Media Literacy at Primary Age

The research project at hand aims to investigate how media cultures and literacy practices of children and teachers meet within Austrian primary schools. The project is designed to achieve three broad aims: Firstly, it seeks to achieve a synchronic view of children`s, parents` and teachers` use and understanding of media, popular culture and new technologies at home and in school, applying a mixed method approach. It thus seeks to understand the media culture in schools, in which children develop both `traditional` and `new` literacies, and the tensions and contradictions children encounter regarding their use of media, popular culture and new technologies between home and school. Secondly, drawing on an asset model of media literacy and the concept of `new` or `multiple` literacies, the research project will address the need for a better understanding of how the development of media education and new literacies may be supported in the classroom. It aims to outline the internal and external barriers, which may stand in the way of successful integration of media education in Austrian primary schools. It will develop an observational tool and conceptual framework, which will enable the understanding of children`s engagement with media and media cultures in schools, and of the learning processes involved in media literacy projects and multimodal text production in primary classrooms. Thirdly, the research project thus aims to contribute toward the development of a coherent model of learning progression in the field of media literacy. Longitudinal research in the form of action research projects will map out a diachronic view of school`s media culture, as practitioners progressively develop and implement a series of media education projects within primary classes. The research project will examine the impact of these action research projects with regard to the development of a pedagogical framework supporting learning progression and continuity for the analysis and production of multimodal text. It will also develop a view of teachers` learning about teaching media and multimodal literacy with regard to their own professional development.

People use media like personal talks, TV, blackboards, books, or the internet regularly in every day life. While most of the appliances are available to most people, relevant differences in the usage of media exist: While some people prefer mobile internet devices and personal talks, others prefer books or music CDs. These differences in media usage are connected with preferences and attitudes towards media. These preferences and attitudes are termed as the media habitus. The media habitus is expressed in a certain media flavour. It is developed mainly during childhood and adolescence in the context of the family, of peers, and groups in society where people participate. Connected with the media habitus are certain expectations towards the communication of knowledge. Someone who likes TV prefers another style of knowledge communication than someone who prefers reading books. The hypothesis of the project in this context is that these preferences, the media flavour, has an impact in knowledge communication at school. People, who prefer books as their dominant media have problems to communicate knowledge in a way that is acceptable for people who prefer TV. This hypothesis is investigated in the project media education at primary school age. To do so, 1.130 quantitative interviews with pupil`s, parents, and teachers and 30 qualitative interviews with pupils and teachers were undertaken. Additionally, teaching materials and teaching sequences have been developed and tested. Results show that preferences and attitudes towards media can be apprehended with the media habitus theory. Different media habitus could be described by quantitative as well as by qualitative results: While many teachers prefer books and audio like music CDs or listening books, this is the case for a smaller group among the pupils only. A larger group of the pupils prefers computer technology or TV. These differences might influence the communication of knowledge at school. While the communication style of teachers who prefer print and audio and show an according media habitus is acceptable for pupils who prefer print and audio as well, this is not the case for pupils who prefer other media. These results suggest to increase the variety of media applied at school.