Abstract
Media act as a principal consumer socialisation agent. Children are exposed to a continuous stream of marketing messages and it is reported that children’s levels of materialism and wellbeing are negatively affected. Building cognitive defences in children will enable them to critically appraise the content of advertising appeals. At present media literacy education in primary schools is limited. Primary curriculum is undergoing revisions.Employing the Theory of Planned Behaviour, the role of school as a consumer socialisation agent is explored. A mixed methods approach was adopted. By means of a pilot randomised controlled trial, the effect of a recently developed Irish media literacy intervention on outcomes of advertising literacy, materialism and wellbeing is considered. Children aged between eight and 11, in seven primary schools in Ireland took part in the study (n=325). Fidelity of delivery was recorded. Qualitative discussions with teachers and children enabled further consideration of effect of the intervention.
The findings show that the media literacy intervention had a statistically significant positive effect on advertising literacy and on wellbeing. A need for further exploration of materialism in children is proposed. The intervention materials were commended by both teachers and children. The characteristic constraint of time as a key barrier to the delivery of media literacy education in school was unearthed. This study demonstrates the positive contribution media literacy education can make to primary curriculum, and suggests means by which media literacy lessons can be included in curriculum.
| Date of Award | Dec 2019 |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Awarding Institution |
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| Sponsors | Letterkenny Institute of Technology |
| Supervisor | Sarah Miller (Supervisor) & Laura Dunne (Supervisor) |