"Media Literacy" And "Media (Literacy) Education" In The Usa - Building Bridges Across The Atlantic

Abstract

Despite individual efforts, the pedagogical discussions about "media literacy" and "media (literacy) education" as well as about media competence and media education in the German-speaking countries and in the USA are largely independent of each other. Against this background, the article first describes the methodological challenges of an international comparative approach. Subsequently, central terms in the context of the pedagogical discussion of learning with and about media in the USA are identified and five areas within the debate are distinguished. The article concludes with a comparative examination of areas or sub-areas and conceptions of learning with and about media in the German-speaking world and in the USA as well as the terms media competence and "media literacy".