InTernational educational space
1’2021

Olena Tupakhina
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2920-1167

COMMUNICATING EUROPEAN VALUES THROUGH CRITICAL MEDIA LITERACY: CASE OF ERASMUS+ JEAN MONNET MODULE «EUROPEAN VALUES IN LITERARY ARTS»

Full text (pdf)
Language: English
Abstract. The article is prepared based on the results of the Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Module «European Values in Literary Arts» (599918-ЕРР-1-2018-1-UA-EPPJMO-MODULE EUVOLIA). The study explores the impact of the course «European Values in Literary Arts» (EUVOLIA) on its target audience (Bachelor and Master students majoring in Humanities, Natural and Exact sciences) in terms of raising awareness of European values. The relevance of the study is determined, on the one hand, by the necessity to articulate сorrectly the European values dimension in the HEI curricula, and, on the other hand, by the lack of a methodological basis for a value-based approach in the teaching of the Humanities. While Ukrainian students’ perception of European values is fragmented due to controversial social and political contexts (i.e., conflicting attitudes to Ukraine’s European integration and growing disillusionment in EU institutions’ functionality), a critical media literacy toolkit developed by EUVOLIA can significantly increase their sensitivity to values-related issues and deepen their understanding of European values as an integral axiological construct. The impact of the EUVOLIA course, which was presented in Zaporizhzhya National University during 2018–2020 for five mixed groups of students (126 students in total), was measured with the help of formalized questionnaires and surveys. The target audience’s portrait of values was created according to the Schwartz Value Survey on the research of value orientations. The results showed that the methodological toolkit used in the EUVOLIA project not only increases students’ awareness of European values but also contributed to the development of critical perceptions of cultural products and materials of mass media, overcoming the phenomenon of «double-think» and strengthening the sense of belonging to the European cultural paradigm.
Keywords: European values, Schwartz Values Survey, axiology, critical media literacy.

https://doi.org/10.32987/2617-8532-2021-1-117-124
References:
1. State Statistic Service of Ukraine. (2020). Ukrainian Population’s Structure in Terms of Age and Gender. Retrieved from http://database.ukrcensus.gov.ua/MULT/Dialog/statfile_c.asp (in Ukrainian).
2. Gorshenin Institute; Friedrich Egbert Foundation in Belarus and Ukraine. (2018). Ukrainian Society and European Values: Report on Social Survey Results. Retrieved from http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/ukraine/13570.pdf (in Ukrainian).
3. Yavorska, G., Bolomolov, O. (2010). Europe: Unattainable Object of Desire. Kyiv: Dmytro Burago Publishing House (in Ukrainian).
4. Ukraine’s Generation Z Values and Priorities: National Poll Results. (2017). neweurope.org.ua. Retrieved from http://neweurope.org.ua/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Ukr_Generation_ukr_inet-2.pdf (in Ukrainian).
5. Kellner, D., Share, J. (2005). Toward critical media literacy: Core concepts, debates, organizations, and policy. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 26(3), 369–386.
6. Joanou, J., Griffin, E. (2010). From Emmett Till to the Rose Petal Cottage: Critical peda­gogy and popular culture in pre-service teacher education. Teacher Education Quarterly, Special Online Edition, 310–341.
7. McGaha, J. (2015). Popular Culture & Globalization. Multicultural Education, 23, 32–37.
8. Schwartz, S. (1992). Universals in the Content and Structure of Values: Theoretical Advances and Empirical Tests in 20 Countries. Advances in Experimental Social Psycho­logy, 25, 1–65.
9. SOCIS Centre of Social and Marketing Research. (2015). Values of Ukrainians: Pro et Contra of Reforms in Ukraine. Retrieved from https://www.ukrinform.ua/rubric-other_news/1850963-78799c8650906a9dd662cee6db323ee1.html (in Ukrainian).
10. Halman, L., Sieben, I., Zundert, M. (2011). Atlas of European Values: Trends and Traditions at the Turn of the Century. Amsterdam: Drukkerij Wilco.
11. Kahanov, Yu. (2019). Homo Soveticus Identity Construction (1953–1991): Case of Ukraine. Zaporizhzhya: Inter-M (in Ukrainian).