Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
ENCUENTRO : REVISTA DE INVESTIGACIÓN E INNOVACIÓN EN LA CLASE DE IDIOMAS, cilt.33, ss.37-54, 2025 (ESCI)
Contributing much to globalization, mass media has a facilitating role in stimulating cultural exchanges and communication around the world. With the advent of computer and mobile technology, effects of social media applications on language learning have been widely discussed in the literature, and studies were conducted to investigate whether and how using social media apps in language classes as a tool contribute to teaching/learning. However, mass communication including social media has a greater potential to serve as readily available materials and has much to offer for language pedagogy including integration of authentic materials and real context to use and be exposed to target language, which may lead to positive learning outcomes for students including adoption of a critical approach. Moreover, mobile technology makes it faster and easier for students to access mass media and communication. This study aims to investigate how students learn and practice critical reading in an online class where the focus is on English in mass media and communication. The participants recruited for the study were senior students (n:12) majoring in English Language Teaching. Adopting a qualitative case study research design, the researcher integrated critical reading activities based on texts from mass media including newspaper articles, speeches, etc., and asked students to write short responses to the texts they worked on. Moreover, they were interviewed at the end of the semester after a 10-week period of study to reveal their thoughts about the class and critical reading though mobile technology. Findings of the study revealed that the participants made progress in critical reading. The participants also stated that critical reading should be a part of teacher training pedagogy. Finally, they were content with mobile technologies as a means and mass media as content during the training. Implications are drawn based on the participants’ response papers and interviews.