Abstract:

The 21st digitally and technologically enhanced society allows easy access to different types of media, media genres and texts written in a variety of languages. This unquestionable ubiquity of media and the spread of “fake news” pose certain demands on the knowledge and capabilities of individuals to critically read, analyse, evaluate and create media messages and puts forward the necessity of integrating media literacy in both teachers and students’ education. Latest research on the implementation of media literacy in school education in Europe consistently proves the positive effect it has on the development of young people who are not only able to understand and competently share meaning in different media formats, but who are active participants in present-day democratic societies. But media education is not only an essential element of school programmes on a global level; media literacy competences are emerging as a constituent element of teacher training programmes in many countries. This paper, therefore, focuses on the perspectives on media literacy of a small group of Bulgarian future English language teachers of young learners and presents the findings of an empirical study that tackles the effectiveness and efficiency of media education in their initial preparation.

Keywords:

Media literacy, pre-service English language teachers, ELT, 21st century skills.