The authors analyze the results of two universities students' survey aimed at finding out the respondents' media competence levels. The findings confirm a general tendency, that commonly, less than a quarter of the young audience reveals a high level development of the media competence's motivational index. A considerably larger part of respondents, about a half, demonstrates a low level of the motivational index. The analysis of the received data proves that a high degree of the media contact frequency and a high level of media competence's motivational index are not directly linked with an ability level to analyze a media text comprehensively. Nevertheless, the levels of interpretational/evaluation parameters of the audience's media competence to a large extent reflect the levels of their informational and motivational descriptors. Moreover, it turns out that the high level of informational index does not necessarily correlate to the level of media competence's evaluation index. On the whole, the survey shows that media competence of modern students needs to be developed. Therefore, university students (not less that school students) do need media literacy courses.Keywords: media literacy, education, media criticism, students, Russia, university, survey.
IntroductionThe students' survey was organized in order to find out levels of the audience's media competence (with emphasis on the synthesis of media education and criticism). Media competence is defined as a complex of motives, knowledge, skills, abilities (descriptors: contact, motivational, informational, interpretation/evaluation, activity), facilitating the choice, use, critical analysis, evaluation, creation and communicating media texts in different forms, types and genres, analysis of the media functioning in society (Ashley et al., 2013;Downey et al., 2014;Fantin, 2010;Fedorov, 2003;Korochensky, 2003;Marchessault, 2014;Myasnikova, 2010; Potter, 2014;Soldatova, 2013; Sourbati, 2009;Sparks, 2013;Tsymbalenko et al., 2013; Wilson et al., 2011;Zircon, 2013).While developing most of the units of questions and assignments we deliberately chose the close form of a questionnaire (so that a question was followed by several options to choose from). This decision is explained by the fact that most students are as a rule not able to provide clear and brief argumentation for their viewpoint on media preferences. Therefore several most probable variants of an answer were offered. Moreover, close questionnaires take less time to fill out for the respondents, and can fit in within the time limit of a class period.The differentiation of media competence levels is based on the classification of media competence levels (the audience's development in the media culture sphere). According to it, audiences are offered 5 main units of questions and assignments: the unit of questions for ascertaining the media competence's contact index level (frequency of contacts with different types of media, media criticism and media literacy texts); the unit of questions to d...