Page 19 - The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 9 and 10: English, 2007 (Revised)

THE ONTARIO CURRICULUM, GRADES 9 AND 10 | English
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course. Teachers will continue to make professional decisions about which writing forms and language conventions they will cover in every course, based on the identified learning needs of the students in their classrooms.
Media Studies
Media Studies focuses on the art, meaning, and messaging of various forms of media texts. Media texts can be understood to include any work, object, or event that communicates meaning to an audience. Most media texts use words, graphics, sounds, and/or images, in print, oral, visual, or electronic form, to communicate information and ideas to their audi- ence. Whereas traditional English language study may be seen to focus primarily on the understanding of the word, media studies focuses on the construction of meaning through the combination of several media “languages” – images, sounds, graphics, and words.
Media Studies explores the impact and influence of mass media and popular culture by examining texts such as films, songs, video games, action figures, advertisements, CD covers, clothing, billboards, television shows, magazines, newspapers, photographs, and websites.5 These texts abound in our electronic information age, and the messages they convey, both overt and implied, can have a significant influence on students’ lives. For this reason, critical thinking as it applies to media products and messages assumes a special significance. Understanding how media texts are constructed and why they are produced enables students to respond to them intelligently and responsibly. Students must be able to differentiate between fact and opinion; evaluate the credibility of sources; recognize bias; be attuned to discriminatory portrayals of individuals and groups, such as religious or sexual minorities, people with disabilities, or seniors; and question depictions of violence and crime.
Students’ repertoire of communication skills should include the ability to critically inter- pret the messages they receive through the various media and to use these media to com- municate their own ideas effectively as well. Skills related to high-tech media such as the Internet, film, and television are particularly important because of the power and perva- sive influence these media wield in our lives and in society. Becoming conversant with these and other media can greatly expand the range of information sources available to students, and enhance potential career opportunities in the communication and entertain- ment industries.
To develop their media literacy skills, students should have opportunities to view, analyse, and discuss a wide variety of media texts and relate them to their own experi- ence. They should also have opportunities to use available technologies to create media texts of different types (e.g., computer graphics, cartoons, graphic designs and layouts, radio plays, short videos, web pages).
5. Teachers should make students aware that images, print materials, music, or video clips used in connection with tasks and assignments may be subject to copyright, and the appropriate releases should be obtained prior to use. This applies to items downloaded from the Internet as well.