Scholarly record

THE LEVEL OF MEDIA LITERACY OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS IN SLOVAKIA

N. Vrabec

Abstract

Introduction: Children and young people remain at the heart of a large part of initiatives and projects addressing the development of media literacy. An important element of these processes is also research focused on pedagogical, psychological, sociological, media studies and other aspects of the subject. The aim of this study is to present selected findings of research into media literacy of children and adolescents in Slovakia. This is one of the first comprehensive research tasks in Slovakia, which is trying to find out the current state and trends in this area. Objective: The aim of this study was to find out what role the media (TV, radio, the internet, mobile phones, computer games, etc.) play in the life of children and adolescents in Slovakia, how they deal with the media, how they use them in their free time, what are their attitudes towards the content that the media offer. The aim was to find out the current level of media literacy of this target group. Methods: The survey sample consisted of 272 children and adolescents aged 6-15 years. The collection of data was carried out in autumn 2015 through 49 focus groups implemented in municipalities and towns throughout the territory of Slovakia. Each focus group was led by a trained moderator who asked the children and teenagers questions and discussed with them various issues related to media use. Each focus group has been recorded on the audio track. Audio records from focus groups were then literally rewritten into text. Based on the above research process, a research data corpus of more than a thousand pages of text files was obtained. A combination of a qualitative and quantitative research strategy was used and the data were analysed using the QCAmap software. Results: The materials processed in the research will be an important background material for the preparation of a report on the state of media literacy in the Slovak Republic for the European Commission. In this study, we provide detailed analysis and interpretation of the obtained research data, formulate the relevant conclusions and the most important findings.

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