Many educators believe that with the growth of media and information technology, media literacy is just as important as – or even more important than – print literacy (that is, learning to read and write). What is your position on the relative importance of the two “literacies”?
My undergraduate degree is in Mass Communication, but even in today’s world, I don’t think that media literacy should be considered as or more important than learning to read and write. We would do a great disservice to our students to pretend that this is the case. I was fortunate enough to come to first grade just after a few years of a new theory where spelling was not taught at all. The result of that experiment showed a lot of people that some “old-fashioned” ideas were still important (and this was before computers with spell-check). As they progressed to the higher grades, the students who didn’t learn to spell had a harder time reading and comprehending, and had difficulty communicating in writing – they knew what they were saying, but others did not understand. Even today, improper spelling will keep a student from getting information from some databases, search engines and on-line catalogs. Students need media literacy as a tool, but it should not replace a strong emphasis on good reading and writing skills.
What information from this chapter helps support your position?
When looking at the NCTE/IRA Standards for English/Language Arts, only one standard (#8) specifically specifies technology skills. The rest of the skills involve reading, writing and using higher-level skills to assimilate knowledge. While technology can be used as a tool in these endeavors, technology cannot replace the skill set of reading and writing to achieve these goals. Having a sense of media literacy will be necessary as students complete their work, as using word processing and information programs for routine research also requires an understanding of the media and its limitations. But again, these are tools to supplement the print literacy.
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I agree that technology should be used as a tool, but should not replace the need to learn to read and write. With out that ability you could not use technology as easily. How can you check your email, research a new topic or write on a blog without the ability to read or write. I think there it is important to teach our students how to use technology, but there is a way of doing this without taking away the importance of reading and writing. Maybe in the future we need to place more of a emphasis on computer classes for our students.
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