Assessing Media Literacy Competences: Reflections and Recommendations from a Quantitative Study

Abstract

The assessment of media literacy is a complex task, which might attempt to reconcile a research field traditionally developed within a critical paradigm with the task of evaluating and quantifying media literacy competences through essentially quantitative methods. Despite the non-existence of consensus regarding how to evaluate and measure media literacy, namely on the definition of its levels, this purpose is increasingly discussed and stimulated by political and regulatory stances, as well as studied within the academic world. Based on one of such attempts, a study on the media literacy competences of 679 Portuguese teenagers, this paper presents a review and a reflection on the specific challenges posed by the intent to quantitatively assess media literacy, without neglecting its core critical dimension. It concludes by suggesting methodological convergence and the continuous development of valid and reliable indicators, necessarily context and subject-dependent, as a way to improve this area of research.