This document proposes a new theoretical model for information literacy education in school settings that goes beyond skill-based approaches. It discusses how school pedagogy, information literacy, and communication theory converge. Specifically, it argues that a communicative pedagogical model is needed that incorporates theoretical perspectives like phenomenography, discourse analysis, and sociocultural theory. This model would address informational knowledge, operational knowledge, and motivational factors beyond just skills. It also examines the relationship between information literacy and media literacy as fields that are increasingly converging.

1. A NEW MODEL OF INFORMATION
LITERACY EDUCATION IN SCHOOL
SETTINGS. EXCEEDING SKILL-
BASED APPROACHES WITHOUT
LOSING THEIR ADVANTAGES

2. Tibor Koltay, Eszterházy Károly University, Hungary
Enikő Szőke-Milinte, Pázmány Péter Catholic University,
Hungary
koltay.tibor@uni-eszterhazy.hu
szoke-milinte.eniko@btk.ppke.hu
2

3. SCHOOL PEDAGOGY
• is a form of educational theory and
practice,
• built on the assumption that its goals are
attainable only in a growingly holistic
system of institutions mutually influencing
each other (Petrikás 1995).
3

4. INFORMATION LITERACY
• is “the adoption of appropriate information
behaviour to obtain, through whatever
channel or medium, information well fitted
to information needs, together with critical
awareness of the importance of wise and
ethical use of information in society.”
(Johnston & Webber 2003, p. 336).
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5. SCHOOL PEDAGOGY AND
INFORMATION LITERACY
• School is one of the information
landscapes;
• IL takes place within these (Whitworth
2014).
• IL should address children, who study in
primary schools and adolescents in
secondary schools.
5

6. SUCCESSFUL IL REQUIRES
• Strong theoretical foundations;
• Using a plurality of approaches;
• Building on communication theory;
• Not being restricted to skill-based
approaches, but not losing their
advantages;
6

7. THEORY IS LESS DEVELOPED,
BECAUSE
IL is used mainly for
1. Labelling = activities such as professional
practice, research or policy-making →
multiple interpretations;
2. Empirical approaches → imply that IL
ought to be prescribed rather than
described (Pilerot 2016).
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8. DEFINING FACTORS
• Abundance of information and information
overload;
• Convergences
1. Between information theory and the
theory of learning;
2. Between literacies.
8

9. INFORMATION THEORY AND THE
THEORY OF LEARNING CONVERGE
• The skills and abilities of information
literacy are identical with authentic
learning (Information Power 1998).
• IL is often approached as an object of
teaching.
• We can assume that it is also the outcome
of learning (Limberg, Sundin & Talja 2012).
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10. CONVERGENCES AMONG
LITERACIES
• Convergence among different forms of
media and ICTs (Livingstone, van
Couvering & Thumin, 2008)
• → overlap between information literacy
and media literacy→ media and
information literacy.
10

11. MEDIA LITERACY
• Should not be ignored;
• It aims to provide learning experiences
where students strengthen critical-thinking
skills (Hobbs 2004).
11

12. MEDIA AND INFORMATION
LITERACY
(MIL)
• IL and MIL basically aim to foster the same
skills (Lau 2013).
12

13. THEORETICAL APPROACHES
• Phenomenography.
• Discourse analytical approaches
• The sociocultural perspective
• Phenomenographic and sociocultural theories
are grounded in theories of learning. =
• Learning is an activity of constructing meaning.
13

14. PHENOMENOGRAPHY
• Explores patterns of experiencing
phenomena.
• Underlines the importance of
understanding the learners’ perspective.
14

15. PHENOMENOGRAPHY APPLIED
TO IL
• Focuses on varied ways of experiencing
IL.
• Provides a pattern of variation in engaging
with information for learning.
15

16. DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
FOCUSES ON
1. the habits and rules of discourse
communities;
2. the interpretive repertoires through which
people give meanings to information
competences and practices.
16

17. DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
• Shows that information literacy is
constructed differently in different
conversational contexts →
• Does not accept the nature of information
competences as uncontested phenomena
17

18. SOCIOCULTURAL THEORY
UNDERSTANDS
• People’s practices within specific
communities →
• IL practices within specific contexts and
communities.
18

19. SOCIOCULTURAL THEORY
• Focuses on tool-based IL practices (not to
be confounded with skill-based ones).
• Questions the generic nature of learning IL
(Limberg, Sundin, & Talja 2012).
19

20. COMMUNICATION THEORY
• Comes into the picture through information
landscapes
• = “communicative spaces that are created
by people who co-participate in a field of
practice” (Lloyd 2010)
20

21. A COMMUNICATIVE
PEDAGOGICAL MODEL OF IL
• Counts with skills, but goes beyond skill-
based approaches.
• Pays attention to and treats additional
issues more complexly.
21

22. THE ADDITIONAL ISSUES
• Informational knowledge
• Operational knowledge
• The motivating factors of acquiring
information
22

23. INFORMATIONAL KNOWLEDGE
• Built up from analogue and propositional
representations of information.
23

24. INFORMATIONAL KNOWLEDGE:
ANALOGUE REPRESENTATIONS
• Directed by relatively flexible rules and by
our perception
• = represent reality indirectly and implicitly.
• Make use of networks, scripts, and
schemata.
24

25. INFORMATIONAL KNOWLEDGE:
PROPOSITIONAL
REPRESENTATIONS
• Propositional representations are explicit,
abstract, and language-like (directed by
rules).
25

26. OPERATIONAL KNOWLEDGE
• Defined by the individuals’ skills and
problem-solving abilities.
• Can be coupled with metacognition =
higher order thinking that involves active
control over cognitive processes
26

27. OPERATIONAL KNOWLEDGE
• Is reflective.
• Activates metacognition.
The ACRL Information Literacy Framework
for Higher Education provides illustrations of
metacognitive activities.
27

28. OPERATIONAL KNOWLEDGE
Further components
• identification,
• analogy,
• comparison,
• selection,
• analysis and synthesis,
• induction and
• deduction, systematization,
• abstraction
• and generalization, etc.
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29. THE DRIVING FORCE OF IL
• The motivation to acquire information involves,
among others,
• ideals,
• convictions,
• values,
• volition,
• interest,
• emotions,
• curiosity,
• attention,
• and ambition.
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30. CONCLUSION
• Including the perspectives of
phenomenography, discourse analysis and
sociocultural theory promises a solid
theoretical basis for IL.
• IL theory can be coupled with a model of
communication in a pedagogical model.
30

31. FURTHER EXAMINATION
• The convergence between IL and media
literacy as well as the coming of MIL into
prominence require further examination.
31

32. LITERATURE
• AASL (1998). Information power. Building partnership for learning. Chicago, IL.: American Association of
School Librarians, Association for Educational Communications Technology, American Library Association
• ACRL (2015). Information Literacy Framework for Higher Education
http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework
• Hobbs, R. (2004). A review of school-based initiatives in media literacy education. American Behavioral
Scientist, 48(1), 42-59.
• Johnston, B. & Webber, S. (2003). Information literacy in higher education: a review and case study.
Studies in higher education, 28(3), 335-352.
• Lau, J. (2013). Conceptual Relationship of Information Literacy and Media Literacy. In Conceptual
Relationship of Information Literacy and Media Literacy in Knowledge Societies (pp. 76-91). Paris: UNESCO.
• Limberg, L., Sundin, O., & Talja, S. (2013). Three theoretical perspectives on information literacy. Human IT:
Journal for Information Technology Studies as a Human Science, 11(2), 93-130.
• Livingstone, S., van Couvering, E. J. & Thumin, N. (2008). Converging traditions of research on media and
information literacies: Disciplinary and methodological issues. In J. Coiro, M. Knobel, C. Lankshear, & D.J.
Leu, (Eds.), Handbook of Research on New Literacies (pp. 103-132). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates.
• Lloyd, A. (2010). Information literacy landscapes: Information literacy in education, workplace, and
everyday contexts. Oxford: Chandos.
• Petrikás, Á. (Ed.) (1995). Iskolapedagógia. Az embernevelés iskolapedagógiai alapjai. Eger: EMTEX-JATEX.
• Pilerot, O. (2016). Connections between research and practice in the information literacy narrative: A
mapping of the literature and some propositions. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 48(4),
313-321.
• Whitworth, A. (2014). Radical information literacy: reclaiming the political heart of the information literacy
movement. Oxford: Chandos Publishing.
•
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33. THE PREPARATION OF THIS
PAPER WAS SUPPORTED by
the
EFOP-3.6.1-16-2016-00001
project
“Complex Development of
Research Capacities and
Services at Eszterházy Károly
University"

34. Thank you for your attention.
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