Critical Media Literacy in EFL Classes: The Importance of Critical Awareness-raising Among EFL Learners at Globalization of Culture Era

Critical Media Literacy in EFL Classes: The Importance of Critical Awareness-raising Among EFL Learners at Globalization of Culture Era

Document Type : Research Paper

Abstract

Exploring media discourse is a fruitful and established line of study in Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) which is aimed at detection and disclosure of media bias. The present study investigated the impact of critical media literacy and language awareness raising activities on a group of English students (N=15, both males and females) in the globalization age of culture and media. The study consisted of a group of Urmia University students who were homogenized based on a TOEFL practice proficiency test and students getting 500 and above were invited to take part in the study. The treatment included six sessions on critical thinking, propaganda devices, word choice, headlines analysis, and institutional affiliations influencing media report. In addition, each session included a reading sample of a biased text from a number of EFL and media sources, namely, International Herald Tribune, CNN, ELT books, and the internet and its analysis. A short debate followed and participants were asked to write an argumentative essay. The students were asked to write about their attitudes towards the course at the end of the treatment. Qualitative content analysis of their comments revealed a great positive attitude towards the course and a substantial growth in their critical media literacy.

Keywords

References

- شعیری، حمیدرضا، سمیه کریمی‌‌‌نژاد. (1391). نقش و جایگاه اینترنت در تقویت توانش بینا‌‌‌ فرهنگی زبان‌‌‌آموزان فرانسه، در اولین همایش میان رشته‌‌‌ای آموزش و یادگیری زبان، مشهد، 9 و10 آبان.

- Akbari, R. (2008). Transforming lives: Introducing critical pedagogy into ELT classrooms. ELT Journal, 62(3), 286-294.

- Amalsaleh, A. (2003). War Representation in the Bush's 11^th September Speech. Proceedings of the second international conference on English language teaching in Yemen, HodeidahUniversity, Yemen, 124-135.

- Bean, T. W. & Moni, K. (2003). Developing students’ critical literacy: Exploring identity construction in young adult fiction. Journal of adolescent & adult literacy, 46(8), 638–648.

- Cortina, J. & Elder, J. (2011). New Worlds: An Introduction to College Reading. New York: McGraw-Hill. Retrieved from http://www.learningace.com/textbooks/2591-new-worlds-an-introduction-to-college-reading-4-th-edition

- Feldman, L. (2001). Hollywood Kids. In J. Soars, L. Soars (Eds.), American Headway 2 (pp. 38-39). Oxford: OUP.

- Ghanizadeh, A., Moafian, M. (2011). Critical thinking and emotional intelligence: investigating the relationship among EFL learners and the contribution of age and gender. Iranian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 14 (1), 23-48.

- Gholami, J. (2003). Critical discourse analysis & syllabus design: A critical reflection on EFL materials. Proceedings of the second international conference on English language teaching in Yemen, Hodeidah University, Yemen, 112-123.

- Hashemi, M. R. & Ghanizadeh, A. (2012). Critical discourse analysis and critical thinking: An experimental study in an EFL context. System 40, 37- 47

- Hun, Ch. S. (2007). A hunger for English lessons. In P. Sharma, (Ed.) Reading the News, International Herald Tribune. (pp. 6-9). USA: Thomson ELT.

- Keller, B. (2012). Bomb-Bomb-Bomb, Bomb-Bomb-Iran? New York Times. Retrievedfrom:http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/23/opinion/keller-bomb-bomb-bomb-bomb-bomb iran.html?pagewanted=all

- Keshavarz, M. H., & Akbari Malek, L. (2009). Critical discourse analysis of ELT textbooks. The Iranian EFL Journal, 5, 5-19.

- Khajavi, Y. & Abbasian, R. (2011). English Language Teaching, National Identity and Globalization in Iran: the Case of Public Schools.International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 1(10), 181-186

- Koosha, M., Talebianzad, M. R., & Taki, S. (2004). An analysis of the ideological import of internationally and locally developed ELT books widely used in Iran. IJAL, 7(2), 45-77.

- Koupaee, D. Z., Rahimi, A. & Shams, M. R. (2010). Teaching Reading with a Critical Attitude: Using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to Raise EFL University Students' Critical Language Awareness (CLA).International Journal of Criminology and Sociological Theory. 3(2), 457-476.

- Kroenig, M. (2012). Time to Attack Iran. Foreign Affairs. Retrieved from: http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/136917/matthew-kroenig/time-to-attack-iran

- Mather, P. & McCarthy, R. (2009). The art of critical reading: Brushing up on your reading, thinking, and study skills. New York, NY : McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Retrieved from: highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/.../mather_art_chap12.ppt

- Phillipson, R. (1992). Linguistic imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

- Qiang, N. & Wolff, M. (2005). Is EFL a modern Trojan horse? English Today, 84, 21 (4), 55-60.

- Retzlaff, S. (2010). The representation of the European Union in the Canadian media during the climate change debate 2007. CADAAD 4(1), 54-72.

- Riches, D. (1999). Problems of content specificity in ELT textbooks: A critical discourse analytic study of ELT textbooks designed for the world market. Unpublished MA thesis. University of Surrey, United Kingdom.

- van Dijk, T. A. (1985a). ‘Introduction: Discourse Analysis in (Mass) Communication Research’, In van Dijk, T. A. (Ed.), Discourse and Communication: New Approaches to the Analyses of Mass Media Discourse and Communication, Research in Text Theory Series, 10, (pp. 1- 9). Berlin:de Gruyter.

- Van Dijk, T. A. (1993). Elite discourse and racism. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

- Van Dijk, T. A. (1998).Critical discourse analysis. In D. Tannen, D. Schiffrin & H. Hamilton (Eds.), Handbook of Discourse Analysis (in preparation).

- http://fararu.com/fa/news/110501/

- http://www.isna.ir/

- http://www.umich.edu/~newsbias.html

- http://www.edition.cnn.com/2002/US/09/11/ar911.bush.speech.transcript/index.html