Media Literacy for Children: A Systematic Review

Sakhaei, Sahand; Arsalani, Aida; Nosraty, Niloufar

doi:10.22059/jcss.2023.101606

Media Literacy for Children: A Systematic Review

Document Type : Original article

Authors

Sahand Sakhaei ¹

Aida Arsalani ²

Niloufar Nosraty ³

¹ Payam-e Noor University, Bostan Abad, Iran

² Department of management, Kish International Campus, University of Tehran, Kish, Iran

³ Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran

10.22059/jcss.2023.101606

Abstract

Media literacy is a crucial skill for children to live in a media-saturated world. This systematic review explores the impact of media literacy on children’s cognitive, social, and emotional development while addressing challenges and opportunities in implementing effective media literacy education. The search process entailed extensive exploration of key academic databases, including PubMed, PsycINFO, ERIC, and Scopus. Terms like "media literacy", "children", "digital literacy", "critical thinking", "media education", and "cognitive development" were utilized in combination with Boolean operators (AND, OR) and truncation methods to expand or narrow the scope of the search. Additionally, the reference lists of identified studies were examined to uncover further pertinent publications that might have been overlooked during the initial database queries. Findings highlight that media literacy fosters critical thinking, creativity, and emotional resilience, enabling children to critically analyze media messages, resist manipulation, and engage responsibly with digital platforms. However, socioeconomic disparities, lack of standardized curricula, and insufficient teacher training pose significant barriers to widespread adoption. The rapid evolution of digital technologies further complicates efforts to maintain relevant educational strategies. This review emphasizes the importance of policy interventions, including national curricula, teacher training programs, and public-private collaborations to bridge gaps in media literacy education. Future research should focus on longitudinal studies and innovative teaching methods that integrate emerging technologies.

Keywords

children

critical thinking

digital media

education policy

media literacy

Aarsand, P. & Melander, H. (2016). “Appropriation through guided participation: Media literacy in children’s everyday lives”. Discourse, Context & Media. 12: 20-31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2016.03.002.

Bagheri, M.; Saeedabadi, M.R. & Sabar, S. (2022). “The Effects of Gasification Mechanics on User Engagement”. Management Studies in Development and Evolution. 31(106): 135-154. https://doi.org/10.22054/jmsd.2022.63446.4027. [in Persian]

Bandura, A. (1977). Social Learning Theory. Prentice Hall.

Buckingham, D. (1993). “Going critical: The limits of media literacy”. Australian Journal of Education. 37(2): 142-152. https://doi.org/10.1177/000494419303700203.

Bulger, M. & Davison, P. (2018). “The promises, challenges, and futures of media literacy”. Journal of Media Literacy Education. 10(1): 1-21. https://doi.org/10.23860/JMLE-2018-10-1-1.

Byrne, S. (2009). “Media literacy interventions: What makes them boom or boomerang?”. Communication Education. 58(1): 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1080/03634520802226444.

Cannon, M.; Connolly, S. & Parry, R. (2020). “Media literacy, curriculum and the rights of the child”. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education. 43(2): 322-334. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2020.1829551.

Dariush, B.; Dastyar, F. & Dastyar, M. (2021). “The impact of globalization on urban housing architecture in Iran”. Journal of Art and Civilization of the Orient. 9(33): 21-32. https://doi.org/10.22034/jaco.2021.287839.1198.

Dastyar, M.; Dariush, B. & Dastyar, F. (2023). “Virtual Education, a complementary element of the puzzle of holistic education in the relationship between humans and environment or Iranian citizens”. Journal of Cyberspace Studies. 7(2): 237-252. doi: https://doi.org/10.22059/jcss.2023.356702.1088.

Diergarten, A.K.; Möckel, T.; Nieding, G. & Ohler, P. (2017). “The impact of media literacy on children's learning from films and hypermedia”. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology. 48: 33-41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2016.11.007.

Feuerstein, M. (1999). “Media literacy in support of critical thinking”. Journal of Educational Media. 24(1): 43-54. https://doi.org/10.1080/1358165990240104.

Hobbs, R. (2017a). Create to Learn: Introduction to Digital Literacy. Wiley.

Hobbs, R. (2017b). “Measuring the digital and media literacy competencies of children and teens”. Cognitive Development in Digital Contexts (pp. 253-274). https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-809481-5.00013-4.

Hobbs, R. & Frost, R. (2003). “Measuring the acquisition of media-literacy skills”. Reading Research Quarterly. 38(3): 330-355. https://doi.org/10.1598/RRQ.38.3.2.

Hobbs, R. & Jensen, A. (2009). “The past, present, and future of media literacy education”. Journal of Media Literacy Education. 1(1). https://doi.org/10.23860/jmle-1-1-1.

Hosseini, H.; Khodabin, M.; Soroori Sarabi, A. & Sharifi Poor Bgheshmi, Sh. (2021). “Artificial intelligence and disaster risk management: A need for continuous education”. Socio-Spatial Studies. 5(1).

Icen, M. (2020). “Developing media literacy through activities”. International Journal of Educational Methodology. 6(3): 631-642. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1268419.

Jamali, K.; Salehi, K. & Chorami, M. (2022). “A Comparison on Four Personality Types (A, B, C And D) in Criminal and Normal Adolescents. medical journal of mashhad university of medical sciences, 65(5).

Jusoff, K. & Sahimi, N.N. (2009). “Television and media literacy in young children: Issues and effects in early childhood”. International Education Studies. 2(3): 151-157. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1065705.

Kellner, D. & Share, J. (2019). The Critical Media Literacy Guide: Engaging Media and Transforming Education. Brill.

Kharazmi, Z. & Mohammadi, S. (2020). “Persian-language media overseas as the Western tools of public diplomacy: Framing COVID-19 pandemics in Iran by VOA and BBC”. Journal of World Sociopolitical Studies. 4(1): 1-36. https://doi.org/10.22059/wsps.2020.308749.1171.

Kodabakhshi, A.A.; Salehi, K. & Dehshiri, M. (2021). “Sociological analysis of lawyer's defense immunity in Iranian law”. Social Science Quarterly. 14(4): 175-137.

Livingstone, S. (2014). “Developing social media literacy: How children learn to interpret risky opportunities on social network sites”. Communications. 39(3): 283-303. https://doi.org/10.1515/commun-2014-0113.

Livingstone, S. & Helsper, E.J. (2008). “Parental mediation of children’s Internet use”. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media. 52(4): 581-599. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08838150802437396.

Mahmoodi-Bakhtiari, B. & Dehghani, M. (2014). “The relationship of language and gender in the contemporary Persian novels: A study of six works”. Journal of Woman in Culture and Arts. 5(4): 543-556. https://doi.org/10.22059/jwica.2014.50244. [in Persian]

Mateus, J.C. (2021). “Media literacy for children: Empowering citizens for a mediatized world”. Global Studies of Childhood. 11(4): 373-378. https://doi.org/10.1177/20436106211014903.

Moein, S.; Ghadiri, R. & Salehi, K. (2023). “Social pathology, preliminary research based on the principle of certainty and certainty”. Political Sociology of Iran. 5(11): 6797-6814. DOI: 10.30510/psi.2022.359582.3899.

Mohammadi, S. & Kharazmi, Z. (2021). “The remote higher education over COVID-19 pandemic: The case study of provisions and priorities of the University of Tehran's official website”. Journal of World Sociopolitical Studies. 5(2): 255-294. https://doi.org/10.22059/wsps.2022.335432.1253.

Mousavi, S.Y. & Dariush, B. (2019). “The effect of communication globalization on citizen’s tendencies towards environment protection: Case study of Tehran citizens”. Socio-Spatial Studies. 3(5): 66-77. https://doi.org/10.22034/soc.2019.84454.

Pereira, S.; Pinto, M. & Pereira, L. (2012). “Resources for media literacy: Mediating the research on children and media”. Comunicar. XX(39): 91-99. https://doi.org/10.3916/C39-2012-02-09.

Pfaff-Rüdiger, S. & Riesmeyer, C. (2016). “Moved into action: Media literacy as social process”. Journal of Children and Media. 10(2): 164-172. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482798.2015.1127838.

Potter, W.J. (2016). Media Literacy. SAGE Publications.

Rasi, P.; Vuojärvi, H. & Ruokamo, H. (2019). “Media literacy education for all ages”. Journal of Media Literacy Education. 11(2): 1-19. https://doi.org/10.23860/JMLE-2019-11-2-1.

Sabbar, S. & Dalvand, S. (2018). “Semiotic approach to globalization: Living in a world of glocal things”. Journal of Cyberspace Studies. 2(1): 75-88. https://doi.org/10.22059/jcss.2017.232442.1004.

Sabbar, S.; Masoomifar, A. & Mohammadi, S. (2019). “Where we don’t know how to be ethical; A research on understanding plagiarism”. Journal of Iranian Cultural Research. 12(3): 1-27. https://doi.org/10.22035/jicr.2019.2243.2747.

Sabbar, S.; Mohammadi, S. & Ghasemi Tari, Z. (2023). “Beyond territorial colonization: A study of orientalist self-perceptions among Iranians”. Journal of World Sociopolitical Studies. 7(4): 609-644. https://doi.org/10.22059/wsps.2024.371527.1410.

Sarfi, M.; Darvishi, M.; Zohouri, M.; Nosrati, S. & Zamani, M. (2021). “Google’s University? an exploration of academic influence on the tech giant's propaganda. Journal of Cyberspace Studies. 5(2): 181-202. https://www.doi.org/10.22059/jcss.2021.93901.

Shahghasemi, E. (2020). “Pornography of Poverty: Celebrities’ sexual appeal at service to the poor?”. ‏The 2nd International Conference on Future of Social Sciences and Humanities. Prague. https://www.doi.org/10.33422/2nd.fshconf.2020.09.172.

Shahghasemi, E.; Heisey, D.R. & Mirani, G. (2011). “How do Iranians and U.S. Citizens Perceive Each Other: A systematic Review”. Journal of Intercultural Communication. 11(3): 1-13. https://doi.org/10.36923/jicc.v11i3.539.

Soroori Sarabi, A.; Zamani, M., Ranjbar, S. & Rahmatin, F. (2023). “Innovation – But with Risk: The Strategic Role of IT in Business Risk Management”. Journal of Cyberspace Studies. 7(2).

Šramová, B. (2014). “Media literacy and marketing consumerism focused on children”. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences. 141: 1025-1030. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.05.172.

Šupšáková, B. (2016). “Media education of children and youth as a path to media literacy”. Communication Today. 7(1): 32-51. https://communicationtoday.sk/media-education-of-children-and-youth-as-path-media-literacy/. [in Slovak]

Tomraee, S.; Hosseini, S.H. & Toosi, R. (2022) “Doctors for AI? A Systematic Review”. Socio-Spatial Studies. 6(1): 1-11.

Valkenburg, P.M. & Peter, J. (2013). “The differential susceptibility to media effects model”. Journal of Communication. 63(2): 221-243. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12024.

Yankovych, O.I.; Chaika, V.M.; Ivanova, T.V.; Binytska, K.M.; Kuzma, I.I.; Pysarchuk, O.T. & Falfushynska, H.I. (2019). “Technology of forming media literacy of children of the senior preschool age of Ukraine”. CTE Workshop Proceedings. 6: 126-144. https://doi.org/10.55056/cte.372.

Zamani, M.; Nourbakhsh, Y. & Nayebi, H. (2021). “Presenting a pattern for promoting social health through social networks (Case study: Instagram social network)”. New Media Studies. 7(28): 42-1. https://doi.org/10.22054/nms.2022.63698.1277. [in Persian]