Reacting to Change: Critical Media Literacy for United States Reading Teachers?

Abstract

This study examines United States masters students' perceptions of a course in critical media literacy education. Using the Women's Ways of Knowing (1997) framework, we first lay out different epistemological understandings of critical media literacy. Then, using qualitative methods, we show how 55 students enrolled in a required media literacy course for their master's degree in reading display varied understandings of the course concepts corresponding with the Women's Ways of Knowing (1997) framework. Additional contextual issues contribute to the challenges of moving towards a constructed way of knowing critical media literacy.