Media Education E-Book

David Buckingham

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Seitenzahl: 414

Beschreibung

This book examines recent changes in media education and in young people's lives, and provides an accessible set of principles on which the media curriculum should be based, with a clear rationale for pedagogic practice. * David Buckingham is one of the leading international experts in the field - he has more than twenty years' experience in media education as a teacher and researcher. * This book takes account of recent changes both in the media and in young people's lives, and provides an accessible and cogent set of principles on which the media curriculum should be based. * Introduces the aims and methods of media education or 'media literacy'. * Includes descriptions of teaching strategies and summaries of relevant research on classroom practice. * Covers issues relating to contemporary social, political and technological developments.

Leseprobe

Media Education

Literacy, Learning andContemporary Culture

David Buckingham

polity

Copyright © David Buckingham 2003

The right of David Buckingham to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published in 2003 by Polity Press in association with Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Reprinted 2004, 2005 (twice), 2007,

Polity Press

65 Bridge Street

Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK

Polity Press

350 Main Street

Malden, MA 02148, USA

All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Buckingham, David, 1954–

Media education: literacy, learning, and contemporary culture / David Buckingham.

       p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-07456-2829-5 (hbk.) — ISBN 978-07456-2830-1 (pbk.)

1. Mass media in education. 2. Media literacy. I. Title.

LB1043 .B77 2003

371.33’5—dc21

2002155222

Typeset in 10.5 on 12 pt Palatino

by Graphicraft Limited, Hong Kong

Printed and bound in the United States by Odyssey Press Inc., Gonic, New Hampshire

For further information on Polity, visit our website: www.polity.co.uk

Contents

Preface and Acknowledgements

Part I Rationales

1 Why Teach the Media?

What are media?

What is media education?

Why media education?

The evolution of media education in the UK

Democratization and defensiveness

Towards a new paradigm

Moving ahead: teaching and learning

Moving ahead: a bigger picture

A continuing story

2 New Media Childhoods

Childhood and the media

Changing childhoods

Technologies

Economics

Texts

Audiences

Implications for education

3 Media Literacies

Defining literacy

A social theory of literacies

Mapping media literacies

Beyond the magic window

Reality problems

The limits of assessment

Why literacy?

Part II The State of the Art

4 Defining the Field

Production

Language

Representation

Audiences

Key concepts in practice

Conclusion: some general principles

5 Classroom Strategies

Textual analysis

Contextual analysis

Case studies

Translations

Simulations

Production

Conclusion

6 Locating Media Education

A separate academic subject: Media Studies

Media education across the curriculum

Media education in language and literature teaching

Media education and ICTs

Vocational media education

Media education beyond the classroom

Conclusion

Part III Media Learning

7 Becoming Critical

The social functions of ‘criticism’

Critical language games

Approaching ‘ideology’

Learning critical discourse

Beyond criticism?

8 Getting Creative

Changing practices

The limits of ‘creativity’

The social worlds of production

Writing media

Using genres

Conclusion

9 Defining Pedagogy

Understanding conceptual learning

Towards a dynamic model

Researching audiences: the social self

Self-evaluation: from practice to theory

Beyond the model

Part IV New Directions

10 Politics, Pleasure and Play

Postmodern identities?

Playful pedagogies

The politics of parody

Working through pleasure?

Conclusion

11 Digital Literacies

Towards digital literacies

Models of digital production

The meanings of ‘access’

Processes and products

Technology and pedagogy

12 New Sites of Learning

Media education beyond the classroom

Media and youth work

Media and ‘informal’ learning

Evaluation

Towards deschooling?

References

Index

Preface and Acknowledgements

When I started work on this book, I was alarmed to discover that I had been involved in media education – as a teacher, teacher trainer and researcher – for almost a quarter of a century. In some ways, this is a book I could probably have attempted to write several years ago. Indeed, to some extent, it represents a summation of a body of work that I have been engaged in over the past two decades; although it is also a book that looks forward, to respond to the new challenges that currently face media educators. I have set out to provide a clear and comprehensive overview of the field, drawing on my own and others’ research, and on what is now a well-established body of educational practice; but I have also sought to raise further questions, and to lay the ground for future developments.

My immediate motivation for writing the book, however, arises from a sense of frustration. This has at least three dimensions. Firstly, like many advocates of media education, I am frustrated by the lack of progress we seem to have made among educational policy-makers in recent years. Where students are free to choose it – and teachers free to offer it – media education continues to expand at a quite alarming rate. Yet in the core of the school curriculum – at least in the UK – there is still little more than a token recognition of its importance. This is not to say that the case has not been made, merely that it has not been listened to. It is still common for popular commentators on education, and some media professionals, to dismiss media education on the basis of prejudice and ignorance; and despite occasional signs of commitment to the field, policy-makers still appear to be ill-informed about its basic aims and methods. It is quite extraordinary that the majority of young people should go through their school careers with so little opportunity to study and engage with the most significant contemporary forms of culture and communication. Clearly, there is an argument here that still needs to be made.

Secondly, I am frustrated by some of the strategies that have been adopted by supporters of media education in recent years. Among academics, there has been a flourishing of esoteric political rhetoric and an increasing taste for Utopian fantasies about educational change. While these tendencies may reflect an understandable rejection of the ‘fundamentalism’ of contemporary educational policy, the general enthusiasm for wholesale change can lead to a neglect of the value of what is already happening in the field. Meanwhile, I have also been dismayed by the haste with which some advocates of media education have sought to reposition it in line with passing trends in educational policy. Re-branding media education in order to align it with the latest emphasis on ‘creativity’ – or, in particular, with the push to implement new technologies in schools – is, in my view, quite short-sighted. Some of these issues will be taken up in the chapters that follow, although my primary intention here is not to ‘settle scores’ or to engage in the kind of in-fighting that has become rather too common in our field. Here again, my aim is to emphasize what I regard as fundamental, shared principles; and to identify a coherent basis for real educational practices.

Thirdly, I am frustrated by the fact that teachers of media education still seem to be insufficiently recognized and supported. Despite the generally inhospitable climate, there is a great deal of excellent work being done in the field by highly dedicated teachers and committed students. Media education generates a degree of enthusiasm and enjoyment that is all too rare in contemporary schooling; and it offers a form of educational practice that is not just engaging for students, but also intellectually rigorous, challenging and relevant to their everyday lives. Without being at all uncritical of what goes on, I believe this is something we should affirm and celebrate.

This book is therefore partly a restatement of the case for media education – albeit one that tries to take account of changing times. It sets out a rationale for media teaching that reflects the changing nature of contemporary culture, and of young people’s experiences. It outlines a conceptual framework, a set of pedagogic principles and a role for media education in a range of curriculum locations. While recognizing some of the difficulties and contradictions of teaching and learning in this field, it points towards a model of ‘media pedagogy’ that is both theoretically coherent and practically possible. And it also seeks to provide a measured response to some of the new developments and challenges that currently face media educators. My main focus is on media education in schools, and particularly secondary schools. While the book inevitably draws primarily on the situation in the UK, it has been consciously written for an international readership.

This is not a ‘how-to-do-it’ book. It does not provide detailed suggestions for classroom activities, or teaching materials that can be adapted for use in lessons or projects. Nor is it a potted summary of the current state of academic research on the media, which teachers might then be expected to transmit to their students. Many other books and resources of this kind already exist; and in any case, teaching materials need to be specific to students’ and teachers’ needs, in ways that a book of this kind cannot hope to be. In my view, the best teaching happens when teachers have really thought through what they are doing, and are therefore committed to students’ learning. It does not happen when teachers simply implement the available plans or ‘deliver’ curriculum resources, however good they may be. Good teaching also depends upon teachers taking account of their students’ own cultures and perspectives, and paying close attention to how they learn. These things depend upon having a clear set of aims, a coherent conceptual framework, and an understanding of the dynamics and complexities of teaching and learning. These are what this book sets out to provide.

The book is in four parts. Part I addresses the fundamental aims of media education. It looks at how the field has developed historically; at the changing nature of the modern media; and at the forms of ‘literacy’ they now require of young people. Part II defines the ‘state of the art’ of media education today. It outlines the conceptual basis of the field; the range of teaching and learning strategies that are used; and the place of media education within and beyond the school curriculum. Part III considers the nature of teaching and learning in media education in more detail. It looks at the complementary practices of critical analysis and creative production in media classrooms; and outlines a model of ‘media pedagogy’ that relates the different aspects of the field. Part IV discusses the challenges and opportunities currently facing media education. It focuses specifically on the changing nature of ‘identity politics’; the impact of new media technologies; and the potential for using and learning about the media beyond the school classroom.

I have drawn here, both directly and indirectly, on the guidance and inspiration of a great many people. Among them, I would count my current and former colleagues Bob Ferguson, Ken Jones, Chris Richards and Andrew Burn; the members of various Media Teachers’ Research Groups, past and present; colleagues at the British Film Institute, particularly Cary Bazalgette; current and past doctoral students who have worked on aspects of media education – Sara Bragg, Rebekah Willett, Hyeon-Seon Jeong, Chris Richards, Julian Sefton-Green, Steve Archer, Issy Harvey, Liesbeth de Block, Keith Perera, Elizabeth Funge, Shaku Banaji and Seon-Jeong Ki; and the numerous classroom teachers from whom I have learned over the years, including Pete Fraser, Netia Mayman, Peter Male and Celia Greenwood. I am particularly grateful to Julian Sefton-Green, with whom much of the empirical research reported in Part III of this book was undertaken. And I owe an enormous debt to the person who has done more than anyone else to define and support good practice in media education in Britain: Jenny Grahame of the English and Media Centre.

While some of the material presented here has been published previously, it has been extensively re-worked and rewritten for this book. Where relevant, original sources are cited in the text.

Part I

Rationales

Why should we teach and study the media? Part I explores the changing arguments for media education, and the assumptions on which they are based. Chapter 1 considers the history of the field, and its fundamental aims and principles. Chapter 2 looks at children’s changing media environment, and its implications for media educators. Chapter 3 addresses the notion of ‘media literacy’ and its uses and limitations in media teaching. Taken together, these three chapters set out to provide a comprehensive, contemporary rationale for media education.

1

Why Teach the Media?

What are media?

My dictionary defines a ‘medium’ as ‘an intervening means, instrument or agency’: it is a substance or a channel through which effects or information can be carried or transmitted. A medium is something we use when we want to communicate with people indirectly, rather than in person or by face-to-face contact. This dictionary definition tells us something fundamental about the media, which forms the basis of the media education curriculum. The media do not offer a transparent window on the world. They provide channels through which representations and images of the world can be communicated indirectly. The media intervene: they provide us with selective versions of the world, rather than direct access to it.

As I will use it in this book, the term ‘media’ includes the whole range of modern communications media: television, the cinema, video, radio, photography, advertising, newspapers and magazines, recorded music, computer games and the internet. Media texts are the programmes, films, images, web sites (and so on) that are carried by these different forms of communication. Many of these are often called ‘mass’ media, which implies that they reach large audiences; although of course some media are intended to reach only quite small or specialized audiences. And there is no reason why more traditional forms such as books cannot also be seen as ‘media’, since they too provide us with mediated versions or representations of the world.

In principle, the questions and approaches outlined in this book can be applied to the whole range of media – from big-budget blockbuster movies to the snapshot photographs that people take in their daily lives; and from the latest pop video or computer game to the best-known ‘classic’ films or literature. All these media are equally worthy of study, and there is no logical reason why they should be considered separately. The claim that we should study ‘literature’ in isolation from other kinds of printed texts, or films in isolation from other kinds of moving image media, clearly reflects broader social judgements about the value of these different forms – and while these judgements may be institutionalized within the curriculum, they are nevertheless increasingly questionable.