Pedagogical Approaches to Media Literacy Education in the United States

The purpose of this chapter is to glimpse the current status and pedagogical approaches of the media literacy education in the Unites States. This chapter was intended to provide the foundational and delineated information about the media literacy education so that it can be a helpful reference to understanding and developing media literacy in K-12 educators' curricular. This chapter starts with discussion about the growth of media literacy in the contexts of American education such as how it is included in state curriculum frameworks as well as research. Then this chapter moves to introduce the types of pedagogical approaches of media literacy generally implemented in K-12 environments. The pedagogical approaches were categorized by the tenets of “Core Principles of Media Literacy in the United States” outlined by National Association of Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) (2007). Finally, this chapter discusses five core concepts of media literacy and the list of guidelines that are requisites for the development of the media literacy education materials based on the foundational concepts.