Electronic Media – An Overview

The electronic media can store and transmit information in two different ways: either in an analogue or in a digital form. Nowadays, the digital form is favored because it enables the user not only to access information, but also to develop and modify it faster and more easily. It confirms Lawson-Borders who says that “digital technology compresses information and allows text, graphics, photos, and audio to be transmitted effectively and rapidly across media platforms”. This also means that the digital media are typically the multimedia. They very often feature multiple contents such as videos or audios, which can be easily combined. For this reason, the term „digital media‟ is generally used synonymously with the term „electronic media‟ since now most of the electronic media convey information in a digital format. Media literacy is defined as “the ability to access the media, to understand the media and have a critical approach towards media content and to create communication in a variety of contexts” (European Commission). When a teacher uses the media in his or her EFL classroom, he or she does it primarily for the purpose of language teaching. However, he or she also indirectly teaches the students how to work with the media and how to interpret the content they offer. Therefore, language lessons can significantly contribute to the teaching of media literacy.