The entertainment-oriented media usage and critical literacy skills of teacher candidates

The purpose of this research is to determine the levels of media literacy skills and critical literacy skills for the internet among pre-service elementary teachers who use media, especially for entertainment purposes, and to identify the relationship between these skills. The study examined the levels of media literacy for entertainment purposes and critical literacy for the Internet among pre-service elementary teachers according to gender, grade level, educational status (whether they have taken media literacy coursesor not), social media usage, applications used, and characteristics of the content they produce. This study, employed a relational screening model to examine the entertainment-oriented media literacy levels and critical literacy levels for the Internet of pre-service elementary teachers. Data were collected using two scales: the 24-item 'Entertainment-Oriented Media Literacy Scale' developed by Ulu Aslan and Baş (2022) and the 27-item 'Critical Literacy Scale for the Internet' developed by Dal and Aktay (2015), after obtaining necessary permissions. The study involved 355 students enrolled in Elementary Education departments at Afyon Kocatepe University, Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University and Akdeniz University during the 2023-2024 academic year. Outliers were exluded based on the pre-service teachers' survey responses. The findings were analyzed using SPSS 25.0 software, including frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, Pearson correlation, independent samples t-test, and one-way ANOVA. The results showed that, pre-service teachers exhibited high levels of entertainment-oriented media literacy skills and critical literacy skills for the Internet. A positive and low-level significant relationship was found between their critical literacy for the Internet and entertainment-oriented media literacy levels. Females had higher levels of entertainment-oriented media literacy compared to males, but critical literacy skills for the Internet did not differ by gender. Additionally, 4th-year students had higher entertainment-oriented media literacy and critical literacy levels. Students who took media literacy courses had higher levels of both skills compared to those who did not take the course. The media literacy course contributes to teacher candidates' ability to evaluate media content in a more in-depth and critical manner. The high level of entertainment-focused media literacy indicates that these students are better at understanding the entertainment aspects of media content and consuming media more consciously. The high level of critical literacy suggests that the course has improved the students' skills in questioning and analyzing media messages. However, it has also been observed that teacher candidates generally remain open to development in understanding, interpreting, and critiquing media content. Additionally, it has been noted that students' age and experiences affect their media literacy skills.