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Theory Into Practice, 47:178–185, 2008
Copyright © The College of Education and Human Ecology, The Ohio State University
ISSN: 0040-5841 print/1543-0421 online
DOI: 10.1080/00405840802153783
Guofang Wan Dianne M. Gut
Media Use by Chinese and U.S. Secondary Students: Implications for Media Literacy Education
This article examines how children currently use
media, the influence of media in their lives,
and implications for media literacy education.
Trends in the use of media (TV, radio, computer,
videogames, Internet) by Chinese and American
secondary students are presented, drawn from
major national studies on American and Chinese
children’s media use. It shows what and how
students use new media at home and in schools,
and demonstrates the important role of modern
technology in children’s lives. We underscore the
importance of media literacy education. Even
though media literacy education is not systemati-
cally taught as part of the formal school curricu-
Guofang Wan is professor and Dianne M. Gut is
associate professor at the Department of Teacher Ed-
ucation, Ohio University.
Correspondence should be addressed to Guofang
Wan or Dianne M. Gut, McCracken Hall, Dept. of
Teacher Ed., Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701.
E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]
lum, it can be integrated into school curriculum
with specific strategies by educators, parents, and
adolescents.
A S THE GLOBAL VILLAGE continues to be
wired up electronically, and as individuals
move their daily lives online, mass media plays
a tremendous and increasing role in society,
providing information as well as entertainment
(Clay, 2003). Young people today live media-
saturated lives, spending an average of 6.5 hr a
day using media, and are exposed to media more
than 8.5 hr a day (Roberts, Foehr, & Rideout,
2005). Virtually all that people know about the
world beyond their immediate experience comes
to them through mass media, TV, radio, and the
Internet. Over the past few years, we have heard
comments such as, “I need to find a way to stop
my son from playing shooting games till 2 in
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Wan and Gut Media Use by Chinese and U.S. Secondary Students
the morning.” “Mom, I posted a question from
my Algebra homework on YahooAsk, and guess
what? Four responses came within 5 minutes!
Amazing, isn’t it?” “I love YouTube. You get
all kinds of videos and music that you want,
but I wonder how I can make sure my kids
are not accessing things they are not supposed
to?” “My grandpa watched me playing flute on
Web cam last night. Pretty cool!” “Ohio Virtual
Academy provides home school parents with lots
of great resources.” These comments highlight
celebrations of children’s media use and related
issues and concerns.
Along with the media saturation in society
come public attention and various concerns about
children and their use of media. The list of issues
surrounding the concerns includes the impact of
the Internet on society, the relationship between
media and gender, democracy, social develop-
ment, vanishing ethnic cultures, effects of media
on education, digital divide, generation gaps, and
many more. “We can not even begin to address
these questions—or to ask the many others we
should be discussing—without first establishing
just what role media play in young people’s
lives” (Roberts et al., 2005, p. 4). Before we
engage in any conversations about how to educate
children to become mature consumers of new
media, (i.e., media literacy education at home and
in schools), we need to establish how children
use media and how influential media use is in
their lives. This article represents a beginning
by looking at the trends and characteristics of
Chinese and American adolescents’ media use,
discussing the need for media literacy education
for children, suggesting what and where media
literacy education should focus, and providing
specific ideas for the integration of media literacy
education in the school curriculum. It aims to
inform policy makers, school administrators, par-
ents, and adolescents in the two countries about
the continued need for media literacy education.
Perspectives and Background
We believe that media literacy refers to the
understanding of media and the use of it as
a source of information, entertainment, enrich-
ment, growth, empowerment, and communica-
tion (Wan, 2006). Equally important to under-
standing media is to use information technology
(IT) rather than allowing IT to use you (Wan,
2006). According to Thoman (1995), critical
media literacy incorporates three stages that lead
to the empowerment of citizens of all ages: (a)
becoming aware of the importance of making
choices and managing the amount of time spent
with television, videos, electronic games, films,
and various print media forms; (b) learning
specific skills of critical viewing and surfing—
learning to analyze and question what is in the
frame/on the screen, how it is constructed, and
what may have been left out; and (c) exploring
deeper issues of who produces the media that
people experience and for what purposes. In
other words: Who profits? Who loses? And who
decides? There would not be such an urgent need
for media literacy education for children if the
media that people use on a daily basis simply
reflected reality, were neutral, and value free. All
the media messages that individuals come in con-
tact with contain information about values, be-
liefs, and behaviors and are shaped by economic
factors (Ontario Ministry of Education, 1989).
New media allow children nonlinear brows-
ing, interactivity, manipulation of images, sound,
various ways of communicating, and many other
amazing things that most have never even
dreamed of. “If students are to use new me-
dia to their own greatest advantage, they too
must learn to creatively and critically browse,
research, organize, select, and produce communi-
cation forms that use the full spectrum of literacy
tools available to them” (Tyner, 2003, p. 374).
In addition, new media are changing the ways
that teaching and learning have been done for
centuries. Schools cannot operate as if the only
way to teach is through traditional classroom
instruction. Thus, becoming literate in the new
century means that both teachers and students
need to understand the influence of media on our
society, develop strategies to critically analyze
media, become independent from the influence
of media, and open up their minds to embrace
and experiment with new tools of teaching and
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New Media and Education in the 21st Century
learning provided by the information age. No
child’s education is complete without media lit-
eracy education.
Media Literacy in the United States
It is common to hear calls for media literacy
education in the schools on a regular basis.
Kubey and Baker (1999) argued that, for 4
decades, both young people and adults in society
have spent the majority of their leisure time in
contact with electronic media. But all too many
schools still operate as if the only forms of
expression worthy of study are the poem, the
short story, and the novel. FCC Commissioner
Michael Copps (2006) called for a sustained K–
12 media literacy program to teach students not
only how to use media but how the media uses
them.
For 25 years, media literacy has been an
established field of study in the school curriculum
for many countries such as Canada, Australia,
and England (Kubey, 2003; Thoman & Jolls,
2005). The United States has lagged behind these
countries in the formal delivery of media edu-
cation, and the reasons are historical, political,
and sociological (Kubey, 2003). According to the
National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE,
2007) policy research brief, new literacies that
cannot be ignored are being developed on a
daily basis. Although curriculum frameworks and
national curriculum standards in all 50 states
require some form of media literacy skills (Baker,
2006; Kubey & Baker, 1999) be included in
the curriculum, and 33 states have adopted Na-
tional Educational Technology Standards for K–
12 students (NCTE, 2007), for various reasons,
media literacy is not taught systematically in U.S.
schools.
The United States remains the only developed
English-speaking country in the world without
a consistently- and widely-taught media edu-
cation component in its standard school cur-
riculum (Gregorian, 2006). Some states place
elements of media literacy in English Language
and Communication Arts. Others embed it in
Health, Consumer Studies, or in Social Studies,
History, and Civics (Baker, 2006). Baker pro-
vides examples of how media literacy can be
developed in various standards. Aligning with the
Ohio State Standards in English/Language Arts,
media literacy may be integrated into teaching
techniques of persuasion, or practiced while dis-
secting the language of film. It can be incorpo-
rated into Citizenship Rights and Responsibilities
when teaching students to acquire, interpret, and
analyze information regarding national issues.
And finally, in grades 5–8, visual arts students
can create artwork (e.g., a satirical drawing,
political cartoon, or advertising campaign) that
expresses a personal comment about a social,
environmental, or political issue.
Media Literacy in China
The lives of today’s Chinese children have
been increasingly affected by new media. Offi-
cial statistics suggest that China has more than
1,000 radio stations, 2,200 newspapers, 3,000 TV
stations, 8,000 magazines, and 371,600 Chinese
language Web sites (Xinhua, 2004). China’s Web
savvy population is second in the world after
the United States (Internet World Stat, 2007).
Similar, if not greater, concerns about children
and media use exist in China. Chinese parents
seek professional help for their children who
are addicted to the Internet and neglect their
schoolwork (Xinhua, 2004). In fact, the Internet
is sometimes accused of being “an evil force, no
less dangerous than drugs to young kids” (Xin-
hua, 2004, p. 3). Research also points out that
very few Chinese TV programs for children deal
with traditional Chinese culture (Xinhua, 2004),
and that mass media is criticized for marginaliz-
ing and undermining traditional Chinese values.
Commercials on TV and the Internet are criti-
cized for touting materialism, as well as carrying
potentially obscene and violent messages.
Since 2004, in response to calls to protect
minors, law enforcement agencies in China have
launched nationwide campaigns to uproot harm-
ful information on the Internet. Internet cafes
were shut down if they failed to keep minors off
their premises. Chinese Web sites containing cy-
ber violence and pornographic content have been
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Wan and Gut Media Use by Chinese and U.S. Secondary Students
penalized and shut down. Chinese Web sites all
carry alert buttons for surfers to inform the Web
master of any harmful information on the site.
The question becomes, “Which is more ef-
fective: legislation or education? Or both?: We
believe, in this case, that media literacy educa-
tion is more effective than top-down government
controls and legislations. By teaching children
media literacy skills, educators provide them with
life-long learning and living skills that will be
needed for the 21st century. There is a need to
develop curriculum for media literacy awareness
for millions of Chinese youths and adults. How-
ever, no officially designated courses on media
literacy have been included in the curriculum
of any educational institution across the country
in China. The absence of governmental policy
on media education, the heavy workload under
the current school curriculum for students, the
absence of professional development for teachers
in media literacy, and a shortage of funds for
schools are likely major obstacles to the devel-
opment of media literacy education at the grass-
roots level in China.
Our decision to focus on the current media use
of children from the United States and China is
driven by their unique differences and remarkable
similarities. The two countries are completely
different with regard to political systems, geogra-
phy, language, and educational philosophy. Other
major differences: one represents Eastern and the
other Western culture; one is developed and the
other is a still developing country. Both coun-
tries have similarities in size, and each has the
potential to exert global impact. One represents
a superpower in many ways and the other a super
population.
Finally, children on both sides of the Pacific
Ocean live in the same age of rapid techno-
logical advancement. The Internet World Stats
(2007) reported that the United States and China
have the greatest number of Internet users in
the world. Nearly 19%, or 211 million, of the
Internet users in the world are in the United
States; 12.3%, or 137 million, users are in China.
With all of their differences and similarities, we
sought to explore similarities and differences in
how children in these two countries use media,
and whether the two countries display simi-
lar needs for media literacy education in their
schools.
As stated earlier, young people today live
media-saturated lives, spending many hours daily
on media (Roberts et al., 2005). Therefore, it is
important to consider which media adolescents
are spending their time with, and approximately
how much time they are allocating to each type
of media.
Media Use
According to the NCTE (2007), the use of
technology at all levels of education in the
United States is growing. More than 80% of
kindergartners use computers and more than 50%
of children under the age of 9 use the Internet.
At the university level, almost 50% of 4-year
colleges and 30% of community colleges make
use of course management tools, and there are
approximately 61 virtual college/university op-
tions available. Overall, the U. S. ranks 15th in
the percentage of households subscribing to a
broadband Internet service, enabling at least 91
million Google searches each day. There were
158.6 billion text messages in 2006, and over
106 million registered users of MySpace (NCTE,
2007).
The Kaiser Family Foundation’s national sur-
vey (Roberts et al., 2005) found children 8–18
years old are spending an increasing amount
of time using new media like computers, the
Internet, and video games, without cutting back
on the time they spend with old media like
TV, print, and music. They use more than one
media at the same time. DeBell and Chapman
(2006) reported that home computers are used to
play games (56%), work on school assignments
(47%), and connect to the Internet (45%).
Data from one of the largest national studies
of children’s media use in China, which surveyed
955 Chinese students (7–12 grades) in Beijing,
Dalian, Taiyuan, and Yangquan (Wan, 2005), the
Kaiser Family Foundation survey (Roberts et al.,
2005), and a U.S. Department of Education study
(DeBell & Chapman, 2006) are presented in
Table 1.
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New Media and Education in the 21st Century
Table 1
Adolescent Media Use by Type
Media Use United States China
Video gaming 91% 47%
> 30 min 23% 14%
Television viewing 99% 99%
> 30 min 77% 39%
Print 74% 87%
> 30 min 27% 40%
Computer use 92.3% 92%
> 30 min 16.3% 22%
Computer access 85% 78%
Internet access 80% 66%
This table provides insights into some in-
teresting trends that lead to potential implica-
tions for educators, parents, and the adolescents
themselves. Areas for continued exploration and
research are addressed in the following sections.
Discussion and Implications
The data clearly show that adolescents in both
China and the United States are using media
for similar purposes and they are dedicating a
growing amount of their waking hours to inter-
acting with media. Parents and other adults in
both countries have expressed concerns regarding
the impact or potential negative outcomes asso-
ciated with increased media use by children and
adolescents. Interestingly, only a little more than
half of the adolescents in both countries reported
parental rules for media use (55% for U.S. and
59% for China). It may be, as Roberts et al.,
(2005) suggested, that “the majority of parents
either don’t feel their children spend too much
time with media, or that they have simply given
up” (p. 60). Conversely, they also determined
that, “parents who have kept media out of their
children’s bedrooms, who turn off the TV during
meals, who set (and enforce) rules about media
use in general and TV in particular, tend to
be parents whose children spend substantially
less time with electronic media and more time
reading” (p. 60).
Given the high percentage of media-use by
adolescents, it is clear that educators and parents
in both countries have a two-fold responsibility.
First, they must educate young people in the
appropriate and ethical use of media. Second,
they must find creative and interesting ways
to utilize new media in the classroom to take
advantage of students’ interest in, and continued
use of, media. We believe that both of these goals
will be effectively addressed when parents and
teachers in the two countries join hands to discuss
various aspects of media literacy education with
children at home and in schools.
In brief, media literacy is the ability to inter-
pret and create personal meaning from the many
verbal and visual symbols that people take in. It is
the ability to choose, to challenge and question,
and to use the media actively and consciously
for one’s own purposes (Pena, Lam, & Adiele,
2007).
Critical media literacy education may begin
with Thoman’s (1995) three stages. The first
stage involves making wise choices and manag-
ing time spent on media. Children can learn to
be selective about their media use by selecting,
beforehand, what TV programs to watch, rather
than sitting down and being randomly fed by
TV for hours. They can be taught to check TV
program schedules to help select their favorite
shows.
In stage two, children develop specific skills
of critical viewing and surfing. Learning how
to tell what information is more reliable than
others is especially important because nobody
really owns the Internet and anyone with the
proper skills can create a Web site. Children need
to know that information from Web sites that
have not been updated for a long time, that do
not show who the owners are, and that contain
many grammatical errors are not good sources for
school work. Information from official Web sites
like Encyclopedia Britannica’s are more reliable
than information from Wikipedia. Comparing
several resources is another good way to verify
information.
Nowadays, with digital manipulations and
technology, seeing is no longer believing. Chil-
dren need to learn to question digital images
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Wan and Gut Media Use by Chinese and U.S. Secondary Students
and pictures that they encounter. Making choices
also includes understanding online safety issues
and proper behaviors online. Children should be
informed never talk to strangers online, the same
as in the real world, nor to ever give out their
real names or contact information online. Also,
children should understand that it is important to
behave in the virtual world in the same way as
in the real world.
As most people know, media use can become
very addictive and distract individuals from other
important activities in their lives; time manage-
ment of media use is important for children
to learn. Some home rules, such as homework
before TV or video games, 1 hr on-line time
during weekdays, or turning the TV off during
dinner time, may help children better manage
their media use. Keeping a balance between
reading books (online or in print) and media use
is another good practice to teach children.
Analyzing and questioning what is shown,
how it is made, and what may have been left out
and why from media are specific critical media
literacy skills (Thoman, 1995). Understanding
that the purpose of product placements (putting
products or logos in shows) is for viewers to see
the products and want to buy them is another
media literacy skill, For example, some 20 prod-
ucts were carefully placed throughout the movie
Spider-Man, who wore Nike shoes and drank Dr
Pepper (Baker, 2007). Playing Sims Online lets
you see logos of Intel and McDonalds (Andersen,
2007). Teachers may ask children to pay attention
to product placements next time they watch a
movie.
Thoman’s (1995) third stage poses questions
like who produces the media, and for what
purposes, to teach children to explore deeper
issues of media making. Understanding that all
media producers need to make money to stay in
business helps children see the logic of millions
of ads in TV shows. It is important for children
to understand the concept that there is no such
thing as value-free media. Teachers may help
children understand this concept by pointing out
how media messages inform, entertain, persuade,
and give people ideas, all of which influence their
thoughts and decisions. “Messages on media try
to tell us what to think, how to act, and how to
feel” (Wan, 2007, p. 5). Stereotypes is a value
that media promote. The nerdy smart kid, the
not-so-smart blonde, and the street-wise black
friend are some examples (Wan, 2007). Children
need to learn to question the ideas and values
presented in the media before buying into them.
These questions help children to become mature,
critical users of media.
By nature, media literacy encourages an in-
terdisciplinary approach to education and is a
natural extension of the existing school curricu-
lum. Thus, teachers do not need to worry about
adding a new subject to the crowded curriculum.
They may address media literacy education by
teaching with and about media literacy through
their normal classroom interactions (Wan, 2006).
For example, in an English classroom, when
one asks students to compare Mulan, the Dis-
ney movie, with the original Chinese story, The
Legend of Mulan, one teaches critical reading
skills, comparing and contrasting, comprehen-
sion, drawing conclusions, decoding, and logical
reasoning skills at the same time.
When students discuss and write Internet
safety rules, they practice writing skills and use
art to convey meanings. When students create
digital stories, they learn to create with multi-
media tools and write scripts of their own. When
a new sports drink made the claim on television
that three out of four children interviewed love
it, teachers can ask children, “What about the
thousands of other children not interviewed?”
Health and physical education may be easily
integrated with media literacy education. Per-
sonal health is a natural extension of discussions
about commercials for healthy snacks, exercise
machines, dental care products, tobacco, and
alcohol. Conversations on how unrealistic the
extra-slim or muscle-bound images portrayed in
the media are may help prevent eating disorders
among adolescents.
Art education and media literacy go hand-in-
hand. Discussions can address what techniques
are used to attract one’s attention in a television
program and newspaper ad. How does digital
technology create virtual reality? How is a tele-
vision program filmed with cameras? Why is
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New Media and Education in the 21st Century
seeing not believing anymore with digital ma-
nipulation? Knowledge of the arts helps students
to answer these questions. Techniques, styles,
and art media can be taught with various media
literacy units when illustrations and artwork are
required (Wan, 2006).
Teachers empower students by nurturing their
higher-order thinking skills. This goal of edu-
cation is supported by media literacy because
teaching students how to use critical thinking
skills to understand, analyze, and evaluate media,
as well as to make smart choices, are the major
purposes of media literacy education and the
skills needed for life in the 21st century.
Conclusion
Adolescents in both China and the United
States are spending a great amount of their time
using a variety of media, which offers strong
support for the need to include media literacy ed-
ucation as an integral and integrated component
in the academic curriculum. Kathy Krauth (cited
in Weeks, 2007) said that the Eye Generation
feels more comfortable expressing themselves in
visual form. Now teachers are trying to harness
that energy of the eye by using visual media such
as television, movies, video games, photography,
and Facebooking both to engage this eye-curious
culture and to help students think critically about
what they see (Weeks, 2007).
Through media literacy education, people help
children deal with information overload and find
ways to steer them away from less desirable
content and uses of media. Media literacy educa-
tion courses help children become media literate,
enabling them to sort through and find meaning
in the daily media barrage (Pena et al., 2007).
Further studies should address adolescents’
access to, and use of, the newest media (e. g.,
I-pods, Internet messenger services, cell phones,
Nintendo Wii). Studies should continue to ex-
plore techniques that educators and parents are
currently using and document new and innovative
uses for new and developing technologies de-
signed to enhance student learning. Professional
development for teachers to learn to integrate
media literacy education into their existing cur-
riculum will also be very helpful.
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