MA in Television Studies

• Introduction
• Aims and Objectives
• Lecture Topics
• Assignments
• Assignment Options Page
• Some General Reading

Introduction

This second semester MA module is part of the inter-departmental MA in TV Studies. It is linked in content both to the first semester module on The Active Viewer and to a second semester module on Television and Socialization. This module will not always be available.

Lectures for 1998/9 have provisionally been timetabled for Wednesdays at 10.00 am to 10.50 am from 3rd February to 24th March and 21st April to 12th May. Tutorials are provisionally on Fridays at 10.00 am to 10.50 am from 5th February to 26th March and 23rd April to 14th May.

The module is concerned with the theme of learning and teaching about TV. What is 'TV Literacy'? How does children's understanding of TV develop? How does TV fit into Media Education? Why should we teach students about TV? How does TV feature in Media Studies in schools and colleges? What do children learn about TV in the classroom and outside it? What fundamental concepts should be taught to students of TV? What unifying themes are there? What constitutes 'good practice' in classroom teaching about TV, and who says so? How do theories of practice in TV education differ?

Aims and Objectives

Aims

• to outline prevailing agendas in TV Studies and media education;
• to introduce modes of analysis, particularly semiotics;
• to discuss and critique current classroom practices.

Objectives

Students successfully completing this module should show be able:

• to identify key themes in TV Studies and media education;
• to reflect critically on current practices in teaching about TV;
• to suggest appropriate classroom strategies and resources at particular phases of education.

Topics

Provisional coverage of topics is offered below:

1. What is TV Literacy?
2. The Development of Children's Understanding of TV
3. How does TV Studies fit into Media Education?
4. Introducing semiotic analysis (1)
5. Introducing semiotic analysis (2)
6. Introducing semiotic analysis (3)
7. Introducing semiotic analysis (4)
8. Studying TV (1): Advertisements
9. Studying TV (2): The News
10. Studying TV (3): Soap Operas
11. Deconstructing ideologies
12. Alternative curricula and the future of TV Literacy

Assignments

This core module is assessed on the basis of an essay of around 2,500 words: for choices, see: assignment options.

Essays should normally be word-processed to allow easy revision where required. Leave wide margins (at least one-and-a-half inches) for comments, and use double-spacing. A list of references should always appear at the end, using the format used here. In-text references should always appear thus: (Bates 1984: 120), and page references must always be given. Quotations of 4 lines or longer should be indented (from the left margin); avoid over-use of direct (especially lengthy) quotations. References to TV programmes should refer wherever possible to the title, country of origin, broadcast channel, and date and time of broadcast. Titles of books journals and programmes should be italicised. Failure to acknowledge sources explicitly may be regarded as plagiarism. Avoid sexist use of language (as in the universal 'he'). Check for accuracy of spelling and grammar (particularly the use of apostrophes).

A dated copy clearly bearing your name and course title must be submitted to the Education Degree Office (never directly to tutor) in a transparent folder. You must keep a copy for yourself!.

Click here for general guidelines on writing essays for this module. Remember in particular that your essays should always offer the best evidence which you can find to illustrate the point you are making. Above all, avoid relying on simple assertion ('we all know that...'), avoid wide-ranging generalization ('everyone who watches television...'). Simply quoting some published assertion is not evidence either (except of that person's attitude).

A wide range of World-Wide Web resources is available on the Media and Communication Studies Site. You are expected to consult these as well as conventional printed sources.

Student essays which are awarded 'A' grades and which are subsequently made available in a suitable format on disc may be submitted for possible publication on the World-Wide Web.

For examples of essays by UWA students click here.

Some general reading