Korean bilingual children’s conversations about gender in online books: a case study of critical media literacy in the United States

Abstract

Although a great deal of research has been undertaken in media literacy, early bilingual instruction, gender, and critical thinking, nothing has been documented about the intersection of these four areas. This interdisciplinary study explored the transformative potential of early critical media literacy practices as a medium to prompt authentic discussions about gender with young bilingual children. Adopting a qualitative case study approach, the current article focuses on kindergarten-age Korean-English bilingual children at the Korean Language School in a city in the Midwest United States. Multi-modal data were collected for a semester through classroom observations, one-to-one interviews with the parents and teacher, and the children’s artifacts. The findings suggest that critical media practice can offer young bilingual children a wide range of opportunities for critically examining gender representations in online storybooks and questioning dominant gender ideologies. The practical implications for early-years’ teachers and educators in the twenty-first century are also discussed.