Abstract:

Media literacy as the most essential skill of the 21st century is gaining momentum in high education that cannot be deemed without digital or technological literacy nowadays. To raise awareness and advocacy on the media and information literacy the Economic Department, Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Moscow, Russia has successfully implemented the Language of Media course to enhance the transversal competencies in students and lecturers.
The project is aimed to build the capacities of both students and teachers to develop the digital learning environment by implementing media literacy skills via the Language of Media course for 1st year students of the Economic Department, Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Moscow, Russia.

The subject matter of the research is students’ attitude to the Language of Media course. The results of the questionnaire database composed for the 1-th year (bachelor degree) students of the Economic Department, Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Moscow, Russia, show the involvement into the media environment and identify the effects of the course as part of foreign languages curriculum.

The aim of the research is to show the results of the student’s media competencies and awareness on the significance of the media literacy for political and economic studies.

The methods applied are a questionnaire, content analysis, sampling and categorization.

The findings of research highlight that international relations students must be engaged in the global media environment, be able to thoroughly analyse and critically evaluate the media contents based on media literacy skills. The results of the study may be of particular importance for lecturers, media workers and psychologists.

Keywords:

Media literacy, information literacy, media competence, language of media, transversal skills, foreign language studies.