Teaching and Learning Media Literacy in China: The Uses of Media Literacy Education

This chapter examines the uses of media literacy education in China through a case study in Zhejiang Province. The Chinese government welcomes media literacy education for cultivating media literate civil servants, media professionals, and citizens, but no educational policy has been formulated to encourage growth in this field. Some universities in China have taken the lead in developing innovative strategies to introduce media literacy curricula into schools. Based on structuration theory, this case study focuses on analyzing how Zhejiang University of Media and Communications and its partnership schools strategically carry out media literacy education (agency effort) under the present sociopolitical system (structure) to meet both their institutional goals and social goals. Findings show that media literacy is used in many ways by different stakeholders at national, university, and school levels. Although the media literacy programs in the study were initiated by the same university, the curricular approaches of the partnership schools are different due to the schools’ varying missions.