Medya okuryazarlığının değerlendirilmesi: Üniversite öğrencilerinin analizi

Media literacy refers to the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and create messages in a wide variety of media modes and formats. It encompasses recognizing the role and influence of media in society. Even though the media is so globalized and easily accessible, it is necessary to correctly perceive and read the messages presented, make sense of them, analyze, evaluate, criticize, etc. On the other hand, it is possible to have sufficient equipment to distinguish positive and negative characteristics with the notion of media literacy. Before accessing media literacy equipment, the individual is only in a passive position in front of the messages presented by the media. However, the individual with access to the media literacy equipment comes out of passivity in the face of the messages presented and takes an active position that evaluates questions, analyzes the media messages, and keeps a distinction in the context of the criteria it sets. Since media literacy is a lifelong process begining from a young age, this study has been planned considering that it is important to examine it at all levels, especially for university students who have a significant role in shaping the future. The study aims to determine university students' media literacy levels, to compare the media literacy levels of university students who took and did not take a media literacy course and determine what socio-demographic factors affect media literacy. In this study, the "Media Literacy Level Determination Scale" developed by Karataş to measure the media literacy of university students was used with his permission. The universe of the research consists of university students studying at Yeditepe University. The sample consists of 801 students studying at Yeditepe University. As a result of the research, the fact that taking a media literacy course increases the level of media literacy shows that there is a statistically significant difference between students who take this course and those who do not. Another result is that when the scores in the distribution of the students according to the classes are examined, it is concluded that the media literacy levels of the senior students are higher than the other classes. When socio-demographic characteristics are taken into account, no significant difference was found in media literacy in terms of gender, family structure and place of residence.