech workers combined with social equity movements creating increased student numbers in the 1990s that tested traditional university teaching capacities. MOOCs are part of a solution but not the whole solution.

5.5

MOOC Strategy 2: Exerting International Influence

China wins some impressive international prizes in the arts in the 1980s as the world discovers a new China. Many of the prizes are critical of China though. This includes film festival prizes at Cannes in France and art festival in Venice. Even for the next 20 years, international arts prizes tend to focus on public examination of other country’s national problems that most governments prefer to fix in-house. This sort of work in film, performing arts, books and visual art is mainly for export purposes to win international prestige for the artist and sometimes their country. It is specialist product that often does not attract large domestic audience. Even sport is part of this export activity like the Olympic Games for big cities like Beijing and London or prestige secondary events like Formula Motor Racing for smaller centres like Macau, Dubai or Singapore.

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Export Media Profits or Respect

These types of export programs can earn foreign dollars but may not always earn foreign respect. Some countries like France and Germany can earn both dollars and respect for their export culture. French cultural and luxury products lead the world. Even though the economy of France like most of Europe is very difficult, many European countries continue to trade successfully on long cultural history that is very attractive to Chinese tourists and shoppers. Germany continues to trade on its long tradition of technical excellence not just in cars like Mercedes Benz but equally important in the many high-tech manufacturing machines supporting heavy industry around the world. Italy does the same with the export of nationally specific design style in luxury clothing and cars like Ferrari. Can China earn both export dollars and durable foreign respect? This is not easy, because unlike Europe, it is hard for China to trade on recent pre-revolutionary imperial history directly from a political view and also from a tangible history view of historical building and monuments although this is changing.

6

6.1

Incentive-Based Education

E-Learning for Mass Education

For China’s educators, the efficiency, scale, and speed of e-learning persuasively argues for a diversification of resources from universities to private and other government providers to create a holistic national training system, with online accreditation records that employers universally understand and respect. The need for creating a unified education system has been accelerated by fragmentation forces of new media that tends to create smaller special interest groups. Critics suggest this can restrict the transmission of traditional cultural values, whilst supporters of new media suggest that greater netizen interactivity helps reinvigorate traditional values so they become relevant to a new generation. There is little chance of interactive new media reverting to a simpler predigital world. The history of England’s industrial revolution in the eighteenth century, for example, indicates that any technology that reaches a point of wide social aspiration and low entry price can ultimately influence every part of society permanently, just as the invention of the bicycle allowed people to live further away from their workplace – changing the nature of village and city development. Socially, these changes led also to the development of organised labour movements and development of new education systems including the UK public school model that included famous schools like Eton and Harrow, which provided new secular and scientific methods separated from the purely religious education available for hundreds of years beforehand. China has had to go through the same process in decades though not centuries.


6.2

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Non-unified Western Approach to E-Learning

In a much smaller but representative example of western universities that embrace digital learning, the recent history of Tier 1 universities in Australia sees the adoption of limited online learning systems in a non-unified approach. Each university develops their own exclusive system in an effort to retain and grow market share of enrolments. E-learning programs are used as bait to attract new students and to generate brand recognition in new foreign markets. For example, Melbourne University in Australia has a high world ranking but relatively low brand recognition in China. The introduction of a MOOC style program in 2014 led to the enrolment of over 440,000 online students around the world in less than two years, representing almost ten times the full-time student population of the university. The still unresolved problem, though, is how to convert these ‘virtual’ online enrolments into fee-paying students and whether this can improve brand recognition in China as a key recruitment market.

6.3

Australian Curricular Diversity Model

In these cases, Tier 1 universities are unlikely to develop anything other than strategic feeder partner relationships with other institutions and to ignore the wider socially mobilising potentials of e-learning. In Australia, for example, there is no evidence that leading universities will easily develop a shared e-learning platform linked to government-defined national priorities, as the funding incentives to do so do not exist in a climate where state financial subvention is complex and in itself declining. For governments and communities though, considerable benefit may be achieved by providing not only nationally accredited e-learning programs but internationally accredited courses. This of course touches on sensitive feelings, but for disciplines in science, languages, medicine and mathematics, it is difficult to argue that local cultural factors mean that different standards and programs should be developed not only by individual countries but by individual provinces. Again in Australia, for example, most of the country’s states and territories have education bodies that set their own curriculum and choose their own textbooks, although development of a national curriculum is advanced but contentious amongst some parents and lawmakers.

6.4

European Erasmus Cooperation Model

Europe has moved to overcome provincial barriers in its education system, through programs such as the Erasmus program (European Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students) that, over its life from 2007 to 2013, simplifies

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study at multiple universities in a student-driven approach that is hoped to provide new-economy demand-driven employment outcomes. The difficult economic circumstances faced by Europe now, particularly in the Mediterranean countries of Spain, Greece and Italy where youth unemployment is high, is having a negative effect on interregional articulation. Although Europe’s unquestioned cultural authority continues to draw Chinese tourists in ever greater numbers, the European Union’s ability to set global education agendas is limited by internal economic differences between its nation members to deliver relatively expensive education at standardised quality levels.

6.5

USA Large-Systems Education Model

Although the US education market, like Australia’s, is characterised by individuated curricula approved at local government levels, the great size of the US market and research prestige of its Tier 1 and Tier 2 brands effectively become a default or ‘gold’ standard for many foreign countries for international student articulation. Too often, international movements of students is based, however, on commercially published ranking systems that conflate brand status with graduate employability and overlook the most basic of education questions: is this program good value for the money and time it costs? In considering how e-learning may be most effectively used for national development and international cooperation, it is important then to look for examples of effective mass-education systems rather than just high-flying elites. Not so well known in China, are the US state-based education ‘systems’ designed to provide greater access and equity for community members and ethnic minorities who cannot afford tertiary or vocational education? These systems offer important examples of large-scale networked education that has demonstrated clear community development advantages and is usefully extending its effectiveness through e-learning. The most famous state rather than national systems are in New York State called SUNY (State University of New York) and in California called Cal State (or CSU). Both SUNY and CSU enrol around 440,000 students in many connected teaching institutions in their area. These institutions include formal universities, as well as community colleges. At SUNY, around 1.1 million adults are enrolled on vocational education and training programs across 64 campuses. Cal State offers education across 23 campuses in California and graduates around 100,000 students per year. Students have a wide range of study options and pathways between providers in both the SUNY and Cal State systems, and, in some ways, both systems reflect the regionally specific nature of tertiary education not only from a student’s point of view of travel convenience but from a funding state government view, which wants to see productive workforce replacement and growth within the borders of its jurisdiction. This is similar to the way tier-one cities in China like Chongqing or Tianjin have highly developed education ministries of their own to meet local needs, although working cooperatively in a national


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framework. From an operational view, these state-based systems offer certain advantages suitable for e-learning development and staff management in particular, which allows for scientific teaching methods to be applied with greater resources in a considered way to many institutions simultaneously rather than for individual institutions having to develop individualised reform and modernisation programs of their own.

6.6

Benefits of Cal State and SUNY Systems

Why are these system examples perhaps more important for education reform and modernisation than the famous models like Harvard and MIT? Simply, these systems operate on strict and relatively low budgets to produce consistent results meeting state and student needs, especially in the efficient production of competent new teachers. That these systems do not have the luxury of highly selective entry or that funding for the world’s top 10 universities is effectively not an operational restriction, this efficiency deserves closer scrutiny from Chinese institutions seeking greater public value. SUNY employs around 88,000 teachers (that in America are called ‘faculty staff’). This large workforce provides many ways for employees to develop career choices and skills within the system rather than having to find new jobs outside it. The system can keep retraining its own employees in much the same way that Huawei and other large Chinese companies can develop internal training programs. Smaller-scale institutions are always at risk of existing staff hiring new employees that mirror their own values. Over time, this can lead a ground-breaking highperforming school to becoming a risk-averse low-performing school, where continued employment of teaching staff may be valued more highly than future employability of graduates. This effect can be described as ‘negative competition’ or ‘zero sum game’ in mathematical terms, where if one person wins a job promotion, their colleague loses. This builds resentment and friction over years that impedes the mission of the organisation and success of graduates and cannot be easily remedied in-house. Using my own experience as a head of school at two universities in Australia and consultant to others in Singapore and China, I can say the usual respon se to management introducing new learning systems is for employees to become cautious about having to do more work for the same amount of pay or, worse, losing their jobs because they are not able to use the new systems.

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Merging Media Teaching Organisations

In cases of high-friction organisations, government or university executive bodies may seek greater efficiency by joining similar institutions together, in an academic version of a commercial merger and acquisition. This has been the case in several high-profile Australian media-teaching institutions where specialist stand-alone schools have been merged with large normal universities. Although difficult to measure in any objective way, graduate and employee feedback suggests that it may take up to 5 years or more before the benefits of merging outweigh the stress of change. Experience of mergers suggest that within a 5-year change-management period, many teaching and administrative employees will be prepared to form alliances with former rivals in their pre-merger suborganisation, in order to more powerfully negotiate better employment or redundancy compensation deals with the new ‘common enemy’ of the larger merger partner. China’s current economic conditions and internationalisation ambitions suggest that similar mergers may be appealing to regional governments, where very expensive selective entry institutions specialising in media, performing arts and communication can show greater efficiencies with higher graduate achievement at international levels, through forced partnership or simple amalgamation into ‘super schools’ within China.

6.8

Chinese-Foreign Strategic Collaboration

At an international level, it may take some time and a great degree of mutual understanding and good will for the differing cultural systems of Chinese and US education, for example, to come to a happy working method in a shared campus or system. A larger system of linked institutions can help rectify this through cross feeding and pollination. At a certain point of large critical mass, a university system may produce most of its future employees in-house whilst maintaining necessary ‘fresh blood’ to maintain graduate skills and ensure currency with latest knowledge. This provides ‘positive competition’, with incentive for employees and benefits for graduates. The consistent but controlled movement of teaching employees through the system, both horizontally and vertically, acts like the circulatory system of the human body to keep all parts nourished. The wide range of career choices within a system like SUNY or Cal State can help avoid rivalry between employees that can occur more obviously in independent institutions, where job promotion opportunities are fewer and local networks of favour and obligation become stronger criteria than employee capabilities and qualifications in the allocation of duties. Within China’s own networked education systems (including the distance schools of radio and television in use since the late 1960s that anticipated modern e-learning systems), innovative research into more interactive systems that extend SUNY-style capabilities takes place at the University of Post and Telecommunications from a technical networking view and at the


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Communications University of China’s New media Research Centre. Here, centre director Zhao Zizhong’s work in small-screen phone-delivered television, and interactive education content has particular relevance for countries like China with much higher usage of mobile digital devices than fixed computers that effectively describes broader Asia Pacific norms. Research in both centres including digital literacy capabilities demonstrated through student-produced content demonstrates creative achievement at non-stereotyped international standards of creativity and innovation.

6.9

Transition to New Curriculum

Experienced teachers can be understandably reluctant to migrate to new media education techniques that require fundamental reconceptualisation of material preparation, delivery, interaction and assessment methods. Under these conditions, an attempt to develop new e-learning programs within single traditional institutions may meet obstacles. International partnerships have been seen in some cases to be a way of injecting fresh ideas into existing systems, and these can be seen most clearly at Beijing Film Academy and the Communication University of China in direct recruitment of foreign experts to teach in specialist technical and creative areas. Rather than established singular institutional partnerships, China’s leading digital media training institutions have leveraged strategic exchange benefits from the wider membership of CILECT – the international association of film and television schools (Centre International de Liaison des Ecoles de Cinema et de Television ). The association has over 160 member institutions from 60 countries. Chinese member schools of CILECT include: Beijing Film Academy, Central Academy of Drama, Communication University of China, Zhejiang University of Media and Communications, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and Hong Kong Baptist University. Taiwan is represented by the National Taiwan College of Arts (CILECT 2014).

7

7.1

Maintaining National Identity in International Education

Beginnings of New Market Media Education Exchanges

Stand-alone foreign universities can provide a form of internal internationalising momentum, if they are able to engage culturally with their host community, as well as survive economically through necessarily ambitious recruitment targets. This is the case for New York University establishing a broad humanities teaching presence in Shanghai, after its stand-alone film and television outpost school in Singapore closes in 2016. Economic survival is usually dependent on the desirability of the

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foreign host’s brand, combined with broader social and employment targets being met for the host government to continue providing land and financial subsidies that effectively provides a ‘licence’ for the foreign agency to operate. In more immediate terms, strategic exchange of this type has been made between the Beijing Film Academy and Australia’s Griffith University for a 3-year period beginning in 2014, whereby early career teaching staff from the BFA visit Australia for intensive master classes in education and cultural exchange. The exchanges encourage partner schools to look beyond traditional entertainment industry careers for their students, expanding training options to support growing demand for digitally literate content makers in factual training and corporate communication.

7.2

Application of Media Education for New-Economy Employment

In application to digital media used for factual purposes, as online e-learning systems become integral to the safe operation of national health-care systems in many countries, for example, it is likely that whilst operational control and localisation occur at national levels, higher order standardisation of basic delivery standards and agreed competency standards recognition will be managed through international education agencies. International standardisation at this level should increase the total value of world education markets through diversifying content supply chains sources and widening foreign end-service distribution, as tertiary education providers move towards competitively supplying mass-market course components within their areas of world-ranked speciality. These components of complete courses will attract low wholesale margin rates of profitability to suppliers. However, the enormous potential market size for specialist gold-standard content may encourage further specialisation and reduction of low-performing disciplines. On an economic level, hyper-specialisation will be encouraged by declines in real government funding and the formidable difficulties faced by universities attempting to improve brand prestige by moving up world ranking tables by improving quality equally in all undertaken disciplines. In this world, much like the current automotive industry, there is little room for mediumsized national players. The education market moves steadily towards a dual system of world-standard mass-education suppliers and world-standard premium service providers. Their growth will be at the expense of traditional small market suppliers. The technological forces that make this possible are the same that made the world’s leading photography company Kodak bankrupt in the digital age.


7.3

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Lowering Education Delivery Cost to Increase Mass Outcomes

Local government and consumers will find lower-cost world-class offers more compelling than loyally supporting more expensive yet lower-performing local industries. This has been the case with western automotive manufacturing, where manufacturing has moved to lower-cost developing countries, and former manufacturing hubs like Detroit City in the USA are now also bankrupt. Whilst Toyota and Hyundai-like quality-assured standards of mass education may be readily franchised in high-demand developing and even developed world countries, universities will be further compelled towards premium-branded high margin specialisation for premium variants. Therefore, it is predictable that tertiary providers seeking to compete at world-standard premium markets will continue to regard standardised e-learning as a mass-market characteristic and pursue bespoke hybrid models that provide exclusive access to privileged content. Whilst premium end services may still maintain strong local identities, masseducation services by the nature must be geographically and culturally scalable in their operation and ownership. This approach may be applied to digital learning standards in the same way that the International Standards Organisation benchmarks manufacturing industries. The weight of any signatory member in such a body in practical terms will be determined in part by that member’s successful mobilisation of international support for its local and foreign policies, and again, for China as for Australia, this reinforces the critical nature of soft power. Interactive e-learning and broader media production skills development have a very limited range of commercially sensitive information or techniques, and this is mainly in proprietary computer algorithms for the sifting of big data, which over time enter the public domain through wide international market pressures not easily attributed to individual manufacturers with global supply chains. Here, there is a grey area between information technology and the point at which commercial information becomes public knowledge.

7.4

Intellectual Property Considerations

As China’s own rapidly maturing intellectual property development markets now indicate, few disputes exist where proprietary knowledge offers little commercial gain. Active intellectual property disputes, however, demonstrate that discoveries of worth are occurring, and provided due compensatory mechanisms are in place, this indicates a healthy market. Within digital e-learning and education modernisation, it is becoming increasingly difficult to enforce any form of commercial trade restraint on new research, and so attention beyond the immediate scope of this chapter turns on not only how to monetise teaching and learning in an online university

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without walls but how to commercialise online research within traditional business models. In terms of public subsistence, governments may come to expect that those few institutions able to claim global leadership via customised combinations of online and face-to-face programs will ultimately prosper without public funds but probably require considerable public and private capital to reach this level. If western patterns of education funding accompany China’s own transition to developed economy status, the majority of non-world leading institutions focussed on national and regional service will face every greater funding constraints leading to greater uptake of e-learning from an economic view. High levels of digital literacies applied to the development of e-learning programs will increase their cascading effect on growing industry employment and productivity.

8

8.1

Conclusion

Traditional Education Limits on Growth

The development of new national media literacies through China’s existing media training institutions is likely to lead to limited efficiencies in the subsequent employment of these skills for meeting national soft-power objectives in foreign markets. Foreign solutions for curricula integration of digital literacies are useful but require considerable Chinese localisation to be effective. Sub-localisation can occur at regional levels to meet local needs without threatening sovereignty. International soft-power goals will be reached more quickly through clear expression of metacurricula objectives facilitated by increased digital literacy. This may require specialist support. The continuing use of specialist international teachers and exchange of Chinese teachers to strategic foreign universities will continue to deepen China’s digital preparedness in ways that assist traditional education providers adapt their curriculum to digital economy demands. Foreign interaction through associations such as CILECT can be shown to achieve internationalisation objectives by allowing China’s partner institutions to not only examine foreign methods from multiple providers but to see how foreign national associations have developed to provide strategic self-help networks also. For example, both Europe and the USA have strong regional associations of digital media education providers that provide sub-sections of the CILECT network. In Europe this is called GEECT ( Groupement European des Ecoles de Cinema et de Television ). In the USA, the equivalent group is the UFVA (University Film and Video Association). China is represented in the smaller but rapidly growing CILECT Asia Pacific Association (CILECT 2014).


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Importance of Strategic Digital Literacy and Cooperation

Once established, China’s ability to scale up foundations in digital literacy to national levels will be pivotal to the success of wide-scale workforce retraining and cyclical life-long learning. Whilst maintaining the autonomy of existing media training schools for producing new content makers for film, television, radio and print, a compelling case exists for the expansion of content creation skills defined by new media for use in a wide variety of disciplines to communicate China’s achievements and challenges more accurately to the world and to show equally sincere interest in the achievements and challenges of others. Development of superior content creation skills particularly for factual communication may serve both national competiveness of new-economy knowledge-based industries and enhance China’s international prestige and foreign trust.

References Ang Lee, dir. (2000). Crouching tiger, hidden dragon, (film), China Film Co-Production Corporation, Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia, Sony Pictures Classics, Good Machine, EDKO Film Hong Kong, Zoom Hunt International Productions Company Pty Ltd, Taiwan, United China Vision, Asia Union Film & Entertainment Ltd. “Blue Book 2013”. (2013). The China Society Yearbook (2013) . Beijing: Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Bok, D. (2014, January 1). Higher Education Misconceived . Caijing, http://english.caijing.com. cn/2014-01-10/113802557.html. Accessed 9 Dec 2014. CILECT. (2014). The International Association of Film and Television Schools, Membership listing, http://www.cilect.org/groups/view/101 . Accessed 15 Dec 2014. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2006) Foreword: Developing creativity. In N. Jackson, M. Oliver, M. Shaw & J. Wisdom (Eds.), Developing creativity in higher education: An imaginative curriculum (pp. xviii–xx). London: Routledge Gong Yidong. (2009, May 7). Cry for freedom. China Daily, http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/ cndy/2009-05/07/content_7751609.htm. Accessed 12 Dec 2014. Lang, I. (2014a, August 18). Author interview with Director, Shanghai Theatre Academy, Shanghai. Lang, I. (2014b, August 20). Author interview with China Daily journalist, Beijing. Lang, I. (2014c, August 21). Author interview with Austin Jun Luo. Beijing: Beijing Normal University. Li Wuwei. (2011). How creativity is changing China. London: Bloomsbury Academic. Stanford University. https://art.stanford.edu/documentary-film-and-video/student-awards. Accessed 8 Feb 2015.

The Future of Media Literacy Education in China: The Way Forward C.K. Cheung

Abstract Media literacy education cannot stand by itself, independent of societal

development, technological advancement, cultural values, and the media environment, so more research needs to be done to examine the different modes of developing media literacy education in different societies. While the development and implementation of media literacy education in China has made a promising start, there is still a long way to go. In this concluding chapter, the issues of the availability of support and resources, collaboration with other fields of study, the quality of research, and media production as experiential learning and vocational training are identified for further consideration. Keywords Collaboration • Media production • Experiential learning • Vocational

training • Research quality

1

Introduction

There has been increasing discussion of media literacy education in recent years, and more and more countries have adopted it in their curricula in one way or another. Moreover, research has been, and is being, conducted to examine further different aspects of media literacy education. The recent development in information technology witnesses an exponential growth in netizens, and the already existence of clouding services, social media, and the semantic web will accelerate the growth and circulation of information (Taylor 2012). The future is a world of multiple literacies in media convergence (Buckingham 2007), and we need to be addressing the multiple literacies that are required by the whole range of contemporary forms of communication, and the government needs to respond quickly to so cultivate medialiterate citizens. Media literacy education cannot stand by itself, independent of societal development, technological advancement, cultural values, and the media environment, so

C.K. Cheung (*) Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2016 C.K. Cheung, Media Literacy Education in China , DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-0045-4_12

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more research needs to be done to examine different modes of developing media literacy education in different societies. While the development and implementation of media literacy education in China has made a promising start, there is still a long way to go. This book outlines some of the issues and themes that should be considered in the further development of media literacy education in China, and the rich information provided in this book can be used for further exploration. In this concluding chapter, I identify a number of areas for further consideration.

2

The Availability of Support and Resources

Although media literacy education, like other innovative programs, started as a grassroots movement with teachers taking the initiative, its ultimate success very much depends on the role of the government. The work by Howard et al. ( 2010) noted the importance of government policy in the promotion and education of media literacy. In Canada, for example, the late Barry Duncan first initiated media education in his lessons, and later on, he formed the Association for Media Literacy in Ontario in the 1970s for media educators as a platform to promote media education. It is important to understand that there is no national body in Canada that regulates education policies. Jurisdiction over education in Canada is the responsibility of individual provinces. Still, the Federal Government is responsible for providing monetary resources to the provinces. Therefore, for example, in western Canada, the development of curriculum frameworks, in which media literacy is included, often occurs through the collaboration of the Western Canadian Protocol for Collaboration in Basic Education (WCP), comprising British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Nunavut. In eastern Canada, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island make up the Atlantic Provinces Education Foundation (APEF ). The WCP and APEF have been instrumental in seeing that media education is part of education reform in their specific provinces and territories (Cheung and Rother 2006). In Europe, the ministries of education of various European countries established an educational curriculum related to media literacy. The European Commission has written reports of the implementation of media literacy education in different European countries and is now preparing a report on media literacy levels across Europe (EC 2015). In Asia, Cheung’s (2009) study also recognized the importance of the government in the development of media literacy education. Cheung noted: “Though the development of media education, as has been observed in many countries, begins with a bottom-up movement, its continual growth requires the blessing of the government, with a policy that may directly or indirectly help the development of media education” (p. 5).

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In the case of China, support from the government has been apparent in the last 10 years. However, in order to achieve success, the support must be strategic. There should be central resources provided by the government earmarked for the research and development of media literacy education for the country as a whole and for individual provinces in particular. The central government needs to address the emerging themes of media literacy education and let each province decide on their own subthemes and research agendas and organize conferences to explore the many issues related to media literacy education in China. Furthermore, media literacy education should not be limited in schools. As media becomes an important part of everybody’s daily life, the government should explore the opportunities of offering media literacy education to every citizen to equip them with the necessary competencies to participate effectively as informed citizens.

3

Collaboration with Other Fields of Study

It should be noted that there has been quite a lot of collaboration between universities and schools in China in the development and implementation of media literacy education as well as in the gathering of research evidence on different issues related to media literacy education. As shown in this book, such collaboration is appropriate as a number of primary and secondary schools are affiliated to universities. Academics from universities can act as facilitators and developers of the curriculum and teaching materials, as well as researchers gathering data and evidence. While support from teachers is inevitable, unlike many countries, involvement from other stakeholders in China such as religious organizations as well as the participation of parents in media literacy education has yet to be seen. The potential support of religious groups is obvious as they are concerned with the moral development of students. Religious educators are well aware of the potentially negative impact of the media. Although it is extremely difficult, or even impossible, to prevent young people from being exposed to media messages, is it possible to empower them with the ability to discern and decide? Media literacy education seems to be a possible means of achieving this. The support of the church for media education was noted by Buckingham (2003) when he stated: In many countries, churches have played a major role in promoting media education outside the formal education system…In some cases, media education has been seen as a means of opposing the ‘consumerist’ and “anti-Christian” values which are seen to be promoted by the media… (p. 100).

This is not yet happening in China, which is understandable as China, deeply rooted in communism, is an atheist country. However, that is changing fast as many people in China seek meaning and spiritual comfort that neither communism nor capitalism seem to provide and the number of Catholics and other Christians is increasing (Tiedemann 2010). The government could work in partnership with

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religious organization to conduct surveys and prepare teaching materials for the further development of media literacy education. Furthermore, the possibility of collaboration in the research and development of media literacy education and other fields of study is inevitable. Till now, not many countries offer media literacy as a stand-alone subject in the primary and/or secondary curriculum, but it is taught in an integrated manner in subjects like social studies, ethics education, language education, and health studies. In universities, media literacy education is mainly taught under the areas of education, journalism, film studies, and communications, but now, particularly in this technologically advanced era, areas such as arts education, social psychology, global studies, and political science could easily draw their relationship with media literacy education, and related courses like information and media literacy and media studies become popular electives to be chosen by students.

4

The Quality of Research

While collaboration with partners to promote media literacy education is important, the quality of the related research in this field is also significant. Much of the research in China still centers around the whys of media literacy education, very often driven by surveys among youths, and recognizes the amount of time that young people spend on the media and the possible negative influences of the media on the youths. Most of the research papers are quite descriptive in nature and repetitive in many ways. Furthermore, many of them are published in Chinese and not able to reach an international audience for more constructive dialogue and collaboration, leading to its further development. To promote the significance of media literacy education further, the time has now come for more academic research conducted in a vigorous manner, with solid evidence to substantiate the various claims that are made about what media literacy education can achieve. Research should not be limited to surveys, listing the reasons for media literacy education, such as the protection of children. There should be more research on the learning and teaching aspects of media literacy education, and evidence of the effectiveness of its implementation is also valuable. Evidence should be gathered from an international body of research in areas such as, but not limited to, the following: media arts, special education, gifted education, library studies, consumer education, health education, language education, cultural and social studies, youth studies, arts and visual education, psychology, and civic and political education. There also needs to be an international collaboration on issues of mutual concern. It would be ideal if there were at least one journal on media literacy education in China for researchers, teachers, and other practitioners at all levels. Such a journal should aim to provide researchers with the means to publish their work in full in a journal exclusively dedicated to media literacy education, offering teachers at all levels a place where they can share effective ideas and pedagogies for teaching and

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learning media and information literacy. Most importantly, such a journal would bridge the gap between researchers and practitioners so that researchers would have their findings seen by those who could benefit from using them and practitioners would gain from encountering the ideas and results of those who have made a particular study of the learning process. The journal should cover all stages of the professional development of media educators and researchers. It should serve as a forum for examining institutional, societal, and cultural influences that have an impact on teachers’ learning and ultimately their students’ learning. It would enable a community of media educators and researchers to come together as a learning hub to address issues and research agendas in media literacy education. The journal could connect researchers in China to researchers in the rest of the world through international collaboration in research on, and the development of, media literacy education, as quite a number of students and teachers of media literacy education have already had opportunities to visit universities in foreign countries as part of their universities’ attachment programs.

5

From Knowledge Consumer to Knowledge Producer: Media Production as Experiential Learning and Vocational Training

Dewey (1938) recognized the importance of experience and learning by doing as an important aspect of knowledge acquisition. Now, the digital world allows easy access to words, sounds, images, and moving images in volume and speed. What is more, people can participate and interact. It is no longer the case that students have to rely solely on teachers for information. The nature of knowledge is being redefined by a new media landscape that allows all participants to be media producers and owners. Digital natives have something to teach educators, and young people are in a position now more than ever before to contribute to the systems and processes that they are part of. Media literacy education is not just about watching films, reading newspapers, and encoding values behind advertisements. It is also about actively engaging with media practice, theory, and production. Thanks to the advancement of technology, media production, as part of media literacy education, has become easier. Media production on the part of students is important as it provides a platform for students to immerse themselves in learning through exploring and doing. Students are able to achieve the higher order thinking skills in Bloom’s taxonomy of learning by using the principles of media literacy in the construction of media presentations such as video, blogs, and podcasts. McLaren et al. (1995) asserted that media production could empower students to learn the techniques and conventions. It empowers students to be both critical thinkers and creative producers of an increasingly wide range of messages using image, language, and sound (Frechette 2002).

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Apart from promoting engagement in learning, media production is also important in enabling participants to move away from being media consumers to being media producers. Students can transform themselves from being passive receivers to being active participants by looking into the everyday happenings in their lives through media production and by participating as informed citizens. Furthermore, not only is media production a means of participation; its vocational value has also been noted (McDougall and Livingstone 2014). It can support creativity, entrepreneurism, innovation, and digital literacies. Students of media literacy education are commonly found to be engaged in the media as well as the entertainment industry. In the UK, according to the Office of National Statistics 2013 report, people with a degree in media have the second highest employment rate there. In China, the IT industry is growing rapidly. For example, Tencent, Inc., founded in November 1998, has grown into China’s largest and most used Internet service portal. Alibaba Company, founded in 1998 and focusing on e-commerce, was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014. These two companies employ a large number of employees in media production. Furthermore, the entertainment industry is growing at a rapid rate with China’s box office forecast to rise from US$3.13bn in 2013 to US$5.9bn by 2018, according to PwC’s Global entertainment and media outlook 2014–2018. China is already the second-largest cinema market in the world, and the country’s film entertainment industry continues to boom. Students equipped with media production skills have great employment prospects.

References Buckingham, D. (2003). Media education: Literacy, learning and contemporary culture . Cambridge: Polity Press in association with Blackwell Pub. Buckingham, D. (2007). Digital media literacies: Rethinking media education in the age of the Internet. Research in Comparative and International Education, 2 (1), 43–55. Cheung, C. K. (2009). Media education across four Asian societies: Issues and themes. International Review of Education, 55 , 39–58. Cheung, C. K., & Rother, I. (2006). Learning from the Pioneers: Development of Media Education in Hong Kong and Canada. In William Carlsson & Cecilia Von Feilitzen (Eds.), In the service of Young people? Studies and reflections on media in the digital age (pp. 197–216). The International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media, Nordic Information Center for Media and Communication Research, Goteborg University. Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. New York: Collier Books. European Commission. (2015). Report on media literacy. http://ec.europa.eu/culture/policy/ audiovisual-policies/literacy_en.htm Frechette, D. (2002). Developing media literacy in Cyberspace: Pedagogy and critical learning for the twenty-first century classroom . Westport: Praeger. Howard, P. N., Busch, L., & Sheets, P. (2010). Comparing digital divides: Internet access and social inequality in Canada and the United States. Canadian Journal of Communication, 35 , 109–128. McDougall, J., & Livingstone, S. (2014). Media and information literacy policies in the UK . London: London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Media and Communications.

Media Literacy Education in China

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