Fostering Media Literacy Skills in the EFL Virtual Classroom: A Case Study in the COVID-19 Lockdown Period

Abstract

This investigation highlights the ways and means of students’ formation of media literacy skills under the conditions of total and emergent distance learning in the lockdown period of the COVID-19 pandemic. The case study involved 138 first-year students from Sumy National Agrarian University, Ukraine, who studied English as a foreign language (EFL). Analysis, synthesis, and generalization of scientific data were conducted to determine the requirements and materials for the survey. Media literacy of the participants in the experimental group was developed through performance of a series of social media projects, critical analysis of social media texts, and creation of social media content. Pedagogical observation and expert estimation were employed to obtain qualitative results of partiucipants’ progress during practical classes and extracurricular activities. Psychological techniques and mathematical methods were employed to measure and assess the quantitative data of the experiment. The outcomes of the study revealed the positive dynamics of the development of reflective-evaluative, collaborative, and searching-creative skills of participants in the experimental group as well as improvement in their English proficiency. The result of this study is potentially appropriate for educators who are interested in the application of media technologies in foreign-language teaching.

Methodology for the evaluation of media literacy in children and youth. Recommendations and trends

“…It is worth noting that we found that students who, at some point in their schooling, addressed media themes tended to have better levels of media literacy, which constitutes a factor of optimism regarding the possibilities of educational intervention in this domain, in line with studies that point to the same direction, developed during the pandemic, as is the case of a study carried out with students of English as a foreign language, in a virtual classroom, in the covid-10 lockdown period (Bilotserkovets et al, 2021). The authors of this study demonstrated that it is possible to develop students' critical media literacy skills by carrying out creative activities of analysis and discussion of social media texts and using social media resources.…”

News and Media Literacy for Speaking Practice

“…Following that, it also builds up students' creation of choosing materials and develops their basic skill to recognize the authenticity of sources. It also supported by Bilotserkovets et al, 2021 said that the implementation of media literacy enhancing the students to participate in discussion, decrease the anxiety to express their ideas, and build their critical thinking skills while solve the problems. As a result, Kim, (2018) emphasized that technology can be an important component of communicative competence in higher education, which requires cognitive processes and critical thinking in speaking skill.…”

“…Many previous studies have found that media literacy can help second-language learners improve their oral skills. Bilotserkovets et al, (2021) investigated students' skill on media literacy especially in the virtual classroom. Media sources, according to the author, are extremely important since they supply students with a variety of information regarding linguistic discourses, syntactic structures, pronunciation, and grammatical forms.…”

The Relation between Media Literacy and COVID-19 Vaccination

“…According to the inoculation theory in psychology, the denial of previous information by the authorities weakens the information; thus, even with an effective vaccine against COVID-19, the willingness to be vaccinated will be susceptible to poor information (3). Unfortunately, the flood of antivaccination conspiracy theories circulating on social media has a negative impact on the community's health and students' educational approaches (8,9). Fighting with the spread of disinformation is, thus, an essential step, and media literacy is unquestionably a crucial tool in this regard (2).…”

“…They spend more time on social media than they did prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, thus, faced with disinformation more than ever (4). As a result, college students, as well as ordinary people, require more than ever media literacy to assess information usefulness and validity, and wisely protect themselves from disinformation (9)(10)(11)(12).…”