Chapter 29: Quiz — Media Literacy Frameworks

Instructions: Answer all questions. For multiple-choice questions, select the best answer. For short-answer questions, write 2–4 complete sentences. Answers are hidden below each question — test yourself before revealing them.

Part I: Multiple Choice (Questions 1–15)

Question 1

Which organization is most directly associated with the definition of media literacy as "the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, reflect, and act using all forms of communication"?

A) UNESCO B) ACRL C) NAMLE D) Common Sense Media

Answer **C) NAMLE** — The National Association for Media Literacy Education articulated this six-part definition in its Core Principles document. UNESCO's earlier definition used four parts (access, analyze, evaluate, create), and the addition of "reflect" and "act" is distinctive to NAMLE's framework.

Question 2

The Payne Fund Studies (1929–1933) were significant in the history of media literacy education because they:

A) Established the first university-level media literacy curriculum B) Demonstrated that media had no measurable effects on audiences C) Focused attention on cinema's potential influence on young audiences and sparked educational responses D) Introduced the concept of "media and information literacy" to UNESCO policy

Answer **C) Focused attention on cinema's potential influence on young audiences and sparked educational responses** — The Payne Fund Studies investigated the effects of movies on children and adolescents, galvanizing educators and policymakers who feared cinema's cultural influence. They were foundational to the film literacy movement and the broader history of media literacy education.

Question 3

UNESCO's "Five Laws of Media and Information Literacy" were modeled on:

A) The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution B) S.R. Ranganathan's Five Laws of Library Science C) NAMLE's Core Principles of Media Literacy Education D) The Alexandria Declaration of 2005

Answer **B) S.R. Ranganathan's Five Laws of Library Science** — UNESCO explicitly modeled its Five Laws of MIL on Ranganathan's famous laws, which guided library science for decades. Ranganathan's laws emphasized access, efficiency, and the living nature of libraries; UNESCO's laws similarly emphasize access, universal citizenship, and the dynamic nature of MIL.

Question 4

The ACRL Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education replaced the earlier "Information Literacy Competency Standards" in:

A) 2000 B) 2007 C) 2015 D) 2020

Answer **C) 2015** — ACRL adopted the new Framework in 2015, replacing the 2000 Standards. The shift from "standards" to "frames" reflected a move from a competency checklist model to a threshold concepts model emphasizing conceptual understanding and disciplinary context.

Question 5

Which of the following is NOT one of the six frames in the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy?

A) Authority Is Constructed and Contextual B) Scholarship as Conversation C) Media as Social Institution D) Research as Inquiry

Answer **C) Media as Social Institution** — This is not part of the ACRL Framework. The six frames are: Authority Is Constructed and Contextual; Information Creation as a Process; Information Has Value; Research as Inquiry; Scholarship as Conversation; and Searching as Strategic Exploration.

Question 6

Len Masterman's "Teaching the Media" (1985) organized media analysis around four key concepts. Which of the following was NOT one of them?

A) Media languages B) Media representations C) Media institutions D) Media economics

Answer **D) Media economics** — Masterman's four key concepts were: media languages, media representations, media institutions, and media audiences. While economic analysis of media is relevant to the "media institutions" concept, "media economics" was not listed as a separate category.

Question 7

The concept of "hegemony," frequently invoked in critical media literacy, was developed by:

A) Marshall McLuhan B) Antonio Gramsci C) Paulo Freire D) Stuart Hall

Answer **B) Antonio Gramsci** — Antonio Gramsci developed the concept of hegemony to describe how dominant groups maintain power through cultural consensus rather than direct coercion. Critical media literacy applies this concept to analyze how media naturalize particular social arrangements and make them appear inevitable or commonsensical.

Question 8

Stuart Hall's "encoding/decoding" model identified three positions from which audiences might interpret media texts. Which of the following is NOT one of Hall's three positions?

A) Dominant/preferred reading B) Negotiated reading C) Oppositional reading D) Passive reading

Answer **D) Passive reading** — Hall's three positions were: the dominant/preferred reading (accepting the text's intended meaning), the negotiated reading (partially accepting while partially resisting), and the oppositional reading (rejecting the preferred meaning and substituting an alternative). Hall was explicitly opposed to the notion of passive audiences.

Question 9

The "transfer problem" in media literacy education refers to:

A) The difficulty of transferring media literacy curriculum from one country to another B) The challenge of getting students to apply classroom-learned skills in real-world media contexts C) The problem of transferring content between different media platforms D) The difficulty of transferring media literacy programs from higher education to K–12 schools

Answer **B) The challenge of getting students to apply classroom-learned skills in real-world media contexts** — Even when students demonstrate learning on classroom assessments, they often fail to apply these skills when actually consuming media. Factors contributing to the transfer problem include context specificity, motivation, and the time pressure of real-world media consumption.

Question 10

Mihailidis and Viotty's 2017 critique of media literacy education argued that:

A) Media literacy education was too focused on critical production rather than consumption B) Media literacy education had overemphasized deconstruction at the expense of civic imagination and constructive engagement C) Media literacy education was ineffective because it was based on flawed empirical research D) Media literacy education should be eliminated in favor of algorithmic literacy

Answer **B) Media literacy education had overemphasized deconstruction at the expense of civic imagination and constructive engagement** — Mihailidis and Viotty argued that existing frameworks focused too heavily on critical analysis and deconstruction of media texts, while failing to cultivate the civic imagination, care, and community-building needed for healthy democratic participation.

Question 11

The News Literacy Project's primary educational product for K–12 students is called:

A) MediaWise B) AllSides C) Checkology D) iCivics

Answer **C) Checkology** — Checkology is the News Literacy Project's online learning platform for middle and high school students. MediaWise is a similar initiative by the Poynter Institute; AllSides is a media bias rating service; iCivics is a civics education platform.

Question 12

DigComp, the European Digital Competence Framework, organizes digital competence into how many main areas?

A) Three B) Four C) Five D) Six

Answer **C) Five** — DigComp organizes digital competence into five areas: Information and Data Literacy; Communication and Collaboration; Digital Content Creation; Safety; and Problem Solving.

Question 13

The "inoculationist" approach to media literacy, as represented in research by Roozenbeek and van der Linden, attempts to build resistance to misinformation by:

A) Teaching students to avoid all unverified media sources B) Pre-emptively exposing people to weakened versions of misinformation techniques C) Building critical analysis skills through extended curriculum engagement D) Using social norms messaging to discourage sharing of false content

Answer **B) Pre-emptively exposing people to weakened versions of misinformation techniques** — Psychological inoculation theory, applied to misinformation by Roozenbeek, van der Linden and colleagues, involves exposing people to weakened doses of manipulation techniques before they encounter real misinformation, similar to how vaccination works biologically. The "Bad News" online game implements this approach.

Question 14

Which of the following accurately describes a key difference between UNESCO's MIL framework and NAMLE's framework?

A) NAMLE focuses on higher education while UNESCO MIL focuses on K–12 B) UNESCO MIL explicitly integrates information literacy with media literacy; NAMLE focuses primarily on media C) NAMLE's framework was developed before UNESCO's D) UNESCO MIL does not address news literacy, while NAMLE does

Answer **B) UNESCO MIL explicitly integrates information literacy with media literacy; NAMLE focuses primarily on media** — The "Media and Information Literacy" concept was specifically designed by UNESCO to integrate two previously separate traditions: media literacy (from media education) and information literacy (from library science). NAMLE's framework focuses more specifically on media literacy.

Question 15

The Jeong et al. (2012) systematic review of media literacy intervention studies found an average effect size of approximately:

A) d = 0.10 (very small) B) d = 0.37 (small to moderate) C) d = 0.65 (moderate) D) d = 1.00 (large)

Answer **B) d = 0.37 (small to moderate)** — The Jeong et al. systematic review found an average effect size of approximately 0.37 across 51 media literacy intervention studies, representing a small to moderate effect. Knowledge gains were more robust than attitude or behavioral changes.

Part II: True/False (Questions 16–20)

Question 16

True or False: The critical media literacy framework developed by Kellner and Share is politically neutral, focusing purely on analytical skills rather than ideological commitments.

Answer **False** — Critical media literacy as developed by Kellner and Share explicitly draws on critical theory, cultural studies, and Paulo Freire's critical pedagogy, and is oriented toward social justice and challenging dominant power arrangements. This explicit ideological commitment has been a source of both its intellectual vitality and its controversy. Defenders argue that all education is political; critics argue that this makes it potentially indoctrinatory.

Question 17

True or False: Canada's Ontario province was a pioneer in mandating media literacy education within the school curriculum, developing a policy framework in 1987.

Answer **True** — Ontario, Canada, developed a 1987 policy framework that made media literacy a required component of English education for grades 7 through 12, making it one of the earliest jurisdictions in the world to mandate media literacy education at the curriculum policy level.

Question 18

True or False: The ACRL Framework (2015) took a more prescriptive, outcomes-based approach to information literacy than the Standards it replaced.

Answer **False** — The 2015 ACRL Framework actually moved away from the prescriptive, outcomes-based approach of the 2000 Standards toward a more conceptual, threshold-concepts approach. The Framework organizes information literacy around six "frames" representing key conceptual understandings, rather than a checklist of specific competencies and performance indicators.

Question 19

True or False: Randomized controlled trials are the most common research design used to evaluate media literacy education programs.

Answer **False** — RCTs are the gold standard for causal inference but are actually rare in media literacy education research due to logistical challenges of random assignment in school settings. Pre/post designs without control groups are far more common, although they cannot establish causation.

Question 20

True or False: Common Sense Media's Digital Citizenship curriculum has been criticized for overemphasizing structural and systemic dimensions of digital life at the expense of individual behavior.

Answer **False** — The critique of Common Sense Media's curriculum runs in the opposite direction: it has been criticized for focusing too much on individual behavior and choices while underemphasizing structural and political dimensions of digital life, such as platform power, algorithmic systems, and commercial surveillance capitalism.

Part III: Short Answer (Questions 21–25)

Question 21

Explain the distinction between "news literacy" and "media literacy." Why does this distinction matter for curriculum design?

Answer News literacy focuses specifically on journalism — understanding how news is produced, evaluating news sources, distinguishing journalism from other types of content (propaganda, advertising, entertainment), and appreciating the role of a free press in democracy. Media literacy is broader, encompassing all forms of mediated communication: entertainment, advertising, social media, video games, and music, in addition to news. It asks not just "is this credible?" but "what values does this represent? Who benefits? How is meaning constructed?" The distinction matters for curriculum design because the two literacies require different knowledge bases (journalism for news literacy; cultural studies, semiotics, and political economy for media literacy) and different assessment strategies. News literacy education connects most directly to civic education and democratic participation; media literacy education connects more broadly to cultural analysis, identity, and representation.

Question 22

What is the "conscientization" concept associated with Paulo Freire, and how does it influence critical media literacy education?

Answer "Conscientization" (from the Portuguese "conscientização") is Paulo Freire's concept of developing critical consciousness — the process by which people come to understand how social, cultural, and political forces shape their perception of reality, and begin to see possibilities for transforming those conditions. For Freire, education should not reproduce existing power relations but should help oppressed people understand and act on their situation. In critical media literacy education, conscientization influences the emphasis on self-reflection: not just analyzing media texts "out there" but examining how one's own media consumption has shaped one's worldview, what communities and perspectives one is exposed to or shielded from, and how media naturalize particular social arrangements. This metacognitive dimension — examining one's own consciousness — distinguishes critical media literacy from more purely analytical approaches.

Question 23

What is UNESCO's Alexandria Declaration (2005), and what did it contribute to the MIL framework?

Answer The Alexandria Declaration on Information Literacy and Lifelong Learning (2005) was a landmark document issued by participants at a UNESCO-sponsored international colloquium. Its key contribution was asserting that information literacy is a core human right — not merely a useful skill but a fundamental requirement for human dignity, democratic participation, and lifelong learning. The declaration defined information literacy as encompassing competencies to recognize information needs and locate, evaluate, apply, and create information within cultural and social contexts. The Alexandria Declaration was significant for the MIL framework because it elevated information literacy from a library-science technical skill to a universal human rights concern, paving the way for UNESCO's subsequent integration of information literacy with media literacy into the MIL concept. It provided the normative foundation (information access as a human right) for UNESCO's global advocacy for MIL education.

Question 24

Describe two specific strategies a teacher could use to teach about media bias without conveying partisan political views.

Answer First, a teacher could teach media bias as a methodological and structural phenomenon rather than a partisan one. By focusing on types of bias (selection bias, framing bias, commercial/advertiser bias, source diversity) and examining these across outlets of different political orientations, teachers can help students understand bias as a product of institutional and economic pressures, not just ideological intent. Students practice analyzing specific framing choices and source selection in news articles without making global claims about which outlets are "biased." Second, a teacher could use historical and international examples that do not map onto current U.S. partisan divisions. Propaganda analysis using World War II examples, comparison of media in authoritarian vs. democratic systems, or examination of foreign coverage of U.S. events all help students develop analytical tools applicable to contemporary media without triggering current partisan identities. These examples make it easier to practice ideological analysis without the analysis itself feeling like a partisan exercise.

Question 25

What is the significance of NAMLE including "act" as one of the six core media literacy competencies? What are the arguments for and against this inclusion?

Answer Including "act" as a core competency reflects NAMLE's commitment to media literacy as inherently civic — not merely an individual cognitive achievement but a capacity for democratic participation and social engagement. The inclusion signals that media literacy is oriented toward social change: media-literate citizens should be able to use their skills to engage in public discourse, advocate for media equity, respond to misinformation in their communities, and participate in democratic processes. Arguments for inclusion: Media literacy without action risks becoming a purely academic exercise; the ultimate justification for media literacy education in democratic societies is civic. Action gives media literacy purpose and connects it to students' lives beyond school. Arguments against: Including "act" gives media literacy education an explicit political orientation that may make it controversial and harder to defend as academically neutral. Some educators argue that cultivating critical thinking should be distinguished from directing how that thinking is applied — students should determine for themselves what actions, if any, to take. The "act" competency risks conflating analysis with advocacy.

End of Chapter 29 Quiz