Media Literacy and Language Teaching

Abstract

Ours is an age of media and information technology, in which the mass media drive our global politics and economy and control our perceptions. Media literacy, or the ability to "read" what is hidden in the media text (both spoken and written) is a very important skill for our learners, especially at the tertiary level, to really understand what is going on around them, and to become independent, critical thinkers in our society. This article gives an example of a newspaper report with bias and shows how a critical reading can be done to reveal the implicit side-taking perspective. It also discusses why media literacy should be incorporated into a language class and how this can be done.