Teaching television literacy in South African secondary schools

Bibliography: pages 190-196.This dissertation develops a syllabus for the study of television literacy in South African secondary schools. There are two natural divisions in the development of the thesis; the section which explores epistemological issues and the section which describes the strategic issues. The first section examines the nature of print literacy. This consists of four elements: mastering the basic language of the medium; being able to decode this language; using the medium for personal creative ends; and having the capacity for critical reflection. It is possible to talk in terms of a language of television and so this definition of literacy can be extended to television as well. There are three main areas for the study of television literacy. These are: the production techniques and effects of television; the conventional forms of the medium; and the nature of television as a mass medium. Once this has been established the dissertation explores the strategic issues of a methodology and areas of knowledge for teaching television literacy. Although there are many methodologies for the study of the mass media, the British Cultural Studies approach, together with Hall's three moments of encoding and decoding, seems to offer the methodology most suitable for teaching critical literacy. Within this theoretical framework it is possible to describe a syllabus for teaching television literacy. This syllabus involves studying the encoding and decoding of television messages within the context of the technical infrastructure of television; the internal and external relations of production, and the frameworks of knowledge which determine the form and content of television