Research Article
Bahadir Eristi, Cahit Erdem
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 8, Issue 3, pp. 249-267
ABSTRACT
This study aims to develop a reliable and valid scale to identify the levels of media users’ media literacy skills. The scale development process was carried out in nine steps as recommended in the literature. Before the scale was administered, the items were reviewed by field experts and language experts and a pilot study was carried out. Responses from 322 pre-service teachers, selected via purposeful sampling, were included in the analysis. Item discrimination was tested via item-total correlation and it indicated that none of the items were below .30. In the confirmatory factor analysis, it was found out that the scale and the theoretical model showed a fit between good and acceptable. Convergent validity, divergent validity and 27% upper-lower group means were also examined. As for the internal consistency, Cronbach’s alpha value of the scale was calculated as .919 and alpha values of the factors were calculated as .768, .833, .720 and .838 respectively. The results revealed that Media Literacy Skills Scale, which consists of 45 items gathered under the four main factors of ‘access, analyze, evaluate and communicate’, is a reliable and valid measurement instrument. This up-to-date scale covers all main skills of media literacy and it consists of a sufficient number of questions to obtain rich data and ensure measurement precision. In addition, it covers new media as well as mass media and this
Keywords: Media literacy, Scale development, Media literacy skills, New media, Confirmatory factor analysis
Research Article
Jale Balaban-Sali
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 3, Issue 4, pp. 265-277
ABSTRACT
This study examined new media literacy skills of university students based on Jenkins and his colleagues’ classification. Toward this purpose, an online Likert scale was administered to a sample (n=170). This scale included a multi-component understanding of media literacy such as tackling the consumption of media messages and the original creation of multimedia material. The Cronbach’s Alpha reliability coefficient of the scale was 0,93. The instrument was structured around three main sections; demographics, media use characteristics, and new media literacies (NMLs). The third section aimed to assess participants’ new media literacy skills by presenting them 60 items about their social and cultural modes of engagement, online interaction, and media consumption and creation patterns. The statements were conceptually built around the 12 NMLs skills identified by Jenkins and his colleagues. These skills are: Play, appropriation, distributed cognition, collective intelligence, judgment, transmedia navigation, networking, negotiation, and visualization. The results of the study showed that individuals who spent more time on Internet, social media, and blogging had the highest NMLs levels. Furthermore, young participants’ NMLs levels were higher than those over the age of 32.
Keywords: New media literacies, Social media skills, New media literacy assessment, Digital literacies, Measuring new literacies