Communication Faculty Students’ Media Literacy Perceptions and Approaches to Media Literacy Education

Consistent with the rapidly developing communication technology, use of the mass media has become a significant force in our life, defying time and space restrictions. With this development in the mass media and new media comes the increase in social influence, which, along with commercialization of communication controlled by national and international capital, and lack of public supervision necessitates a critical approach to media communication. In this context, the media literacy has become very important to raise individuals’ awareness, and ability to interpret and question the knowledge. The purpose of this study is to determine how the students in the Faculty of Communication perceive the media literacy and its education. In addition to this, the study aims at understanding how media literacy education in elementary school curriculum raises awareness about the functioning of the media. With this purpose in mind, this study surveyed 265, 2nd 3rd and 4th year The Faculty of Communication of Istanbul Aydin University’s students who took the Media Literacy class. In addition, by using the technique of semi-structured interview this study also aims at exploring the impact of the media literacy class in the elementary education. The data resulting from this study was analyzed in the SPSS 24,0 program and the results of participants’ views of the subject are presented in tables. The result of the research has determined that the participants of the Media Literacy Class registered a noticeable difference in their approach to media and in their overall habits towards the use of it. In addition, it is concluded that students gained critical and well-rounded appreciation for the content of media