Analysis of the Implementation of Learning Activities in the 2022 Revised Curriculum <Media Communication> Textbook : Focusing on Critical Understanding of Media

This study analyzed three high school textbooks for the newly introduced elective subject Media Communication in the 2022 revised Korean language curriculum, focusing on students’ critical understanding of media texts through the four key concepts proposed by production, language, representation, and audience. The analysis revealed that the textbooks addressed the concepts of representation and language with relatively well-developed units and activities. However, the audience dimension was mostly approached in a functional manner, such as through evaluating the credibility of media texts, and lacked activities that considered diverse interpretations based on sociocultural contexts. There was also considerable variation among the textbooks in terms of how systematically they explored the media language and the social and economic backgrounds of media producers—key factors influencing production. Furthermore, few activities reflected the diversity of audience perspectives. These findings suggest that, compared to the Language and Media textbooks under the 2015 revised curriculum, certain improvements have been made; however, a balanced and in-depth implementation of media literacy elements is still required. This indicates that the issue extends beyond the level of textbooks and underscores the need to address the critical understanding of media texts systematically at the curriculum level. Moreover, in consideration of the connection with the middle school curriculum, future textbook development and lesson design should adopt a stepwise approach that strengthens such elements as expanding a learner-centered perspective, exploring media language, and analyzing the context of media producers.