The Role of Media Literacy Education in Improving the Communication Skills of Undergraduate Students

The purpose of this research was to analyze the role of media literacy education in improving the communication skills of undergraduate students. In this research, which was conducted with a mixed approach (qualitative-quantitative), Delphi method was used in the qualitative part and survey method was used in the quantitative part. The tool for collecting information in the qualitative part was interview and in the quantitative part, questionnaire. The statistical population of the qualitative part is faculty members specializing in the field of education and psychology curriculum planning, as well as English written documents related to media literacy, and in the quantitative part, faculty members and professors in the fields of psychology and educational sciences of universities and higher education institutions whome were in Golestan province. The samples in the qualitative part were selected purposefully by conducting 17 semi-structured interviews until data saturation, and in the quantitative part, 322 people were selected by available sampling method. For data analysis in the qualitative part, conventional content analysis and Delphi method were used, and in the quantitative part, the structural equation model was used. From the analysis of the findings, 30 concepts, 7 subcategories and 3 main categories were obtained. The results showed that media literacy education plays a role in improving students› communication skills, including: improving mental skills and knowledge, managing media and information, and training the ideal citizen.